Basic mic comps

In re-recording one of my old songs (First Time), I noticed that my voice produced a harsh overtone during the repeated, held Ab4s that I am singing in the Chorus. So, I tried re-recording them with an SE X1R Ribbon Mic.

The Rode K2 is a large diaphragm condenser (LDC) mic with a tube (so it's a tube mic). Tube mics have some excellent qualities, and what I like most is that the tube acts as a compressor of sorts, smoothing out dynamics. It also saturates very nicely, filling out the frequency spectrum with a really smooth tone. I absolutely love my K2, but the K2 on this song really accentuates that overtone in my voice, making it a bit hard on the ears after a while. The K2 currently retails at about $800; so, it's midrange mic.

The SE X1R is a low cost ribbon mic, currently retailing at $250. Ribbon mics work by inserting an incredibly thin (0.6-1.5 microns in most) piece of aluminum between two strong magnets. The magnets hold the ribbon in place, and the ribbon vibrates with sound waves, which is how it picks up sound. Ribbons are characteristically "dark" mics. Normally, they don't pick up high frequency ranges. The X1R, for example, cuts off at about 15kHz (it picks up higher ranges than that, but not enough to really "count.") They also tend to roll off at about 10k. The SE X1R does have a little boost in the upper range, making it a little brighter than other ribbons, and hence a little more easily usable for a modern vocal.

In the clips below, you'll hear two different sections of the song, with each mic. I'm curious to hear your thoughts (comment on the FB post, not here, please). Which you like better, and why.

Here are some differences in the recordings you should know about.

1) The K2 was used in Cardioid mode. It is continuously switchable from figure 8, cardioid, and omni modes. Cardioid mode is typically preferred in a vocal, as it has good rejection from the rear and sides, so you don't pick up the room.

2) All ribbon mics are figure 8 pattern, meaning they pick up the same amount of sound from the front and the rear. So, in the X1R recordings, you'll hear a little more of my room (though most of you probably won't notice). My room is treated a little, and I angled the mic so that the rear was facing room treatments, to help control things a little better.

3) Ribbon mics require A LOT of gain. You pretty much have to crank the pre-amp to max. Because of this, you want a REALLY clean preamp. Otherwise, you can get a lot of noise in your recordings. I record through an external preamp (see pics and description below) always on my K2, so, for a fairer comparison, I used the same preamp.

Here is my channel strip I use when recording. On the left, you see a Cranborne Camden preamp. I freaking love this thing. It has all the usual features of a preamp, but the coolest thing about it is that at the top it has a MOJO circuit. When OFF (as in this photo), you get possible the cleanest preamp in existence. It has no noise. Even when I crank the gain to the max, I get no noise on my Ribbon.
When I recorded the X1R, the mojo circuit was turned off.

MOJO has two types: Thump and Cream. Thump adds low end saturation (in the 0-100 hz range). Cream adds saturation more in the mid-range, similar to what a 73 style preamp would do. When I record through my K2, I always set the MOJO to Thump and turn the dial to about 50%. That's what I like best on my voice. It adds a nice, small amount of "weight" to my voice.

Best part about the Camden is that it is a really affordable preamp, but, really, it sounds like it should cost $1000+.

Next in the chain, the blue one, is the Maag EQ2. This is a legendary EQ is renown for its "air" band, which you see at the top. It just adds this beautiful sparkle to everything when it's used. Pros use it often in mastering and in vocals. I only have 1, so I can only use it on a mono signal (so, I only use it in vocals). You can see my settings here that I used on the X1R. The only difference between this and the K2 is that on my K2 recording, I flip the bottom IN/OUT switch for the lower band (set to 400 hz) on. Again, this just adds a little bit of weight and fullness to the K2, which I like.

The Maag isn't cheap. I think currently it's like $911. It was a bit cheaper when I bought it 4-5 years ago, but still, it's definitely an investment.

Last is a really low-cost FET compressor, called the Fredenstein Artist Comp Plus. I just call him Freddie. Freddie is an 1176 style compressor. You can see my settings here. I've got it gain staged so that it adds at most 8-10 db of compression when I'm singing pretty loud. This compressor works really well though. It use it mainly to catch peaks. It probably adds a little bit of tone, but not much.

Lastly, though I didn't use it on these recordings, you'll see my second external preamp, the SSL SiX channel strip. It has a preamp, EQ, and Comp built in. SSL makes great stuff. I use this one when I'm recording in stereo as my second channel strip.

K2 A

First Time - sample A K2Jason Steadman

00:00 / 00:31

X1R A

First Time - sample A X1RArtist Name

00:00 / 00:31

K2 B

First Time - sample B K2Artist Name

00:00 / 00:51

X1R B

First Time - sample B x1rArtist Name

00:00 / 00:51

Please listen and let me know your thoughts. I can't decide which I like better.

Lastly, some added plugins

Lastly, I added the following plugins to my X1R, which are NOT on the K2. Mainly, my goal with these was to add back a little of that tube saturation, so I used Waves Lil Tube to do that. Next, I needed a of presence boost in the ribbon, and I needed to remove some mud, so I did that with the EQ-81, which is based off the Neve 81. I also used the input gain to add a little more saturation like what you'd get if you went through the real Neve 81. These things just added some subtle help to make the X1R sound a little more like the K2, which I need because I used the k2 on all the other songs on my album, so if I do end up using the X1R on this, I needed to get as close as I could, for consistency.