OneMic recordings, hear what the band heard in the studio!

[Sound Liaison]

One Mic Recordings

Multi track recording has advantages and disadvantages. The good is that you can make an instrument louder or softer as you please. The bad thing when the recording is done in one room is phase. Maybe, the most time consuming aspect of our way of recording is getting the phase between the mics right. Frans de Rond is a true genius in that field and his expertise is one of the secrets to our well defined sound stage.

Now with only one mic the challenge lay elsewhere.
Mixing was no longer possible. We would have to make the complete sound stage right there by carefully moving each instrument closer or further away as well as left and right in relationship to the microphone.
Carmen was given a headphone so she could hear exactly what the mic was hearing. She could then direct the musicians and with hand gestures let each band member play louder or softer.

 

[Deleted member 21219]

OneMic recordings have been presented here several times. (I suggest you do a search to find particulars.) Personally, I like them. It's true that the technique does not lend itself to whiz-bang sound effects. Then again, I don't particularly like whiz-bang sound effects.

Jim

 

[Ron Texas]

Steve needs a haircut. Is the single mike a stereo mike?

 

[antcollinet]

Is the single mike a stereo mike

Based on the second video above (first recording): Yes.

 

[antcollinet]

One Mic Recordings

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[Buster]

The Chesky binaural recordings can sound pretty good in some instances like this one;

 

[Buster]

Amazing, this sounds so good, it makes you wonder why other modern recordings are done with the musicians in separate rooms, it seems to me that recording this way must be a lot more fun.

 

[LTig]

One mic (or better 2 mics for stereo, they may also be separated by a distance) recordings are nothing new, rather the standard before multichannel mixers where available.

 

[scrubb]

Is the single mike a stereo mike?

Yes. The AEA R88 is a stereo ribbon mic. Looks like it has a bidirectional (figure 8) polar pattern.
EDIT: That's what mic was used in the third recording above. Not sure what mic was used in the first two, but they're also in stereo.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Yes, one stereo mike.

 

[Philbo King]

One Mic Recordings

This is pretty common in old-school bluegrass bands, where they stand in a circle around a mic, and whoever is soloing takes a step or two toward the mic, then steps back to blend back in with the others.

 

[DVDdoug]

It would make things quicker & easier.

In the Beatles early days they'd record one song in the morning and another in the afternoon, and the record was in the store the next week! And they might have written the songs the night before. Later in their career when they had virtually unlimited studio time and more advanced recording/production they were spending weeks in the studio "fooling around" with almost no focus.

 

[Buster]

Yes. The AEA R88 is a stereo ribbon mic. Looks like it has a bidirectional (figure 8) polar pattern.
EDIT: That's what mic was used in the third recording above. Not sure what mic was used in the first two, but they're also in stereo.

When the Josephson C700S microphone is used to its fullest, the result is a completely phase coherent recording with placement depth and superior realism.
"One microphone straight to DXD recording – and it’s totally enchanting"....Hifi Critic
"Fabulous....challenging the possibilities of current recording technology."...Inner-magazines

Fine engineer written article here (scroll down); Sound Liaison engineer Frans de Rond on ''One Mic Recordings When the Josephson C700S microphone is used to its fullest, the result is a completely phase coherent recording with placement depth and superior realism.
"One microphone straight to DXD recording – and it’s totally enchanting"....Hifi Critic
"Fabulous....challenging the possibilities of current recording technology."...Inner-magazines

 

[Barrelhouse Solly]

Given the differences in the way microphones and human ears respond to sound I don't think that the number of mics used is an important factor.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Given the differences in the way microphones and human ears respond to sound I don't think that the number of mics used is an important factor.

Oh the choice of which and how many mics to use is very important to the final result.

 

[Sal1950]

Steve needs a haircut. Is the single mike a stereo mike?

Haircut ! Then how could he do that ridiculous comb-over of his six hairs. LOL

 

[Sal1950]

Minimalist recording techniques can offer some excellent results in soundstage dimensions and clean overall sound.
But with todays type of modern music, the restrictions make the practice impossible.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Minimalist recording techniques can offer some excellent results in soundstage dimensions and clean overall sound.
But with todays type of modern music, the restrictions make the practice impossible.

I think your right. I do think even multi-miking each person it helps the music if they all play in the same room and hear each other as they play. Or it does with many musicians who aren't full time pros. All depends on who you are working with, what the goals are and the type of music.

 

[Sal1950]

I mentioned modern music but even symphony orchestra and other classical or large ensemble groups make
single mic type recordings a challenge. I believe most today use much more than that.

 

[Buster]

I think your right. I do think even multi-miking each person it helps the music if they all play in the same room and hear each other as they play. Or it does with many musicians who aren't full time pros. All depends on who you are working with, what the goals are and the type of music.

ONE-MICROPHONE VERSUS MULTI-MICROPHONE​

Recently Sound Liaison started to release albums recorded using only one (stereo) microphone. Why?
For a great number of years my approach to recording did not differ from what most modern engineers do. I would set up one or more microphones per instrument, try to get the maximum amount of separation between the instruments using acoustic baffles or complete isolation by placing the softest instruments in another room.
The advantage of this procedure is that you have complete control of each instrument. You can change the volume, panning, colour and reverb, the level of compression and so forth as you please. In general you can say that the more isolated the sources are from each other the more control you have when mixing. That’s the reason so many modern recording studios have separate rooms for every instrument or instrument group.
The disadvantage of separation is that instruments don’t seem to blend very well and musicians are not playing as well together as when they are in the same room.
For that reason, I like to record the musicians in one big good sounding hall. The unique sound of Studio 2 in the MCO building here in Hilversum is ideal for that purpose.
"In order to avoid the phase artifacts I decided to make a number of recordings using only one stereo microphone...."


When recording all the instruments in the same room, placing a microphone in front of each instrument introduces a problem. That problem is called phase (problem). The microphones ‘see’ not only the instrument in front of which it is placed but also the other instruments in the hall.
For example the bass microphone catch not only the sound of the bass but also the sound the drums next to it. The drum microphones also catch the same sound of the drums, but not at the same time as they are placed closer to the drums. This is because sound takes time to travel.
These phase artifacts can influence the sound in a negative way. To avoid this problem you can start to isolate the instruments using acoustic baffles but the consequence of that is that the musicians can’t properly hear each other anymore, so you have to introduce a headphones system to monitor....and so on. I think you get the picture...you end up going back to complete separation. In order to avoid the phase artifacts I decided to make a number of recordings using only one stereo microphone: the magnificent Josephson C700S. I did not use any kind of separation so that the musicians could clearly hear each other.


In a sense when recording with one microphone the mix is done before I press record.
I have to make the complete sound stage on the spot by carefully moving each instrument closer or further away as well as left and right in relationship to the microphone.
Listening to the results of this approach the advantages are obvious; phase coherence, perfect imaging, great sense of depth and superior realism.
Another advantage is that it forces the band being recorded to really play. There is nowhere to hide, no fixing it in the mix, it’s now or never.
The reactions of the musicians are overwhelming. Bass player Clemens van der Feen said: “I never heard my bass like this before on any recording. Finally it sounds the way I always wanted”.
Joe Whip wrote a 5 star review of our four “One Microphone Recording” albums on audiophile style.

Review of sound-liaison-one-mic-recordings

I hope this is just the beginning and many more recordings using only one stereo microphone will follow.
I am very interested in getting feedback as to how these recordings sound on your system. So please do send me your opinion on the sound of these recordings.

Best regards, Frans
Frans de Rond