Mic-ing P/V 400?

Nicholas Dedring · Post by **Nicholas Dedring** » 20 May 2004 11:10 am

Where do you guys recommend for mic placement for the 15" BW speaker in the Peavey's? I have to go and record stuff this weekend... It'll be in an isolation room (was it something I said???), so no worries about bleed. Close? A little bit of distance? Near the edge of the speaker, or off center towards the middle?

How do those parameters affect the sound, anyhow?

It'll be be me overlaying it, after playing a guide track earlier... which means I have three passes to play on, instead of one or two... but what the heck. Any advice is appreciated.

Also, is it better to mic the cabinet instead of going out of the balanced out to the board??

Jerry Roller · Post by **Jerry Roller** » 20 May 2004 1:00 pm

I use a Shure 57 and center it at the edge of the voice coil dust cover.
Jerry

Dave Ristrim · Post by **Dave Ristrim** » 21 May 2004 12:55 pm

I have been told by engineers you should angle the mic in slightly. In other words, put it just outside the dust cover about 3/4" and point it at the dust cover where it joins the paper of the speaker. A 57 is good, but I love the Sennheiser 421.
Dave

Mark van Allen · Post by **Mark van Allen** » 24 May 2004 5:21 pm

Nicholas, I've got an article in issue #2 of Pedal Steel.US magazine if you can find one, that addresses micing questions. For a start I'd go with Dave's suggestion, angled inward slightly near the edge of the dust cover, and as long as you don't play too loud, ask the engineer if he has a ribbon mic. A nice Royer sounds great in that position. Another alternative is to use two tracks with one mic close on the cone and another 3-4 feet back in the room. If the iso booth has a corner without foam in it, try putting the room mic pointing into the corner, the blend of the two will give you a lot of tonal variation. Most studios have some mid-range condensor mics, like the AKG 3035 or 4050 that also sound wonderful for a warm fat tone.

Nicholas Dedring · Post by **Nicholas Dedring** » 25 May 2004 6:55 am

Ended up plugging from the direct out on the PV, into the board. Played through with a sort of live scratch track; meant to be for the bass and drums to get the tracking done... for the meantime, for quick and dirty it was acceptable. I'm going to try and get the time (the studio belongs to one of the guys I've been playing with) to go in and redo them, with a mike on the amp. Meantime it's not bad; the direct out sounded surprisingly good... but I'd like to get a few of those clinkers back. The iso room is so deadened with foam that I don't know whether there'd be any point in a second mike, but perhaps that would help...

Thanks all...

George Kimery · Post by **George Kimery** » 25 May 2004 6:57 pm

Nicholas:

I don't know how this would actually work, but in theory, it sounds good. What if you had something recorded of just your steel, then play it back through your amp. Then, YOU go into the studio and have somebody move the mic around (or try different mics) until you hear a "sweet" spot where the mic is placed.