Microphones

Choosing the right microphone is probably the most significant way to improve the quality of your recording.  I will cover the microphones I use for my own recordings and the reason behind using them.

First some basic terminology.  There is a great article on microhones on Wikipedia. 

There are two basic types of microphones.  Dynamic and Condenser.  Most temples use dynamic microphones for the PA system.  These microphones are generally very durable — a quality that is very important for a temple microphone.  Dynamic microphones are generally less responsive than a condenser microphone.  A Condenser microphone generally has better quality but are delicate.  Condenser microphones also require a power source — either provided by a built-in battery or through phantom power provided by your pre-amp. 

Another characteristic that is important to consider is the pickup pattern of the microphone.  A cardoid microphone is directional — it’ll pick up what you point at and will not pick up sound that is coming from a different direction.  An omnidirection microphone is just that — it’ll pick up sound from any direction. 

Lecture microphones

The Audio-Technica Pro-70 ($99) is a great cardoid condenser microphone.  The length of the cord is 6 feet (1.8m).  This is just right to put the microphone right next to the main temple microphone and have the battery box sit on the floor.  The cable is not removable so you can’t easily extend the cable.  If you are handy with a soldering iron, you could cut the cable and extend it yourself with the appropriate cable.  The box includes an XLR connector to connect to a microphone cable to your recording equipment.  The box also has a ‘low-cut’ roll-of switch which, when enabled, should minimize the handling noise when the speaker adjusts the microphone or accidentally touches the microphone or cord.

Normally I use my wireless recording equipment for lectures.  This minimizes the time to setup/tear down and also gives me more flexibility in where to place my equipment.  I’ll do a full review of the wireless equipment I use (Audio-Technica 1800 Series) in a later article. The microphone I use is the Audio Technica 831cW ($75).  This microphone is the wireless (rough) equivalent of the Pro-70 mentioned above.  It is a cardoid condenser microphone.  It comes with a very nice tie-clip — nicer than the one that comes with the Pro-70.

Kirtan microphone

I have been very pleased with the Sony ECM-MS957 ($190) Stereo microphone.  This is a condenser “Mid-Side” microphone.  It handles loud kirtans well and has a switch that converts between a 90 degree pattern (narrow) and a 120 degree pattern (wide).  The microphone can also be rotated up and down so you can point the mic properly.  The microphone does not use phantom power.  Instead it uses a single AA battery to provide power.  I’ve not had to replace the battery in the last year (but keep a spare anyway!).  It comes with two cables.  One is a 5pin XLR -> 1/8″ mini jack.  This would be used with the cheaper recorders that do not have XLR connectors.  The other is a 5pin XLR -> 2 3pin XLRs.  It is a pigtail cable so it is fairly short.  If you want to run the cable some distance, then either use 2 regular XLR cables, or you can purchase a 5pin XLR cable of the appropriate length.  They are fairly expensive though, about $50 for a 25 foot cable.  Sony also makes a lower end version of this microphone that only terminates in a 1/8″ mini jack.

Bhajan microphones

You can certainly use the above Sony microphone to record a bhajan.  You’ll eventually find that the vocals are quiet compared to the instruments or the drums are not crisp and clear.  The next step is to use separate microphones for the different instruments and record each on a separate track (ideal) or use a mixer to mix the microphone levels live and then record to your 2-track recorder.

I currently use a  Sennheiser e825S ($80) Vocal cardoid dynamic microphone.  It is fairly low end and will be replaced at sometime with something better but has served me well.  It has a on/off switch which the leader will probably appreciate.

For the drums, I use a pair of Audix i5 ($100) microphones.  One for the small head and one for the big head.  These are also cardoid dynamic microphones that can handle significant volumes (what you need for a drum).  Be careful not to put them too close to the large head though.  Even these will distort at high volume.

For the harmonium, I use the Audio Technica Pro-70 listed above.  I affix the microphone using either the tie clip or the (included) guitar clip.  Just find a place that gets it close to the reeds and then affix it so that the microphone will be steady. 

Finally, I use the Sony microphone listed in the Kirtan section to capture a stereo “room” mix.  I record this separately from the instrument/vocal mix.  In my case, the camcorder accepts a microphone input, so I feed the signal to the camcorder.

Alternatives

For lectures, the key is use a microphone.  It can by any microphone, but lapel or lavalier microphones are the easiest to place close to the speaker.   Be sure to get a cardoid or directional microphone.  This will ensure that room noise will be ignored.  Unfortunately, it will also make recording the questions difficult — I’ll cover possible solutions in a future article for dealing with that.

For bhajans and kirtans, again, most good microphones will do.  Just be sure to choose cardoid (directional) microphones for your instrument mics so that you only pick up that instrument and not the rest of the room.  For recording the overall sound mix of the bhajan or kirtan, use a stereo microphone.  These are either Mid Side (like the sony above) or XY microphones.  Either will do, though XY will generally be in a fixed pattern and so can’t be adjusted to capture just the sound of the bhajan party.

Next week?  I’ll cover mixers.

Marantz PMD 660 Flash Recorder

I have been using the Marantz PMD660 Handheld CompactFlash Recorder ($450) for about a year now to record classes and bhajans.  It is a little bit larger than the new crop of portable recorders, but that size comes with some features that are lacking in nearly all recorders I’ve seen.

First, what I like about the recorder:

• Records to Compact Flash
• XLR Inputs
• Analog level adjustments
• Powered by AA batteries
• Bright LED level meters

What I don’t like about the recorder:

• A bit bulky
• Record time could be longer
• Built-in Microphones are useless
• Left and Right levels are hard to adjust independently.

This recorder has very good quality MIC Pre-amplifiers through the XLR inputs.  I hear very little noise when the levels are cranked way up.  I will go into more detail on XLR inputs when I cover microphones, but almost all good microphones use XLR connectors.  You can convert to mini-jacks used by other recorders, but the resulting quality probably is not as good as using a good pre-amplifier like one that is built into the Marantz.  The recorder also supports built-in phantom power which can be used to power condenser microphones.

You can also record line-in through a 1/8″ jack — might be useful if you want to hook up through the temple’s PA system or a mixing board. 

The analog level adjustment feature is very important.  Most recorders (including this one) support some sort of automatic gain control.  This feature will allow the recorder automatically adjust the levels as the speaker or bhajan becomes louder and softer.  This may seem like a good feature at first, but the end result will often end up with a recording that is not natural sounding.  Instead, one should disable the automatic gain control and use the manual control.  Many of the smaller recorders bury the level controls pretty deep in the menu system.  Better recorders provide a nice analog knob or slider that can be used to adjust the level.  In combination with the bright LED level meters, one can ensure that the recording isn’t too loud (distortion) or too quiet.  This unit allows you to adjust the left/right levels independently.  This is useful to record the speaker with one microphone and to have another microphone for recording questions from the audience.

The recorder has many options that I really don’t bother using.  I always record in WAV format at 48Khz (to match the sampling done by my video camera).  This gives me about 6 hours on a 4 gig card if recording in stereo or 12 hours if recording in mono.  It does support recording as MP3, but only at 128Kbps.  If you plan on doing any post processing of the audio, just record in WAV format.

Record time is about 4 hours on 4 AA batteries.  I use rechargeable and tend to change them out at the 3hr mark.  One severe flaw in this device is that if you are actively recording and the battery runs out then it is likely that the track that is being recorded will be lost.  This hasn’t been an issue since I normally recharge after every use and don’t generally record for longer than 2hrs at a run anyway.

Alternatives:

I highly recommend this Marantz PMD660, but it is a bit bulky compared to some other recorders.  If you are looking for something smaller and are not going to use nice microphones, there are other alternatives.

I have generally recommended the Roland R-09HR ($350).  This is a small recorder that has good built-in microphones.  You can also use an external microphone that uses 1/8″ jacks. 

Another recorder that looks promising is the Tascam DR-1 ($250).  A friend of mine just took it to the New York Rathayatra and it seems to have worked out for him.

If you need something that supports more than two tracks, Roland just came out with the Roland R-44 ($895).  It can be linked with another unit for synchronized 8 track recording.  This would be great for recording live bhajans.

Next week?  A quick review of microphones.

Digital Home Recording Tips – part 1

At O’Reilly.com they are doing a piece on Digital Home Recording. What is needed to make a great recording in your own home and how to sound professional.

One of the most common questions posed by beginning and intermediate recordists is “How do I get rid of background noise in my recording?” It’s all too easy for 60-cycle hum, air conditioner drone, mic cable crackle, traffic noise, and many other ugly artifacts of modern life to sneak into our pure audio signals.

You can read part 1 here.

 

 

 

New Weekly Feature – Quality Podcasting and Vidcasting

Hare Krishna! My name is Rupa Madhurya das and I’ll be posting a series of articles on the equipment I use to produce my “Classes and Bhajans” podcast. I post both audio and video recordings of Classes, Bhajans, and other events that I have the opportunity to attend. Since I currently live in Dallas, much of the content is of the Dallas area.

While it is certainly possible to record classes in a quick and easy manner, the results will often be lower quality than desired. It takes an investment in time and equipment to produce high quality content.

Ok, so where do we go from here? This post is a quick introduction of myself and what I intend to cover. I’ll first write an article on each piece (or category) of equipment that I use and then wrap up with a series of how-to articles.

So, without further introduction:

Recording equipment:

• Marantz PMD 660 2-track digital recorder
• Microphones
  • Audio Technica Pro-70 Lavalier / Instrument Microphone
  • Audio Technica 1800 Series Wireless microphone System
  • Audio Technica AT831R Lavalier microphone for wireless system
  • AUDIX i5 Instrument Dynamic
  • Sennheiser e825S Vocal dynamic
  • Sony ECM-MS957 Stereo
• Behringer Eurorack UBB1002 portable mixer
• Sony HDR-SR12 Camcorder
• Square Perfect SP2700 Light kit

Software:

• Sony Vegas Video Pro (will discuss free alternatives for audio only)
• Wave Arts Power Suite 5 VST Plug-in
• dBpoweramp music converter
• DiVX Pro

Ok, that looks like a lot doesn’t it? Future articles will cover each item, why I use it and possible alternatives. Also, keep in mind that recording a class is much easier than a bhajan and requires less equipment. If you are doing audio only then some of this will also not be relevant.

Next week? In depth coverage on the Marantz PMD 660 as well as some alternatives.

Krishna ebooks for your PowerPC Phone

I recently received a collection of ebooks that can be used on your PPC Phone.
You can download all the books here (73mb)

We will post later an instruction how to put them on your phone. But if you have experience how to do it, please send it to us. Write a post to me. (You need to have an account.)

[16 jun] We got a nice comment by Indulekha. Read below