You're right, though, with instruments running through a bunch of different amps it's not practical to use a single mic.

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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2003 Fessenden S/D-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro, Standel and Peavey Amps

Back when there were no "sound men" and multi-channel boards, a unidirectional mike was hooked (through a modulator - impedance matcher) right to the R&G phone wires. Placed in the center of the stage, it picked up pretty much everything, vocals, drums, and instrument amps. As Earnest said, it sounded pretty good (with a few adjustments), and I can remember we would often get inputs from listeners in their cars. (Everyone knew cars had better radios than we had at home.) Someone driving around would stop by and say "The drums are too loud", and just we'd make adjustments, playing louder or softer, until the sound was right.

Today, most of us have gotten used to having multiple mikes and controls for everything. In a sense, we've "subcontracted" the sound, our dynamics, of the performance. But there was a day...when we did it all ourselves (we had to), and every every live gig was recorded or broadcast using just one mike.

When one mike's all you've got, the word "impractical" never enters your mind. And just because someone today thinks you can't get a good sound with one mike doesn't mean it can't be done. It was done! The majority of recordings made through the mid '50s were made with just one mike.

[This message was edited by Donny Hinson on 20 November 2004 at 08:54 AM.]

With today's radio and tv technology, it is just not easy enough to engineer to the satisfaction of the station, for single mic broadcasting or recording to be the standard practice.

In the era you allude to, engineers used one mic for one reason: that was the ONLY way to do it. If they'd had the choice (and a good mixing board), I doubt they'd have even considered a single mic -- except, perhaps, for specific applications such as a well rehearsed bluegrass band that plays the mic like a volume control. Del McCoury comes to mind -- they've got it down to a science. That's the only context in which I've seen a single mic used in more than 30 years. There are also engineers who swear by two mic, straight stereo recordings of acoustic ensembles, such as symphony or chamber orchestras.

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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2003 Fessenden S/D-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro, Standel and Peavey Amps

Sorry, I do get testy sometimes when someone says "You have to do it this way.", or "You can't do that!" I'm always worried that "Newbies" might (as I once did) take those types of statements quite literally, and miss out on a once-in-a-lifetime recording.

[This message was edited by Donny Hinson on 21 November 2004 at 05:57 AM.]

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Bob
intonation help

(1) The act has their movements properly coordinated to get the lead singer/solo instruments in front of and closest to the microphone with the remainder of the performers appropriately spaced around it (a constant part of the performance when using this technique), and

(2) The sound system has been properly tuned to allow the necessary sound level to be attained without any feedback between the speakers and the microphone.

The reason I use the potentially controversial word "best" is this: When multiple mics are used, some bleed from each instrument and vocal into the mics intended for other instruments or voices will always occur. This bleed arrives at the distant mic a wee bit later than it gets to the mic directly in front of the instrument or singer and eventually all of the mics feed the mixer at the same time. The various bits of time delay introduce what we sound geeks refer to as "phase distortion" and degrades the original pure sound of each individual instrument or voice.

Whether or not this becomes a noticeable problem has a great deal to do with how many mics are out there, what the instruments are, how far apart the mics are and what the room itself does in regards to additional reflections (additional time delays) adding to the original sounds in each microphone.

Give me a great band and a single mic anyday as long as you also give me time to "ring out" (tune the feedback out of) the stage. The second best is to use as multiple mics well spaced apart and set it once then LEAVE IT ALONE. Non-musical sound guys that keep moving the knobs around can really screw up a good thing!

Thus it is not only a subjectively perceived phenomena but is also a scientifically provable fact. The OTHER fact remains, however, that it won't always workll!

Dave
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Strung Out on Great Sounds
Dave Grafe - email: dg@pdxaudio.com
PDX Audio
Music

1978 ShoBud Pro I E9, 1960 Les Paul (SG) Deluxe, 1963 Precision Bass, 1954 Gibson LGO, 1897 Washburn Hawaiian Steel Conversion

[This message was edited by Dave Grafe on 22 November 2004 at 12:06 PM.]