Roger Nichols
Every once in a while I run across a piece of equipment that makes my job
as an engineer a little easier. If it makes it enough easier I will buy
one for my own use. When the Sony PCM-F1 became available, I purchased one
so that I could take mixes home to check them in a familiar environment.
I no longer had to wonder if the two track at the studio had captured the
actual mix. If the mix was lousy on the F1, then it was lousy back at the
studio.
I have added a few microphones to my collection over the years. An AKG Gold
Tube Mic, a couple of AKG 451s, a few Sure SM-91 condensers, a B&K 4006,
a matched pair of Neuman TLM-150 transformerless microphones, a couple of
PZMs, an Altec 623c (figure that one out), Beyer ribbons, some Brooke Siren
direct boxes and a few other miscellaneous items crowd my closet. I drag
them out, set them up and they sound great, most of the time. Every once
in a while, though, I am forced to use equalization to get the sound that
I want. Capital YUCHK. I hate EQ. Especially if something needs a lot of
it. (Is 3db a lot?) Vocals start to get sibilant when you brighten them,
drums start to loose their nice attack because of the phase shifts added
around the equalized frequency.
A few projects over the years have allowed me the time necessary to change
whatever was needed to get the sound right. Change drum heads, change drums,
change drummers, change room placement, change rooms, change studios, change
cities, change the weather, anything before equalization. Most projects
involving mere mortals, however, do not offer such luxuries. Well, maybe
if I just use a little EQ and then twist the knob around on the shaft so
that it looks like it points to zero. Naaaaaaaah.
A couple of new microphones from Yamaha have changed all that. Yes, I said
Yamaha. Not necessarily the first place I would turn to for a new microphone.
I tried them on a tracking date recently to record drums, and was pleasantly
surprised. These little babies were designed to be used on drums. They come
in two different sizes, too. The small ones, the MZ-205s are best suited
for drums under 14 inches in diameter. That includes small toms and snare
drums. The large ones, the MZ-204s are geared toward drums over 14 inches
in diameter. Floor toms and kick drums fall in this category. They also
have a connector that exits the mic at a 90 degree angle instead of straight
out the back. This allows you to get the mic into close spots like between
low cymbals and tom toms or to get a good shot on the snare drum without
getting in the way of the hi hat. Nice.
The drummers I used as guinea pigs were Peter Erskine, Jim Keltner and Carlos
Vega. By the time I got done with them, the were as happy as clams.
On Peter Erskine's drums I did absolutely nothing! No equalization at all
on any of the drums. To get the snare drum sound that I wanted, all I had
to do was change the angle between the microphone and the snare drum. Peter
was playing Yamaha drums. I wonder, hmmmmmmm?
After being completely spoiled by this first encounter with these new Yamaha
mics, I attacked Jim Keltner's kit (non Yamaha) with the same set of microphones.
I couldn't use the Yamaha on the kick drum this time because Keltner wanted
to keep the front head on. So I had to settle for one of the mics that Jim
had permanently installed in his kick drum, but the rest of the drums sounded
great. I did have to resort to a little EQ on the snare drum, but a moment
of silence while facing George Massenburg's house made it O.K.
Basic tracks with Carlos Vega? Same deal. No EQ, No nothing. From the time
I walked out to adjust the mic positioning on Carlos' drums until we started
rolling tape was ten minutes!
Holy mother of cellular phones! I just tried these Yamaha mics on a horn
date. Amazing. Too good to be true. I used a MZ-204 on tenor sax, a MZ-204
on trombone, a MZ-205 on alto sax, an a MZ-205 shared between the two trumpets.
I recorded all the horns on one track and then doubled them on another track.
Absolutely no EQ on any of the mics. I was amazed at the bite to the horn
sound with just these Yamaha mics. I guess these mics will just have to
have a nice home in my mic collection.
The reason that I didn't have to use equalization is because of the frequency
response curve of these microphones. There are no EQ circuits, the diaphragm
is more sensitive to some frequencies than others. This means that the amount
of signal at 4000Hz is louder than the amount of signal at 400Hz. Its just
as though you added highs to the mic signal, but without all the phase shift
produced by those EQ circuits. Now I have the sound I want for the drums
I record without sacrificing the sonic purity of the source. Way hip.
Another news flash, folks. I have just finished mixing the album that Carlos
Vega played on. I didn't have to use any EQ on the drums during mixing either!
I don't want you to think that it took me a long time to write this, we
actually completed the whole album in four weeks. Part of the reason we
got done so quick is that the drums were so easy to record and mix. You
know, there may be a place in modern music for real drums. What a concept,
no programming, no trying to make ice cream out of dog meat when it comes
to getting great drum sounds. All you have to do is tell the drummer what
to play and not to hit your new Yamaha mics.