Electrical Audio How-To: Microphone Techniques for Speaker Cabinets
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- Опубліковано 7 сер 2021
- Steve demonstrates some of the techniques he uses to record amplifiers of all kinds and describes some common problems and solutions.
His whiteboard diagramming skills reach new heights.
www.electricalaudio.com
Shot, edited, masterminded by Jeff Perlman. Jeffperlmancreative.com.
Rest in peace Steve. The world will always hear you!
This guys dead?
@@NortsGhoul yes, he died last week.
@@alejoromero damn man
This gentleman is the most informed janitor I’ve ever seen-the studio bosses should be sure to give him a raise and a promotion.
He didn't wear his compliancy-mask long enough to qualify for a raise
I swear the only reason people click on videos anymore is to make dumb jokes.
Maybe one day they'll let him run the console.
@@profd65 It's the way he talks and wears. He doesn't talk like someone who made very agressive music with edgy lyrics or album titles. He talks like someone you call to fix your defective boiler. That's not a bad thing, it just means he is done to earth, but it's sometimes funny how people who make agressive edgy music sound like in real life. For example the guy from Slayer sounds like a cheerful, friendly and modest dude.
@@profd65 or pissy complaints
It’s just occurred to me how lucky we are to have these videos now the man has gone. What a document. The world is going to sound less interesting without him.
Anyone know why he liked dressing this way? The coveralls?
@@SusannMarieDye as a man in my early fifties I’m going to say comfort and possibly he had a very dusty studio.
It's insane that we live in a time where absolute legends in the field have UA-cam channels giving away what are essentially masterclasses every video. Thank you Steve and everyone at Electrical Audio for these knowledge bombs!!
I just found out now that he was doing these videos. It's crazy! I would never have dreamed of it!
You’re so right! 👍🏼
The stuff he records is not good. Gloom haze or whatever was the worst thing I ever heard. Sounded like a kid who doesn’t want his dong anymore.
you wanna know why? cuz the old business model is unsustainable. recording engineers, the studios, their staff are not under appreciated in todays version of the recording industry.. they're not receiving the compensation in line with their value. with everyone thinking they are a producer with FL studio and algorithms like Landr undervaluing the importance of a mastering engineer, these "legends" have to diversify their revenue streams... UA-cam is a good starting point for that since there are already so many wannabe how-to videos spewing wrong info and incorrect practices...
Steve should really expand into his own line of beanies. lol he's always wearing 'em so might as well start making some paper will Albini beanies
Couldn't have said it better myself.
R I P master, we will miss your philosophy about music and passion for audio..
I just want to say thank you Steve and everyone at EA for sharing your knowledge and making this free. Humanity at its finest.
He just died man
An absolute masterclass on mic technique. Thanks Steve!!
Remember Rhett….there is a plan alBini
@Damon Davis 🤣🤣🤣🤣 crap music is right.
Rhett's music is actually quite good.
What i love in this is that there is consideration for the real world. This isn't a dry technical class with a bunch of waves and things, it's a practical approach. it's really important not only to consider the sound from that amplified, but the effects of it's location. There is a point where the room sound becomes more prevalent than the improvement in cabinet sound, so even if technically you get a better sound at 5 feet away, you may have added so much of the room that it is no longer reasonable to do. Tim Pierce is a very successful session guitarist, and his home studio setup is worth checking out (search for his channel).
Thanks Steve for a great video that really considers the real world.
@@OldManBadly Tim Pierce's show is pretty good.
Bloody hell, the times we live in where we can get a lesson from Steve on UA-cam for free! Thanks a million, mate!
I agree. This is very cool to see. Thank you Electrical Audio!!
"We get better at things over time because we're bad at them at some point and we stop doing that." Words to live by. Thank you Steve!
Can't believe I'm not going to hear his voice in person ever again. Already missed. Never forgotten.
How the fuck have I only just learned that Electrical Audio has a UA-cam channel? Steve is one of our generation's greats, and I'm ready to learn.
me too
Omg I love Albini being silly like this 🤣
Little did I know he would pass just a couple days after I wrote this :( 💔🕊️
Steve needs to do a kid's show. He could be the Bill Nye of independent music creation. Think of the children, Steve!!
@@DylanPank71 Yeah, I was gonna say that it probably wouldn't be a good idea for a guy who used to be in a band called "Rapeman" to host a children's TV show
They don’t need to know that part
RIP Steve
RIP Steve
@@massgrave8ximagine giving a kids TV show to a straight up pedophile… like what is this, Nickelodeon in the 90s?
He's giving us absolute gold here people. It's shocking how much more 'real' an amp sounds just by backing the mic off a few inches. You can instantly hear it. I've always been suspicious of the 'mic at an angle technique' now we have a diagram to annoy the producers even more. Thank you Uncle Steve.
It says a lot about Steve that he put these out for free. He's a great teacher as well. I'm really broken up about his passing.
By far, the highest display of comprehension and humor of speaker/mic/room relationship in a video I have ever seen. This is the canon
brian deck's video for reverb is equally great, maybe not as technical but still a great watch
Albini is the best content on the tube.
Albini, the lord of audio has spoken. When the lord speaketh we listen.. Thank you Steve for sharing your incredible knowledge and expertise.
Click the doobly do to see what he doobly did.
*hath
Na.... actually not
"Don't be a sheep" Steve Albini, I'm sure at some point
✌🏼
This is probably my favourite video on the whole internet.
Love steve, every word that comes out of his mouth is solid gold
I've got to say, as a teacher myself, everything here is explained with such brilliant simplicity. It all makes complete sense to a relative layman - I feel like I've witness a masterclass in pedagogy as well as audio engineering. Steve, when you're ready to quit music you should retrain as a teacher.
You mean Andragogy , as pedagogy is for children. Although in my case (51) I still consider myself the latter
I like seeing the silly side of Steve.
Wait wait wait - isn't all of Steve silly? Billiards anyone?
Acabo de aprender muchísimo en estos 20 minutos. Una verdadera leyenda este señor. Descanse en paz.
He's a great teacher. Please post more. I'd gladly pay for it.
Same
Shhh! Don't give em ideas. Us poor people need it for free ;)
Albini selling educational videos directly conflicts with his social and political ideologies so I think you don’t have to worry.
He's done a for-pay Mix with the Masters series, I believe.
@@seamusmaguire2160 Make yourself poor to own the capitalists.
And again we have Albini teaching us pro audio engineering for free....
By the way, I never thought of placing the microphone that far from the speaker (10-12 inches he said I believe) to capture the ideal sound of a cab or combo. In most videos engineers put the mics right in front of the speakers, so for me as an amateur this is was quite a surprise
3:25 I am shocked, I say shocked, when the stern and strict mister Albini out of nowhere performs a goofy gag.
This is the man, after all, who wrote Songs About Fucking. Very very stern and strict indeed....
Time for a sequel: Songs About Gagging.
@@timstevens3183 That was exactly what I thought of. Steve has always had a sense of humor ... he just had no patience for assholes (even if he was one).
Been hoping you guys would get around to a video like this. Always appreciate your stuff and your sense of humor.
These just keep getting better and better!
That bass tone is the stuff of legends.
Please come back and teach us more Steve!
Absolutely loved the transitions
I never thought something like this would happen. Beautiful!
This video solved most of the problems/bad habits I've had with mic'ing my amps all these years, and were explained with such clear simplicity that even a gorilla like myself may get a decent guitar tone down on tape. Thank you Steve!!!
These videos are so helpful, glad I got to hear some Shellac!
This flys in the face of so much Ive learned and I love it
this video is just unbelievably great under so many aspects. Thank you Steve
I really love the editing on your videos as much as the content.
This video has taught me a ton of stuff to help me get better recordings in the shitty 8-track studio I'm setting up in my bungalow. Thank you, Steve!
This is like a late birthday present for me. You're an inspiration, Steve!!!
Really enjoying all the knowledge and the creativity of the staging and video shooting. Looks like people having fun, and doing work they care about and like. Very inspirational on multiple levels!
This is one of the best recording 'lessons' I have ever watched on the web (and I have seen - and paid for - quite a few): Very clearly explained theory, practical audio examples and even funny gags! Killer whiteboard skills, too. All all that for free! Amazing. Thank you so much!
So informative, clear, concise, relevant and even funny ! Steve has the heart of a teacher...
I want to see the Albini School for The Recording Arts somewhere soon !!
I’m so glad I found out about your channel. So much valuable information! Thank you for sharing your techniques and knowledge!
Just what I needed. Thanks Steve! Your production is brilliant.
Maybe we’ll get a video of how Steve gets those amazing live drum sounds. He’s the best at doing that.
bless these how-to's
Absolutely brilliant, entertaining and enlightening. Thank you Steve.
Fantastic, informative and immensely watchable!!! That ending is the best!!! [Chef's kiss]
He doesn't waste any time. I appreciate that. Well done , awesome vid. Ty
And he keeps it informal whilst just being a fun video to watch, so damn rare these days to find that
Why on earth this video doesn't have ten million views? Every second of it is just fantastic. Thanks Steve!!
What a blessing to have this master show us so much. Thank you!
Excellent! It's never been so clearly put to me before. Thanks Steve.
3:34 this is a great example of a take off axis from the cam mic after a goofy transition :) damn steve is the best ! imagine work with him and learn every day ... this is an excellent tip video and for free ... thank you !
i want to go back like, 16 years and show this to my recording class i took in college (or 4 semesters of them that i took) Mainly to show the professor, who would name drop his friendship with Danny Elfman and other self-serving egotistical elements that were detrimental to the learning process. i learned more in 20 minutes of this video than most of my time in those classes. Electrical Audio, you are one of my professors now. great stuff!
This stuff is pure gold! Thanks for the vid Steve!
Thank you so much for every one of your videos! I'd love to hear about your techniques for vocals
"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." Albert Einstein.
Steve, thank you so much for making yourself available and sharing your expertise.
This is probably the most concise and useful video I have ever seen on the subject. I had never thought about the potential problems of a microphone at an angle. This probably explains why it feels like I got better results when I had my 30W combo amp vs. the 100W Marshall I use now - I assumed that I had somehow forgotten how to place a microphone, never once considering that I was recording an angled cab with a microphone not placed on-center to the actual axis of the speaker I was recording. Suddenly, the last few years of constantly turning knobs on the cab and fighting with EQ are starting to make sense.
Thanks!
Hello, dont know if thats your problem or not, but most amps sound best when the master gain is at least 75% cranked, which can be hard with a 100 watt amp if you dont want to make everybodys ears bleed. Also speakers that are able to handle such high volumes (watts) usually tend to be more stiff than speakers made for lower wattage. So it might be a good idear to use a amp atenuator (the cheap one that doesnt fuck with the sound) and a lower wattage speaker to really drive the amp. Driving the normal high watt speaker with the atenuated signal might also sound strange. I dont know maybe that is completly not your problem, but it was mine recently so I thought I could share this 😅
Thanks Steve for this video and all you have done for music.
I've been binge-watching Steve Albini interviews for six months and only now just realized he has a YT channel.
I had to rub my eyes and pinch myself when I saw a new Electrical Audio tutorial with Steve hosting. What a treat! May this content be a source of revenue on its own, and may it drive new business through the doors at Electrical!
P.S. Watching Stoic Steve Looney Tunes-ing himself about the studio was unexpected albeit entertaining. Made my knees hurt just thinking about it. Frickin' Wile E. Albini over here, amirite. 😁
The Coles in front of a small amp is a golden technique. For those who havent seen Eric valentines video on No one knows, all of the bass tone on that song came from a tiny peavey decade practice amp with a 4038 mashed up on the grille. It really sounds incredible
Glad someone else has watched this!
I bring this fact up on a weekly basis
Not all, if i remember correctly, but the Majority of the bass tone came from a decade. I since bought one, awesome little amp!
Thanks for taking the time to make this!
I learned SO much from this. Incredibly articulate and useful. Thanks Steve!
Great to see a video that explains "WHY?"
Another reason for close micing is to eliminate as much reflected room sound as possible. It may be a sound you want, but it all gets much more complicated as you move away from the speaker. Which is part of the reason why drums are the hardest thing to record. Phase can become a monster with multiple mics picking up room reflections. Although generally when the distance between two mics is large and they’re at different heights, as in this example, phase cancellation is not an issue. There is enough delay that it prevents any overlap.
Steve is very generous with his time and nerdiness. Love the man.
This video is loaded with great information, and was easy to understand. Additionally, I found it funny at times. Thank you.
Please come back and make more videos Steve :(
Champs always amaze me. Such a stupid simple little amp that almost always sounds great.
All these Electrical Audio videos are so helpful
Great video. It could be nice to see more like this with Steve as the presenter.
Live engineers could have developed that “sneaking in” or “angled” mic technique to try and use the Null of the microphones to their advantage; willing to sacrifice some high end clarity for less bleed from the drum kit for example. That’s only the reason I still use that placement I do a lot of live stuff on 4 tracks.
Also most stages are small so mic's sticking out tend to get hit a lot. Sneaking in from the side has less risk of mics getting knocked over. Studio placement does not work on a live stage with sound bleeding all over the place :)
Steve just reinforced my observation about speaker miking. I've tried moving the mic off center and off axis. It invariably sounds like mud or sounds phasey. If it's pointed right at the center of the cone the signal tends to need less eq in the mix. If you're not satisfied with the recorded sound, try a different mic or amp settings. Minimize the mic placement variable. Thanks Steve!
This is absolutely amazing! To have the opportunity to learn from Steve and his wealth of Knowledge and experience is an incredible privilege! Thank you!
Amazing content from a legend. Thank you Steve.
RIP to the great Steve Albini 💔💔💔
Unlike the vast majority of audio engineering videos on UA-cam, there’s not a single SM57 to be found here.
As it used to say on the EA website: " if you need to record something and you don't have a microphone handy, this will do. I guess."
Ya true ! but i don't need to tell you why its good, cause the records are out there, and you know who I'm talking about ? who used two sm57 on the cab.
@@christopherdunn317
I was just quoting the EA website as an explanation to why you don't see them in his videos, I don't have enough experience with other mics to have an informed opinion on the subject ;-)
Within reason you can match any semi pro mic with a speaker cabinet and get something good. It's just easier and less time consuming to do that with a better mic.
I’ve always thought the tried and true method of using an sm57 on guitar amps was over rated. I like to have options when mixing and the 57 doesn’t have a large enough frequency range. Better to throw a condenser mic and roll off what you don’t need. But using two mics ( one a 57 ) has worked for me.
Absolute phenomenal advice in depth and exactly what I was looking for! Thanks Steve. Also, legendary work on In Utero as you already know.
By far the best video I’ve ever watched and so easy to understand
Thank you, Steve.
I’m sorry the interns are throwing you into these shots so rudely. Make them pay for your physical therapy, Steve.
Ha ha!
what if he likes it?
Thank you!! This helped visualize and understand a bunch of things I couldn't before!
What a wealth of experience. Thanks so much for sharing this.
Legend. R.I.P.!
I feel like I need a knee replacement myself after watching Albini stage diving....
One of the most comprehensive videos I've seen on micing cabs. Subbed.
Thank you Steve. These videos are so very very helpful and they’ve opened up my world. Thank you.
these videos make everything else in life MUCH less meaningful by comparison
cool vid... but what was the point of having the mask on for 2 seconds
That is how the minds of brainwashed covidians work, don't try to find any logic in it.
Mr Albini, Thank you for sharing your wisdom! This means a lot.
Extremely informative and helpful. Thank you for taking the time to make this video.
Knowledge is power, and power is awesome. Thanks Steve for giving me more power!
This video is so funny - it just gets better and better. And the information is by the far the best I’ve seen anywhere about recording speaker cabinets. Absolutely brilliant!
uniform. pens. articulation. knowledge. humor. This guy has it all. Mr. Albini is the only mentor I need. Teach on.
The information about recording is great, but the leaps from one shot to the next amazing! ❤
i loved everything about this video, thank you Sir! I hope you had a happy 60th birthday Albini!
thank you youtube for finally recommending a video i actually want to watch
charming and informative. im so glad this channel exists
Brilliant demonstration Steve :-)