I frequently fall in love with music, but this one
crush-level above the normal. I remember the feeling of picking up a cassette
tape with John Coltrane's "Love Surpreme" at a gas-station after a
really rainy fly-fishing trip in the mountains years ago. This track contains
some of that haunting drive that would play in my mind long after the music had
stopped. Perhaps not as experimental, but none the less.
A descriptive and under-used word for music that has
struck me in recent years is "severity": When a piece of music is
dark, perhaps in a minor key and with a strong sense of rhythm and forward movement;
it has strong elements (melody or otherwise) that you cannot help but immersing
yourself in — but! it does not put you in a dark mood! Rather, it puts you in a
heavy contemplative mood. It unlocks the compartments of the mind that deals
with existence, respect, meaning and perhaps even love. But in the case of
love, in the sense of understanding its foundations; not joyfully, not sadly,
but inquisitively.
Music that brings out the "severity" of life
makes you straighten your back and bend your mind. It makes you neither happy
or sad, but it sets you on a journey in gloomy light through the corridors of
the foundations of the constructions that brings us light — and firm points of
reference for our journey through life.
*
In ‘The Grain of the Voice’ Roland Barthes reflects on
a lacking parameter of musicology. He calls it the grain that you can find in a performer’s voice. The term is more
elusive than, say, harmony and
perhaps a hard term to discuss with objectivity. But it adds to our terminology
something that studying a score cannot lead us to. Likewise, severity is my Barthesian contribution
to terms that might help us think outside the established vocabulary of musical
understanding.
Perhaps there are stronger examples, and perhaps I should
make a whole playlist to explain more properly, but here is at least one
recording that fits the term.
From the
YouTube community we’ve seen a growing number of drum microphone comparisons,
of both conventional pro-level and affordable microphones. These comparisons
are of great value to new buyers and even to more seasoned engineers. In this article
I will share my own current top three pic for dynamic snare-drum microphones. At
least one of the mics should be familiar to most readers, and they vary in
price from average to high as far as dynamic microphones go.
The three microphones have slightly
different profiles: one is the cleanest and clearest; another is the most
trusted both over and under the snare; and the final has a pleasant high-mid
punch for those snares that really should cut through the mix.
Sennhesiser MD 441
This is
perhaps my all-time favourite to capture the top of a snare-drum. The advantage of this microphone is how it positions the snare-sound in the larger mix. My
ears have always perceived it as more tidy and focused in the mid-range than
the trusted SM57, when recording a whole kit. The micrphone includes
a bass roll-off and a treble boost, but there have been different versions in
the past and at least one I know of without the roll-off. This is an excerpt of
what Sennheiser writes about the MD 441 on their web-page: ‘Dynamic super-cardioid microphone […].
Balanced sound. Precise and distortion-free reproduction even at highest sound
pressure levels.’ Those words are very much in line with my experience.
Home-studio owners might be
hard-pressed to cash out for one of these right off the bat, but since it has
been around for a while there will be a few in circulation in the second hand
market. It is also a well worth microphone to save up for in
the long run. Personally, I would rather start off with getting one of these
for use on snare-drum, and wait with getting a whole line-up of MD 421s for the
toms. The rational is simple: How many times per beat do you hear the snare vs.
how many times do you hear toms?
As much as
I have a soft spot for the MD441, I have never been disappointed with the sound
of an SM57. It is easily the most trusted and predictable snare microphone in
history and it is my personal top pick for a dynamic under the snare-drum. It is also my top pick for deep snare-drum
sounds as it produces a really nice punch in the low mids. In addition to being
a great snare-drum mic, it is one of the most versatile microphones you can own. Its most under-valued use may be on voice as the SM58 steals all the thunder
due to its grille. Custom-made wind-screens exist and pop-filters can be found
in most studios.The SM57
has been a top pick for drums for more than half a
century and I guess my grandchildren will one day inherit my own collection
and keep using them as nothing had changed. Which it hopefully won’t. I'm now in my 30's
with no children, so it's not exactly around the corner. That should put some
perspective on what I think about the future of this microphone.
Audix i5
This is the
only microphone on the list that I have not yet used, but I have heard it in a
number of comparison-reviews and come across it in articles from the industry-press. Sound on Sound did a great
review of this microphone. Their article also tells you about the diversity
of sound-sources this mic can be put to use on. It is intended to compete with
the SM57 and they are closely comparable in price, and certainly not too far
from each other in sound. Perhaps not surprising from Audix, the sound has slightly
more high-end snap than the SM57. It also appears to be a tad clearer and more
open sounding.
For high-pitch drum-sounds and piccolo-snares,
this is the microphone I find most interesting on offer right now. Think about
those haunting, piercing snappy snare-sounds in fast-paced funky grooves that
keeps playing inside your head and prevents you from sleeping at night. This is
what I would capture them with!
That this microphone is not in my own
collection yet is just a temporary deficit. It is irrevocably on the
purchasing-list!
A Pinch of Inspiration
Here’s one of my favourite YouTubers, Rick Russie,
making great sound with a mix of Shure and Audix close-microphones. He has
chosen one SM57 on the snare:
