Miking

[MISS DEBBIE BROOKS]

What would be the audible differences between miking a keyboard and recording it directly?”

[eusagc]

hi miss debbie,

with direct, you get the sound as is, as intended, in the form of an electric signal. when you mic it, you go through the process of this signal going through two transducers (the speaker and the mic) so that the final sound (which is another electrical signal) will largely depend on the characteristics of those two.

most often than not, you get better fidelity and dynamic range with recording direct, although you may want to mike it to add color to the original sound, or alter its stereo image. the former is the reason why electric guitar amps are almost always miked, while bass is commonly d.i.'ed. if you only want to add warmth or sheen to the direct sound, you could do this by using a good preamp before plugging into the console.

cheers,
albert

[Bill DerryBerry]

Deb,
Record both ways and save the raw data; then blend the two and see what you get.

Or, Pan one channel at about 4:30 and the other at 5:30 on the final mix down and see how that sounds. A "Delay" of a few Ms can add depth by pushing it back a few feet on the sound stage. Then, add another blended part to the left side "Real Low" to fill in.

I use a Korg X5D for Electric piano, Strings and things.

[I ran one of my guitar parts through a shimmmer reverb (Epiphone CE) and then panned it offset the orignal part and the effect was Surreal.]

Try www.emusician.com (http://www.emusician.com) magizine for articles also Mix Mag.

Or use the KISS principle: Keep It Simple Sweetheart... http://www.audioforums.com/forums/smile.gif

BDB