Wanted, Recording Sunn200s advice

[Smoothwound]

Hello everyone,

I'm getting ready to record an album, Bass and Drums heavy, and am wondering if anyone has experience, advice, suggestions, about recording techniques, which microphones capture that great Sunn Sound, placement, etc.

So far the spectrum runs from Shure SM%&'s to Neumann U47's which is a huge price difference.

The space is small, rectangular, acoustically treated in a half-assed kind of way.  But the Sunn sounds Great in there!

Any advice is welcome. I plan on using the new Apogee Ensemble thunderbolt with Logic Pro, Ableton, MAestro suite. Very stripped down, homestudio layout.

Will record DI plus live amp, and have the ability to reamp if any of you might be thinking that way.

I know there are thousands of Sunn recordings out there, I just can't seem to find any engineering notes on how the Sunns were recorded.

Looking forwards to your replys,
Thanks,
Dave

[EdBass]

For guitar or bass? Regardless, if you've got the budget for it you can't go wrong with the U47. It's a fantastic mic with an equally fantastic price tag.

For bass I'm familiar with some dynamic options that work well, both studio and live, and won't break the bank; Sennheiser 421, Audix D6, Audix F6, and of course our favorite "do it all", the SM57.
I've become a huge Audix fan in the past few years, however you can't discount the old Shure, they still get used on big league pro stages and in high end studios all over the world. For $99 it's hard not to buy one, and if you are mixing a mic signal with a DI signal, it will probably give you a healthy dose of Sunn flavor to work with.

[Smoothwound]

As ever,

Thanks Ed!  I would love the U47, but alas $$$$. I have been trying to find a good alt to it. they say the telefunkin M82 might be?? but who knows. I wish I could sample these somewhere. Sound on Sound has good reviews and advice, my problem is I have big league dreams on a rookie budget. I bought the 200s mostly because I wanted to record that remarkable tone, which is why I am trying to explore what others have used before. as stated before somewhere, I love Jerry's sound on LA Woman album, and with the addition of a MU Tron Phasor, Boss OD, and EHX MemoryMan with HAzari, I get some cwazy tones... Just a joy to plat through.

I'm actually thinking of going stereo with one of the new SUPRO amps, like Stanly Clarke does. Have you heard these yet?

Thanks again Ed,
be well,
Dave

[Soundmasterg]

For bass something like the AKG D114 would work well and won't break the bank. You will get a much better sound for bass with that then a Shure Sm57 since the AKG is made for lower frequencies. It also works well on kick drum. Another nice mic for bass is the EV RE20, but those are more expensive.

For guitar, the Sm57, Sennheiser 421, Oktava (various mics) and a lot of the Chinese cheapies are pretty decent too. With bass or guitar, combining DI with mic sound is good, and another useful thing to do is to use a ribbon mic as a room mic back around 5-10 feet and combine with a dynamic or condenser mic up close. Ribbon mics add realism to the sound and take away some of the harsh edge you can sometimes get with other types of mics, but they are very delicate unless you get a Royer ribbon....those are only moderately delicate.

Greg

[Oli]

Hello,

I do it like this: I split the bass signal (simple Y)  into a 2000S and a 200S and put all effects on the 200S line (sort of BIAMPING). The 2000S gets a RE 320 and a Yamaha Subbass, the 200S gets a e906. For the room mike I use a tube mike (bunch) (app. 2,5m away-depending on the rrom etc.).
I mix the four signals with the DI signal (Sansamp from tech 21) and put them into phase (I got al small plugin in the DAW for this)...Vola´-sounds grrrrrrreat !!!!

Greetings

Oli

[Smoothwound]

This is great! Thanks,

I will check out the space and see which of these applications makes sense. I'm getting a bunch of gear today, ....beginning of a great adventure!

[Oli]

For guitar or bass? Regardless, if you've got the budget for it you can't go wrong with the U47. It's a fantastic mic with an equally fantastic price tag.

For bass I'm familiar with some dynamic options that work well, both studio and live, and won't break the bank; Sennheiser 421, Audix D6, Audix F6, and of course our favorite "do it all", the SM57.
I've become a huge Audix fan in the past few years, however you can't discount the old Shure, they still get used on big league pro stages and in high end studios all over the world. For $99 it's hard not to buy one, and if you are mixing a mic signal with a DI signal, it will probably give you a healthy dose of Sunn flavor to work with.

 +1 I use the Audix stuff a lot since four years, the D6 is - to my ears - the perfect drum mic as it got a 4kHz shelf (cool attack) and it´s easy to handle in the bassdrum because of it´s weigt and size.  sorry...off tropic....

[Walt-Dogg]

For guitar or bass? Regardless, if you've got the budget for it you can't go wrong with the U47. It's a fantastic mic with an equally fantastic price tag.

For bass I'm familiar with some dynamic options that work well, both studio and live, and won't break the bank; Sennheiser 421, Audix D6, Audix F6, and of course our favorite "do it all", the SM57.
I've become a huge Audix fan in the past few years, however you can't discount the old Shure, they still get used on big league pro stages and in high end studios all over the world. For $99 it's hard not to buy one, and if you are mixing a mic signal with a DI signal, it will probably give you a healthy dose of Sunn flavor to work with.

 +1 I use the Audix stuff a lot since four years, the D6 is - to my ears - the perfect drum mic as it got a 4kHz shelf (cool attack) and it´s easy to handle in the bassdrum because of it´s weigt and size.  sorry...off tropic....

My D6 is excellent and I love my i5 as well. Just picked up an MD421-II and cant wait to try it with the Radial JDI I ordered the other day.

[patlaw]

My D6 is excellent...

Do you find that the D6 has VERY low output, as in lower than an RE20?

[Walt-Dogg]

My D6 is excellent...

Do you find that the D6 has VERY low output, as in lower than an RE20?

I don't have any experience with the RE20. But I have noticed that. More so on bass amps than when micing a bass drum especially through the kick port. I also noticed the i5 has insanely HIGH output in comparison. I think the D6 has low output in order to be able to gain up kick signals enough to compress naturally.

[Oli]

For guitar or bass? Regardless, if you've got the budget for it you can't go wrong with the U47. It's a fantastic mic with an equally fantastic price tag.

For bass I'm familiar with some dynamic options that work well, both studio and live, and won't break the bank; Sennheiser 421, Audix D6, Audix F6, and of course our favorite "do it all", the SM57.
I've become a huge Audix fan in the past few years, however you can't discount the old Shure, they still get used on big league pro stages and in high end studios all over the world. For $99 it's hard not to buy one, and if you are mixing a mic signal with a DI signal, it will probably give you a healthy dose of Sunn flavor to work with.

 +1 I use the Audix stuff a lot since four years, the D6 is - to my ears - the perfect drum mic as it got a 4kHz shelf (cool attack) and it´s easy to handle in the bassdrum because of it´s weigt and size.  sorry...off tropic....

My D6 is excellent and I love my i5 as well. Just picked up an MD421-II and cant wait to try it with the Radial JDI I ordered the other day.

...the MD 421 is a good idea, heaven´t used it for bass for ages. Has someone experience with the Neumann TLM 102 BK or the Shure 7b for bass?