in Production by Bobby Owsinski

This Miking Formula Is Worth Remembering

Contrary to what many recording novices might think, just having great recording gear doesn’t automatically guarantee a great recorded sound. It’s easy to believe that just having a high-quality mic or preamp is automatically going to provide a stellar recording, but there’s much more to it than that. This excerpt from the 4th edition of my Recording Engineer’s Handbook illustrates a simple miking formula that’s puts the gear / recording relationship into the proper perspective.

While you can’t really quantify how much each variable contributes to how something ultimately sounds because each situation, even within the same project, is unique, you can generally break it down to something like this:

The player and the instrument contribute about 50 percent to the overall sound – sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less, but always the greatest portion. Keep in mind that a great player can make an inferior instrument sing while the opposite isn’t necessarily true.

The room contributes about 20 percent to the overall sound. Even on close-miked instruments, the room is far more responsible for the ultimate sound than many engineers realize.

The mic position contributes about 20 percent to the overall sound. Placement is really your acoustic EQ and is responsible for how the instrument blends with the rest of the track. A move of as little as an inch can sometimes make a bigger difference than you might think.

The mic choice contributes about 10 percent to the overall sound. This is the final bit that takes a good sound and makes it great. The best mic in the house won’t necessarily be the best fit in every situation, since it’s best to tailor the characteristics of the mic to the characteristics of the instrument being recorded.

Once again, the figures in this miking formula are only a rough estimate and can vary a great deal from song to song or even take to take or layer or layer.