Recording didgeridoo for Kosmopterix – part 4A

October 16, 2009 by Du 4 comments

Microphone and preamp sound tests with examples

Here I would now like to give some examples of recording didgeridoo so that words being used gain some meaning. I will try to keep myself from commenting these sound and less sound didgeridoo sound examples, so you can make your own judgment.

I want to point out some things before the show begins.

  1. When I recorded these files, they were for my needs only. At that time I did not think about posting them on the Internet so everyone can have benefit of it. They were made to satisfy me, and not any other condition. I say that because tests weren’t laboratoric with high level of quality control, but you can still get a lot out of them if you want to.
  2. I do this test/review/tutorial more for didgeridoo freaks than for gear freaks. Simply because I myself fall more in the first category, and because first category is lacking tests as this. With that in mind, I elaborate further these tests.
  3. It is VERY IMPORTANT that you adjust levels of the sound files if you want to compare properly. Otherwise, almost always louder clip will sound better, and that could be a really strange taste of sound… It is just a little adjustment in your player/DAW, but it means a world of a difference.
  4. I have recorded uncountable (well for computer it is countable and it is 1463) sound files before I started real recording, only for tests. I have tried to have an appropriate documentation – in my notebook and in my file names, but it is possible that I have made some mistakes. I have made a choice which I thought is not too big and not too useless.

How I recorded

I recorded a C didgeridoo I use very often, and which I used on 3 songs on Kosmopterix. I “know” the sound of this didgeridoo, and the test sounds I could repeat relatively similarly each time. I did test also on other didges and other songs, but it would take the focus out of this text. Recording was done in the room described at Chapter 3, always at the same spot. Didgeridoo was lifted about 35 cm from the ground and it had absorber underneath. More about that next time. I recorded at various distances, but chose to present 23cm distance as it is between the worlds of huge bass and clearness.  I am aware that not all of these mics sound the best on this distance, and to get the “best” results distances would probably have to be different for every mic, but then we are in too big story. So we keep it as simple as possible, and we go to the gear list.

Gear list

Microphones

– Large diaphragm condensers: Rode K2, Rode Classic 2, Violet – The wedge

– Ribbons: Royer R121, Royer R122V

– Dynamic: ElectroVoice ND 468

Preamps: Impact II – in-built mic preamps in TC Electronic StudioKonnekt 48, Universal Audio LA 610 signature edition, Rupert Neve Designs Portico 5032, Thermionic Culture Earlybird 1.2, Forssell Technologies SMP-2

Conversion: TC Electronic StudioKonnekt 48

Samples

There are not samples of every mic on every preamp, because I did not have all at the same time, but I believe you can follow the comparison anyway. Just one comment, because now is a good chance not to forget. I am often asked why I don’t  use dynamic microphone on didge. Here you can find the answer. If not, then maybe it is not your answer. I know the price difference here is very big, but even so, you can get a condenser mic sounding relatively similar to these (in opposition to dynamic mics) for much less money. And I still do use dynamic mic sometimes live, but we’ll discuss it later.

OK, here is the box with peculiar treasure – left click to play or right click and save link as(s) to download;

Enjoy your listening!

Du

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