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Friday, June 07, 2013
Bruce Bartlett 06/07/13 03:14 PM,Tiny microphones worn by performers are a wonderful tool for live sound. These nearly invisible mics permit hands-free operation. They allow freedom of movement, clear sound and very good gain-before-feedback. The two most common types of miniature mics are headworn and lavalier. Let’s look at their operating principles and application. Using Your Head Headworn mics work great for singers, actors and lecturers. They have a stiff-wire structure that loops around the ear, while a thin adjustable boom extends along the… View this story
Filed in: Live Sound • Feature • Blog • Study Hall • Microphone • Sound Reinforcement • Wireless -
Tuesday, June 04, 2013
Bruce Bartlett 06/04/13 01:43 PM,One of the most memorable events in The Blues Brothers is the scene where a church congregation dances to the gospel band. The dancers do insanely high flips and cartwheels to this exuberant, joyful music. I was honored to make a studio recording of similar music played by a top local gospel band, the Mighty Messengers. Here’s a look at my recording process, along with several audio examples in mp3 files. The Recording On the day of the session, we… View this story
Filed in: Church Sound • Feature • Blog • Study Hall • Digital Audio Workstations • Engineer • Microphone • Software • Studio • Technician -
Friday, May 17, 2013
Bruce Bartlett 05/17/13 05:08 PM,A drum kit can be viewed as a single instrument. Like an orchestra, it can be captured with a pair microphones in a stereo configuration (or a single stereo mic). Or, it can be viewed as a collection of individual instruments, picked up with numerous close mics. A minimal approach (Figure 1, below), also sometimes called area miking, uses only one or two mics overhead (or maybe a stereo mic), another in the kick, and maybe one on the snare.… View this story
Filed in: Live Sound • Feature • Blog • Study Hall • Microphone • Sound Reinforcement • Stage -
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Bruce Bartlett 05/16/13 04:08 PM,What goes around comes around. From the 1920s through the 1940s, PA systems for music often used only a single microphone. Band members would gather closely around this mic, balancing their sound by moving toward or away from the mic. Radio broadcasts and recordings often used one mic as well. And over the past several years, this “old-fashioned” technique is making a comeback. Many bluegrass and folk bands use the one-mic method with surprisingly good results, typically using a large… View this story
Filed in: Church Sound • Feature • Blog • Study Hall • Microphone • Mixer • Processor • Sound Reinforcement • Stage -
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Bruce Bartlett 03/14/13 11:23 AM,The live sound world goes well beyond the concert realm into areas such as the performing arts, including theatrical plays, musicals, and opera. It also can extend to things like magic shows, dance troupes, puppet shows, jugglers, and even ventriloquists. Each act presents special microphone requirements, which we’ll explore here. Performing arts applications usually involve at least one of four types: floor mics, hanging mics, wireless lavalier mics, and wireless headworn mics. On The Floor Stage floor microphones, also known… View this story
Filed in: Live Sound • Feature • Blog • Study Hall • Loudspeaker • Microphone • Sound Reinforcement • Stage -
Monday, March 04, 2013
Bruce Bartlett 03/04/13 04:20 PM,Sound systems can be confusing because they’re made up of complex devices that need to work together to deliver the desired results. Some of the questions I’ll answer here include: • How do I hook up a mixer to the rest of the system? What jacks are best to use? • How do I use graphic equalizers? • What are compressors used for? • How do I use groups? • How do I set up monitor mixes? • How do… View this story
Filed in: Church Sound • Feature • Blog • Study Hall • Consoles • Interconnect • Mixer • Sound Reinforcement • System -
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Bruce Bartlett 02/26/13 05:45 PM,From 1957 to 1962, pop and rockabilly star Rick Nelson recorded a string of number 1 hits such as Be Bop Baby, Believe What You Say, Poor Little Fool, Lonesome Town, It’s Late, Stood Up, Hello Mary Lou, and Travelin’ Man. Although these hits were produced before multitracking and digital recording, their sound quality is incredible—powerful and punchy, wide range, with extremely low hiss. What a sound they got 50 years ago. By studying the recording techniques used back then,… View this story
Filed in: Recording • Feature • Poll • Engineer • Microphone • Studio -
Monday, February 11, 2013
Bruce Bartlett 02/11/13 03:06 PM,Suppose you’re reinforcing a singer/guitarist in mono, with one microphone on the singer and another mic on the acoustic guitar. The vocal sounds funny - sort of hollow or filtered. What’s happening? Both microphones are picking up the singer, with the mic for the guitar about one foot farther from the singer’s voice than the mic for the vocals (Figure 1, below). So there are two vocal signals in the mix – one is direct and the other is delayed.… View this story
Filed in: Church Sound • Feature • Blog • Study Hall • Production • Audio • Analog • Education • Engineer • Microphone • Signal • Sound Reinforcement • System -
Friday, February 01, 2013
Bruce Bartlett 02/01/13 04:53 PM,Remote recording is exhilarating. Musicians, excited by the audience, often put on a stellar performance. Usually you only get one chance to get it recorded, and it must be done right. It’s on the edge, but by the end of the night, especially if everything has gone as planned – what a great feeling! Challenges abound. Monitors can feed back and/or leak into the vocal microphones, coloring the sound. Bass sound can leak into the drum mics, and the drums… View this story
Filed in: Live Sound • Feature • Blog • Study Hall • Microphone • Signal • Stage • Wireless -
Thursday, December 06, 2012
Bruce Bartlett 12/06/12 11:08 AM,Renowned recording engineers Jack Renner of Telarc Records and Marc Aubort of Nonesuch Records describe spaced omnidirectional microphones as their favorite technique for stereo recording of symphonic ensembles. Of all the stereo mic techniques available, the “spaced-omni” method is especially good at providing a warm, full sound (deep low-frequency response) and a spacious sense of ambience. It adds up to a pleasant listening experience. We’ll explore how this technique - and others - can be beneficial. Spaced Pair With the… View this story
Filed in: Recording • Feature • Blog • Study Hall • Training • Digital Audio Workstations • Education • Microphone • Signal • Studio • System
Articles Tagged Bruce Bartlett
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