Both on stage and in the studio, a range of Audix microphones play a significant role for progressive metal trio Gracchus, a band that’s an unlikely collaboration, with founder/singer/rhythm guitarist Bernhard Schnellmann and drummer Allan Murphy hailing from Switzerland and lead guitar player Jeff Elrose calling New Jersey home.
They record their tracks themselves, including those from their latest EP entitled “Infectious.” Schnellmann and Murphy schooled discuss how they use mics such as the D2, and D4 on toms; the D6 on kick drum; the i5 on guitar cabinets and snare; the OM7 on vocals; more i5s and the A133 in the studio, and most recently, the new PDX720 studio dynamic vocal mic on upcoming projects.
“The first [Audix] mic I bought was the OM7, the live vocal mic,” Schnellmann says. “I’d had another mic, and we had this gig in a weird club. There was a hot light on the mic, and due to the moisture in it, it sort of started boiling and just broke. I was like, ‘I want something high-end that doesn’t sound muffled, cuts through the mix, and that any audio engineer can work with.’ My sister bought the OM7 for me and said, ‘Now every time you play, you’ll have something from the family around.’ I loved how it sounded and we stuck with it.
“The OM7 has such good rejection as well,” adds Murphy. “It rejects most of the ambient sound around the intended source. If I point it right at me, then the drums aren’t as loud, which is important because sometimes I sing and don’t want my kit bleeding into my vocal.”
Schnellmann next explains about the i5, “It will play a major role in Jeff Elrose’s guitar sound. He likes a very brilliant top end. The i5 doesn’t sound shrill but it captures that perfectly, but keeps the heaviness, you know? We’ll use it live on his cabinet and in the studio, we plan to pair it with the A133 to be able to blend two mics.”
The latest Audix model, the PDX720, a studio vocal mic that utilizes a dynamic circuit topology as opposed to a standard condenser design, is also seeing use: “We have used the PXD720 already on both vocals and even guitar,” says Schnellmann. “Obviously, vocals are its main application. It will probably be my main studio vocal mic going forward.”
