Renaissance recordist Reto Peter, a producer, engineer, composer, multi-instrumentalist, teacher and voting member of the Recording Academy, recently added four large-diaphragm condenser microphones from Audix to his toolkit, including a pair of A231 vocal mics and a pair of SCX25As for a range of applications.
Peter has worked in nearly every genre of music, including indie artists from his native Switzerland to breakthrough hip-hop act Flipsyde in his adopted hometown of Oakland — also home to Green Day— for which he earned a TEC Award for his work on the band’s Grammy-winning album American Idiot. He recently talked about his career highlights, recording techniques, and experiences with his Audix mics.
“I like tracking with large-diaphragm mics in general because I feel like they give me more to work with in the mixing process. I recently used the Audix A231 on three projects, all with male lead vocals. One, a Swiss punk band that came to Oakland, had group vocals. I really liked its sound with all three bands. That mic has some bottom! There’s a proximity effect as with any cardioid pattern, but that can be very cool for vocalists who step away from the mic,” says Peter. “The A231 captured a lot of raw material to work with, so the tracks really responded to my mixing decisions after the fact. And always in a pleasant way. If I added more top end, it didn’t sound harsh — it was just more of what I wanted to hear.”
The SCX25A is designed to work well with a wide range of sources, and Reto’s recent work included two: one expected, the other, not so much. “On another project that was mainly acoustic guitar, I used the SCX25As as a spaced stereo pair,” he explains. “They gave me a very nice, round sonic picture of the guitar.”
As for that unexpected use, it’s usually thought of as the domain of the D2 or D4: “I really like the SCX25A on toms. I’m not talking overheads, though I like them for that, too —I mean close-miking. With some inline pads added to prevent overloads, they’re perfect. They have the body but also the crack I want to hear. I’m a big fan of close-miking, so I’m looking forward to using the SCX25As a lot more in that application.”
Go here to check out the full interview with Reto Peter.
