...And gleefully. I'll start:

"Use the DI for the low end" on bass. I don't get it, never did. I always get more and better low end micing the cab. Doesn't really matter with what, either. I suppose if you were using a 57 or something, but anything I'll normally use- LDC, D112, ribbon- just plain gives me more beef before EQ.

Now, I'll always take a DI, but if it gets used, it's for top end, or it feeds some sort of distortion.

I usually do something wrong every time. But it is usually something different.

Though, a main consistent one is probably my disdain for clicktracks specifically, and steady tempos/grooves in general.

I do use a DI for bass bassiness though. In fact, i don't use mics at all lately for that instrument.

It would probably help if I knew the conventional wisdom, as I pretty much just fuck around with shit until I feel like it sounds OK. The results have been ... less than exciting.

I pretty much DI everything, which is more of a matter of convenience.

I am also starting to say fuck it on the clicky thing. I mean, I understand the reasoning especially for collaborating, but I have awful fucking timing and have a bad habit of changing tempo a lot mid-song. And, I take SO MANY takes that just don't sound dynamic at all when recording to a click. Plus my style does not really call for robot-accurate timing.

Lately, pedals right into the recording interface. But then that's actually totally doable considering some of the free VSTs and impulses out there.

Snaxo, I can't wait to mic up some bass tones in the upcoming weeks. Dynamic mics though, I don't have any non-dynamics that can handle a high SPL. Prolly a kick or tom mic, though I'll also try the 57, i5, etc

I can't play to a click at all. Drums yes, click no. Don't know why. The end result, I suppose, is the same, my playing everything to fakedrums (or real drums, depending), but I really need the kick and snare in there. Otherwise the feel is... definitely off. Cap'n, I cannae groove to click! click! click! My noises generally demand the 'puter in there doing its thing- if that's not a large part of the song to begin with- though I don't generally tamper much with the live playing; I'm not a fetishist for grid editing.

As an aside re: computerstuff, my synth work is almost all played, not programmed. It's just easier. I remember Chris saying something along those lines re: why he doesn't program drums.

Oh, and re: pedals into the inyourface- I do that too. Including delays and 'verbs and all that shit you're "not supposed to" print while tracking. Again that might be a stylistic thing though; more than most what I do usually sorta demands I record the effect right off the amp.

The 2020s won't take it? Have you had issues with them as drum overheads? (Or is the output hot enough it's giving the mic pres grief with a loud source?)

Mix-and-match works pretty well on bass regardless of context or genre. The 57 or i5 might work well for focusing the thing, especially if your bassist's tone is on the filthy side. The kick mic will probably get yer lows. And I'd still take a direct anyway, just in case, even if you don't wind up using the thing. I'll take it straight off the bass before anything else, using a DI box or a tuner for a splitter. (Part of me says try using one of the guitar rigs for distortion!)

I can play guitars along to fakedrums, but i cannot, CANNOT play realdrums along to them.

I am currently doing a test though, going to try to arrange a thing i did normally(justguitars noclick) and program tempos and signatures(as near as i can get them to sound) into the click in the correct spaces and see if i get an interesting end result or a carcrash out of it. I got them mostlymaybe programmed, and need to try to get the guitars on and see if they go, but last couple days i have been sidetracked with woodshavings.

I must say, i consistently and entirely disregard microphone supposed dB handling specs. I would be more careful if i had any ribbons, but even then, you can get away with a lot.

And, worst case scenario, just about everything sounds better with a little distortion on it anyhow.

As overheads they go into the red but it still sounds okay. Although I recorded this one drummer who completely raped the snare so hard, it was like, red! red! red!

Put in front of an instrument speaker at any volume that I can respect, and yes, they are distorting and totally useless. Like, internally distorting or something. So nayyy. Man, I do want some moar mics!

I wasn't going to take a direct bass but I suppose it would be a prudent back up plan.

AT2020 should top out at aboot 140dB?

If they are distorting that easily for you, it seems more likely that they are hitting the interface too hard more so than distorting that badly mechanically/internally. Forinstance, my MXL2001 has a spec of max 130dB. I have been using it about an inch off my snare as a top mic and also as a snareside mic, and it doesn't fuzz out badly at all. I do have to turn the interface pre waythefuckdown though, to keep it a bit less red-ish.

Have you considered making up some passive pads?

I'd be more concerned hitting the ribbon with a really sharp blast of air from something than the actual dB level. I'll stick a pop filter in front of it before I put it on a bass cab. I've stuffed one in front of a raging AC30 with no problems, and one of my friends has put one on snare before.



This is true. I'm pretty firmly convinced 57s actually enjoy being subjected to extremely loud sources, because they sound a lot better that way.

Most any modern anything I'd think would start to break up long before you could cause it any harm. I really would not want to be in the room with any source loud enough to actually damage a microphone. (That reminds me of a thread on ProSoundWeb where a guy was recording the launch of the space shuttle for broadcast and wanted mic recommendations... )

It's been a while since I bothered trying to do it but if I recall correctly, I did this with the interface's input all the way down and no dice. I don't recall if it was still going into the red in my DAW or if I had a managable waveform of internal distortion noise.

I have indeed made a passive pad, a triple one in fact, and my tom mics go into it. I suppose it's worth a shot...

Re: the 2020s, I have a similar issue with the NT5s as OHs. It's not the mics, it's the preamps- we have the same interface. The preamps in the Saffire Pros (the generation we have, at least) run fairly hot; even with the gain knob on 0 they're still giving the mic a fair bit of juice, and if the mics have a healthy level of output and you're hitting them with a loud source, they'll go into the red. If I'm using the NT5s for drum overheads, I'll use the ART because the gain on 0 there is, well, exactly that. Not the case with the Saffire, where you can only back them down so far.

My Shure condenser has a -15dB pad, which makes it usable into those pres on loud sources. I've read about other people's experience with this and seen people on forums recommend against the Saffire Pros because of this, even while acknowledging they do sound good. I forget what the actual gain range of the pre is- I've read it somewhere- but the 1-10 markings don't really mean anything beyond where the knob's pointing.

The current generation seems to start at +13dB gain on the pres. That's, er, a bit much. I vaguely remembered it being +15dB, so yeah, in that ballpark. Pretty hot.

Also, in the SaffireControl Pro control panel, I always have the H/Room button engaged. Because more headroom is more better. Especially with mic pres like that.

I have failed to ever make any sort of use from the software side of the Saffire. I don't know, it doesn't seem to do anything when I do things to it?

Works fine for me. It's kinda a set-and-forget thing, mostly, and depending on your studio configuration, you may never need to use it at all. Routing options for the inputs and outputs, mostly. But the H/Room button does what it says on the tin. For some bizarre reason, it defaults to not using the external PSU even if it's connected. Which is retarded. So connect the PSU, click the button and receive headroom.

The input stuff is more for creating cue mixes (I have 1-4 mono, centered- a DI and 3 mics- and 5-8 L/R stereo pairs for synths; everything's usually plugged in ready to go and the mics are muted in the Saffire control panel.) and the output for sending stuff back into the analog world. And that you have to assign in your DAW software as well. It defaults all outs to 1-2, which is fine if you're just switching between sets of speakers. But, say, if you're reamping something and you want it to come out of output 5, you have to not only set the outputs of the track in your DAW to 5-6 but assign outputs 5-6 in the Saffire control panel to, well, outputs 5-6 instead of 1-2. Unless you want to reamp the left side of your whole mix. Which would sound sexy as fuck.

The sync stuff doesn't matter unless you have something else on the digital in (if you have an external pre on SPIDF, you have to have Sync Lock enabled and set to SPIDF, for example), and sampling rate also does what it says on the tin. And your DAW will yell at you if its sampling rate does not match what you have the Saffire set to. And if you have an external device on a digital in and its sampling rate doesn't match, it'll yell at you for that too. And, also, make horrible noises.

There's other shit you can do with it too, but again, that's mostly for creating cue mixes. You can also use it as a basic mixer/external preamp disconnected from the computer, and the routing stuff would come in handy there, as it "remembers" the last configuration it was set up in.

But I digress. Click the H/Room button.

seconded on the h/room button! that thing's a lifesaver... and recording at higher bitrates'll bump your dynamic range even more. i use 24/88.2 for everything-- and always hit the h/room switch! i had similar headroom problems with my ribbons... couldn't de-crunchify 'em. pads are your friend in some rooms, for sho, and made my life MUCH easier.

in that saffire pro program too, i mute all the channels as well, and let the DAW do the work. it gets a little wierd otherwise. i usually leave it up in the background, cause inevitably, i gotta pull a shutdown at SOME point, and then need to turn on the phantom and mute everything again..

i definitely don't fuss too much with isolation, that's for sure.. not sure i break a whole lot of rules of conventional recording, but pushing the big red button and letting the chips fall where they may. theres probably at least a million places where i do things 'wrong' though.. probably more just because i dunno what 'right' actually IS more than anything!

I will have to investigate further, but if memory serves me correctly, the program literally has no effect whatsoever on my interface, as in, they have no connectivity.

The only thing that comes to mind is how I cheat a room mic by sending every track to a single stereo track with a compressor and a short reverb impulse.

Are you using condensers? I don't think there's any way to turn on phantom power otherwise, is there?