ABSTRACT
This chapter expands the recording techniques of the previous chapter to encompass overdubbing any single instrument. The recommended workflow involves listening in the recording room to make an educated mic-positioning guess and minimise background noise and sympathetic resonance; asking the musician for help in refining the sound at source by changing the instrument, performance technique, tuning, volume, damping, and tonal controls; using and adjusting the room acoustics to suit; and adjusting the mic position by ear, taking in account high-frequency beams/shadows, air resonances, instrument facets, microphone spot-lighting, and acoustic reflections. The issue of microphone choice is discussed further, considering different condenser-mic designs, boundary mics, ribbon mics, dynamic mics, contact mics, lo-fi mics, mechanical filtering, and how to interpret microphone specifications. There are also dedicated engineer's quickstart guides for recording drums and wind instruments, as well as advice on pre-session mic testing, the role of EQ processing in recording, and how to record electric-guitar amps quietly.
