it sounds ok, not sure crisp is the first thing that comes to mind, its got that wizard drier gain structure and rolled off top end i hear, and theres a lot of low mid build up rumbling going on. it sounds cool, brams sounded cool in his comparison, both better than most clips ive heard, am i now running for my debit card to drop $4k to try one?? no
ill assume that means me
MC2 is my favorite of the Wizards I've owned that or MC25 for pure tone.
I'm not blown away with alternatives to the 57 when close mic'ing. Not that I think they are bad or suck or that the other mics you mentioned aren't also top mics and great choices but it's mostly pretty minor, I just don't notice a obvious superior result that would force me to buy a different mic and this is having used some pricey royers and the like in the studio.
Fair enough. Like TheGreatGreen, I’m curious what crisp means to you. For me crisp refreshing upper register and clarity is the first thing I hear and I heard that in clips way before I owned any Wizard, so it’s not just a bias for having one. Maybe some area in the upper register is rolled off, not sure, but another part of it my ears go to is crisp and present to me, but sound is a complex thing I guess. The mids in all Wizard’s are hollow vs Marshall’s of course, the one part I never cared for with them. I hear rumbling in lower frequencies too, which is strange because I never got that in the Wizard’s I had (MC, MTL and currently just a Hell Razor). Maybe it’s something about his IR choices or post stuff done to the recording, I wouldn’t knowill assume that means me
I double tracked that tone with the mtl in here. Let me know what you think of that one.ill assume that means me
100 percent. The more mics and channels you have at your disposal to work with the better off you are for building a great tone at a mixing desk. I would love to own any of those mics you listed. The 121 is a great mic, I just don't find it 1400 bucks greater than a 57, just a different flavoring. I would like to try one of the M160s, haven't done that yet and guys are always yakking about how good those are. And I still want a Senn 421 for guitar and live vox.
Love the 57. I usually just dip the 5-6 k spike it adds and it pretty much gets closeish to what I hear in the room.
I get more sucked into mics and preamps than I do guitar gear. And I ain't got money for either of them neither lol.
Noted. Are you still dipping the spike on the 57 when utilizing these other mics in conjunction with it or do you just let them full complement each other without altering EQs?
If you’re using IRs, then it’s definitely your monitoring situation. Highly recommend sound id reference. If it’s your own micd clip I feel like sometimes it’s how hot I’m running the preamp sometimes and not paying attention. I wind up coming in too hot and it sounds like shit lol. I also put my mic right on the grill cloth to make it sound big. So backing off there if you’re running the lows super big. I need to experiment more. Tough spot micing right now with my littles at home.
Yeah if you can just fix that one part I think it’ll probably be just right. Low end rumble is definitely not a Wizard characteristic I’ve heard, but everything else I heard seemed pretty on point imo. I suck at recording myself and have my own struggles haha. My recordings often come out overgained on the mics somehow or anemic/weak. I have trouble getting a good middle ground. Sometimes I get it just right, but not much consistency. It’s hard (for me at least)
This also where I think I struggle most. I either go too far in one direction or the other with the pre’s and still not sure how to consistently find a good sweet spot on them. Sometimes I do and it sounds great, but recording for me has been like a blind squirrel that occasionally finds a nut lol
Copy that. Thanks for the insight.
Yeah that's a good pairing. Have you tried a good old SM58? It has a little less peaking 5-7k so it might suit your ear nicely.