Best Microphone for (Insert Use Here)

The Best Microphone. Ever.

Time and time again, I see forum posts online saying, "What microphone should I use for drums?," or any instrument, vocalist, or random use. Pulling up a list on Guitar Center, you are smacked with hundreds of microphones that have reviews such as "BEST MICROPHONE I'VE USED FOR DRUMS." That used to be what I used to look for when I was buying microphones, but then I realized something.

The Realization

I realized what I am. I am an audio engineer with a degree from one of the best schools in the United States. I realized that this person who used the particular microphone I was looking at for drums may not have been recording my particular genre, or drum, or artist. For instance, my personal preference for toms are Sennheiser MD 421 II, but if you ask some other engineer from a different studio or genre specification they may say they like the Sennheiser e604. Is the person who likes the e604 over the 421 wrong? No. They aren't at all.

What Do You Mean?

I mean they aren't wrong. Would you tell Butch Vig that he shouldn't use an MD 421 over an e604? You most likely wont. Why? Because you respect the work he has done already with his current microphone choice such as his work on Nirvana's Nevermind, Multiple Foo Fighters albums, Garbage, and more. 

What I am getting at is every engineer has his or her own "DNA," so to speak. What happens is when engineers track in the studio, most of the time they use multiple microphones for instruments, vocalists, etc. Many engineers love to use multiple microphones per instrument so they have different tonal qualities to use when mixing a track. I personally have used a mix of multiple microphones to get the "perfect" sound I am looking for. Along with this, many engineers do have their "Go To" microphone due to a positive previous experience with said microphone. Although, a single microphone may or may not be suitable for every recording situation.

Conclusion

Experiment. Take risks. Recording and engineering is an art, and with art you have many takes and interpretations on how a work is done. Whether you are using a Sennheriser MD 421 or an e604, at the end of the day if you are happy with it along with your client, then you did your job. An open mind and a humble heart is something I rarely see in the recording aspect of the industry. Time and time again I see people call each other idiots or morons for using one microphone over another. Let me tell you something, if it sounds good and you're happy, then that is all that matters. Although, always take suggestions that improve your workflow into consideration because saving time is in the end going to allow you to grow as an engineer. Experiment with the angle of the microphone towards the source you are recording or the distance of the source your are recording; let your engineer flag fly! Let us never forget how the experiments and risks taken in the studio are most often the most memorable such as the invention of automatic double tracking by the Abbey Road engineers during the tracking of the Revolver album. Along with this, how much Brian Williams of The Beach Boys used to experiment with his albums. For more techniques, check out Thought Catalog's article.