Recording The House

I plan on bringing a few microphones with me to capture the sound of Stegner's House, when I record "Return To Big Rock Candy Mountain" in March.

I have a few Shure microphones, but they are best for onstage shows and cabinet miking.

Funny enough - when I was recording WAV files for an Autism EDU program, the first microphone I picked was a cheap Radio Shack vocal microphone. I used it for a few samples, and when they asked for several thousand more files, they said, "Don't change a thing". So it worked perfect to capture an even voice without much in the way of dynamics for 5 years! Simple, pure, and with no connections in between. Just my kind of tech requirements.

I was going to bring a studio condenser mic with me, but that would also mean I would have to bring my USB soundcard interface (with Phantom Power). Instead, I decided I really wanted to capture the sound of the room as well as the songs. The best way I know how to do that is with an Omnidirectional Microphone. Standing several feet away - I can sing and play and capture the natural echo of the house (probably the living room, where Stegner's mother used to play piano and sing back in 1917) with little or no overdubbing. Although I may record some of the vocals in the study.















Bringing the Banjo with me will also lend a nice touch to the timelessness and folk-nature of the music I have written for this project (14 songs), and I will probably write a few more songs where I am there. Probably sitting in his dad's old chair in the room that used to be Stegner's bedroom.


I have several days to complete the project, and I don't think it is going to take very long to do. An acoustic guitar is supposed to be brought to me while I am there, and I will have some harmonicas and percussion as well. I also plan on bringing the old-fashioned portable cassette recorder, to capture a few sounds on the road.