Now that we've seen how many different kinds of mikes there are, how they work and the basics of how to use them, what comes next? In the final part of our series, Gary Cooper tells you where to stick it — er... your new mike, that is!

In the first two parts of this short series we covered most of the technical data which the average musician or home recordist needs to understand in order to make a sensible choice of microphone. To conclude Sound Advice, I'm going to discuss some of the best ways to use the mikes once you've bought them. Inevitably, some of the considerations here will assume that you've absorbed the information in parts 1 and 2, so rather than run the risk of being repetitious. I'll work on the premise that if you do get baffled by something, you'll be able to check back and straighten out any queries. And if that isn't a sneaky way of selling back issues..!

However, before I get down to the nuts and bolts of mike positioning, one area which I haven't previously gone into does call for some clarification — how to audition a mike, once you've put it on your shortlist. Again, I'm going to assume that you've already taken the steps advised in earlier issues before drawing up your list of mikes to audition. If you have, then you'll have worked out which type of mike you need (usually either a condenser or a dynamic model), what sort of pickup pattern it should have (either the narrow reception of a directional type, usually a cardioid, or the 'all around' response of an omnidirectional). You'll also have worked out whether you need a low or high impedance mike, and whether or not it needs to be wired for 'balanced line' operation. Hopefully, you also know what you'll be using the mike for, and will have a rough idea of the frequency response you're after. See Dia.1 for some help on this point.

Having drawn up your requirements, and, of course, bearing in mind how much you have to spend, your next step is to get hold of as many manufacturers' brochures as possible. From these you'll be able to select one or two models to audition from each maker. Now's the time to start hitting the music shops! But how do you tell which of several mikes is best for you, when all you have to go on is the colour of the cardboard box they're in? Testing is the only answer — and if you can't get to try the mikes you're being offered in a shop, go somewhere else!

Once you've got a mike set up for you to test, one of the first features you should assess is its ability to withstand unwanted handling noise. This quality doesn't only apply to mikes used off stands. Obviously, you don't want a hand-held vocal mike to reproduce a noise like the flapping of Dracula's wings x1000 watts every time you shift your grip, but even a stand-borne mike must withstand noises which come up through the floor — especially bass frequencies. A degree of bass roll-off built into the mike's response will help here, as will using a good 'shock mount' mike stand adaptor, but good isolation inside the mike itself is really the determining factor here. Go on — have some fun! Get your friendly mike salesman to set two or three mikes up on stands, and plug them into a mixer amp, setting each channel identically for level and Eq. Now try the SAS test — marching around, stamping your feet in best regimental style. Listen for which mike picks up the subtle patter of your size tens the least. It's not a bad indication of a mike's resistance to floor-borne noise.

What about resistance to overload? A polite 'er... one, two and three' whispered into it won't show how a vocal mike will respond when you're using it at full power. Embarrass everyone, give a good rebel yell! Does the mike take blasts well, or does everything go into hideous overload? Try comparing two or three potential buys side by side in this respect; you'll be amazed at the differences between some of them. Likewise when testing instrument mikes, make sure you audition them as they are to be used.

By this stage we're getting close to being able to make a final decision. All that remains to be assessed is the actual sound quality — and it has to be said, a music shop is probably one of the worst places on Earth to carry out this test. Ideally, of course, you'd have borrowed a friend's 'Loudenvoicen 267' beforehand for trial at a gig, but life is rarely so easy, and (having performed the above tests) it's now up to you and your ears to decide which mike best suits the sweet lilt of your battle-scarred voice. It always comes down to ears in the end, doesn't it?!

WHERE TO STICK IT

So there you are at last, dashing home with anything from £50-£200's worth of microphone. Are all your problems over when you finally get it jacked in on stage or in your home studio? Regrettably, the answer is still no! There's one more important factor to bear in mind, and that's where and how you position your mike.

As each different instrument has its own sound, so does each mike, and positioning has yet another (very major) influence on the resulting sound. Obviously, two considerations come into play here — the angle at which you set the mike relative to the sound you're trying to pick up, and the distance at which you place it. To angle your mike correctly, you need to think first about how the instrument you're reproducing radiates its sound, and then what the polar response of your mike is. Taking as an example a cardioid mike, we know already that this kind of response pattern will virtually kill sounds emanating from directly behind it. It would be wise, therefore, to position a vocal cardioid in such a way that the 'negative area' of the mike's response (that directly opposing the head) is angled towards any front stage monitors, thus cancelling their sound and reducing unwanted 'spill' and resulting feedback. That's the approach you need to take. Always think about what you're doing, and use your mike's characteristics to the best advantage. Bear in mind, though, that there are no golden rules. Experimentation is the watchword, and these are really just basic hints from which to develop your own ideas.

However, just because there are no golden rules for mike placement, it helps if you understand the general principles involved. Most 'live' miking these days operates on the basis of 'the closer the better'. Bearing in mind that when you're using unidirectional mikes this can cause bass boost problems (omnis and E-V's reduced 'proximity effect' types excepted from this rule of thumb), it's still a very workable principle. Less 'spill' from other sound sources gives a more isolated and thus controllable sound at the mixer, and results in far less potential for feedback. However, let's press on and start looking at one of the most problematical of miking subjects — percussion reproduction. Incidentally, once again I'll try and give some specific recommendations for mikes which you may care to try for yourselves. These are always drawn from a mixture of the mikes which I'm personally familiar with and the recommendations of some of the major manufacturers — Shure, AKG, Electro-Voice, Beyer, Sennheiser and Audio-Technica. Don't assume that these are the only sources of good mikes, however. There are dozens of mike makers around today: Peavey, Yamaha, Toa and Primo to name just some. Painstaking readers will check out as many different makes as they can, and not limit themselves to those I've highlighted here.

Drum miking is always a matter of trial and error, but the angle at which you place your mikes is particularly important. Obviously safety is a major factor; trying to position your mikes so that sticks don't accidentally start battering the mikes rather than the toms! Moreover, you'll have to experiment with different mike angles around the kit as drum types, tuning and playing style will create different sounds, hence different mike placement needs. If you're limited in the number of mikes you have, or (perhaps more likely) short of channels on your mixer, it's perfectly possible to use only three mikes for the whole kit. Here's one way to try it.

Overhead miking is a traditional method for drum kits, and just one good quality (not too directional) mike placed about 12" above the drummer's head can do a pretty fair job of handling the main cymbals, especially if you Eq the sound with some care. Perhaps better still for a 3-mike arrangement, however, would be to position this mike just above the floor tom, aiming it towards the cymbals and one of the high toms. If you then position another mike to handle the snare, hi-hat and second tom (close to the snare's rim next to the high tom, but so it'll also pick up sound from the second top tom), you'll often get a surprisingly good sound. Suitable mikes would include Shure's SM57, PE66 or Prologue 16 Condenser (for the quality seeker who's budget conscious): alternatively, try Electro-Voice's PL76, PL11 or PL20, Audio-Technica's ATM63, ATM21 or PR06L, or AKG's D224 and possibly their new-ish D321.

The bass drum will always want a mike of its own, and here removing the front head helps, especially when you place a mike right inside the shell, maybe resting it on a cushion. Try positioning the mike just a few inches from the batter head — but make sure you use a mike which is suited to the job, possibly an AKG D12 or their new D112, or Electro-Voice's PL20, Beyer's M380 or Sennheiser's MD421.

Obviously, using just three mikes on a kit won't give you the greatest possible separation, but it's very easy to go mad with percussion gear and end up using as many mikes on a drum kit as you have mixer channels. The decision on where to stop is yours, but if you forced a personal opinion out of me, I'd rarely go beyond using five or six mikes, even with a really skilled drummer who needed to be heard to maximum effect. You should never assume that the more mikes you use, the better the sound will be. A rule of getting a good mix from any band, whether you're recording or mixing for PA purposes, is to use as few mikes as you can. The less you have to fiddle with, the less can go wrong!

One final thought on drums relates to the growing use of alternatives to the usual boom stand mounted types. Various makers now offer superb clip-on mikes, and these are well worth experimenting with. Another option altogether lies in using those excellent C-Tape stick-on transducer tapes. It's all down to personal taste, so try as many different options as you can.

Pressing on, apart from the angles of your mikes, the distance at which you place them is if anything even more vital. Place a directional dynamic mike with the proximity effect too close and you'll emphasise possibly unwanted bass frequencies. Put it too far away and it'll be in danger of picking up unwanted signals as well as lacking 'level' at your mixer, and may induce feedback.

Moving on to other instruments, miking bass guitar cabs (often a good idea in addition to taking a direct feed from the back of the amp) usually calls for a similarly specified mike to those used for bass drums — high sound pressure levels and fast transient signals, for example. Hence the mike that does one job will usually be suitable for the other. Guitar amplifiers don't have the same bass response needs, but do need to have mikes capable of handling high sound levels — possibly an area where the luxury of a condenser mike could be justified. Again, experiment with your mike placings. Ideally, a guitar speaker should be 2"-6" away from a mike, but bear in mind the proximity effect. When miking speaker cabs, here's a couple of tricks that you can try. The usual policy is to point your mike directly at the centre of the cone. With some speakers, however, this can make the sound too sharp and can also emphasise hiss. If that happens, try angling your mike more towards the cone's edge.

Keyboards today are far less awkward than they used to be. Even ten years ago most sound engineers had to contend with miking a Leslie speaker cab, and often had an acoustic piano to handle as well. Today, most bands use fully electronic keyboards which are either direct injected into the mixer, or go into their own backline amps (again, a blend of these two ideas often works best). In effect, this presents no greater difficulty than miking up any instrument amp, although you need a mike with a good frequency range — possibly a condenser/capacitor type.

The two piano types — the grand and the upright — both involve similar problems, and by and large can be handled with similar techniques. Uprights have some advantages from a miking angle, if only because the positioning of the lid can make a great difference to the sound of a grand, and because you can get deep inside the instrument with the upright type; hence getting a good signal to noise ratio and lessening the chance of howling feedback. Assuming that we're talking about Rock and Jazz piano sounds, close miking is again the order of the day. Classical pianos require an 'ambient' sound (i.e. miked at a distance to get a degree of natural reverb) and can be absolute swines to handle unless you're very experienced and have mikes of the finest quality. In practice, assuming Rock, Jazz or Country to be the application you're likely to be interested in, it's always advisable to use two mikes on a piano. Starting with uprights, get the mike right inside the 'box' (not too close, unless you want a restricted sound) and, if money is tight, opt for high quality dynamics like the AKG D125, D224 or D222, Shure's SM57/PE66 or their low cost Prologue 16 condenser, Electro-Voice's PL11 or PL20, the Beyer M160 (a ribbon mike but excellent in this role), Audio-Technica's ATM63 or ATM21 or Sennheiser's MD421 and MD441. If the mikes are aimed at the strings (one for the bass side, the other for the treble range) a fine sound can be obtained from any of these mikes, but a degree of trial and error will be involved, as a lot depends on the sound the piano itself makes.

You probably won't have much call to mike up a grand, but if you do you're likely to need a lot of time to get the sound right. Ideally, try starting with your two mikes about 9" or so from the strings, one per side. Whether or not you want the hammer attack in the sound will condition where you go from there. The lid? Again, it varies with the piano, the gig and the mike. Try it full open to begin with and work down from there.

As I said earlier, condenser mikes are often the best for pianos, but you're best advised to spend some real money if condenser quality at its best is what you're after. Suitable models would include AKG's outstanding C414 or C451E (with CK1 or CK1S cardioid capsules), Shure's SM81 (cardioid), the SM94 or possibly even their 'boundary effect' SM91, E-V's PL76 and/or PL77, Sennheiser's K3U (with ME40 capsule) or various elements of Beyer's MCM system, perhaps the MC713/723.

Away from pianos and on to acoustic guitars, personally, for live work, I wouldn't bother miking one. Either go for an Ashworth bridge (or add-on) transducer, a C-Tape stick-on transducer or, if you must use a mike, try experimenting with a clip-on type like Shure's SM98 cardioid condenser, E-V's clip-on PL4 electret condenser, or AKG's C567. Having a dread of being rooted to the spot on stage myself, I point blank refuse to give a fixed mike recommendation for acoustics!

Brass and woodwind instruments really deserve an instrument by instrument reckoning, but as we have Gail Thompson lined up for an article on that very subject for a future issue. I'll leave that to her — she''ll have some interesting things to say about it, no doubt!

For further help, some of the best literature on this subject comes from the mike manufacturers themselves. Among their various publications, the most helpful that I've come across on all aspects of sound is contained in Electro-Voice's 'PA Bible'. This amounts to a growing library of supplements which occasionally are bound together into single volumes. The PA Bible has been regularly expanded for several years now and represents an invaluable body of knowledge for any musician or sound engineer. Copies of this are available from E-V's distributors Shuttlesound, whose address is given below. More specifically on mikes is the splendid paperback book Microphones, Technique and Technology written by AKG's Norbert Pawera and available from AKG, whose address is also given below. AKG also offer some useful pamphlets on the applications side, and these are very well worth having. Finally (and full of common sense) are both Shure's PE Applications Chart and their separate publication Microphone Techniques For Music. Most other mike makers also offer useful literature telling you not just the specifications of their products, but which are suited for which purposes and, often, how best to use them. Such information certainly helps you draw up your shortlist of mikes and is worth getting. A letter to any of the mike makers listed below will undoubtedly get you leaflets and the prices they are charging for their more bulky booklets and paperbacks. Don't forget to enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope though, will you!

A final thought? Just that when all's said and done, never forget that sound is always about ears. You've got 'em — so use 'em! What sounds right to you probably is!