all hail the 58

I was recording some vocals yesterday through a really nice microphone but it didn’t suit the song so i picked up a cheap Shure SM58 (the one you see just about everyone singing through onstage) and sang the song with it. And it worked perfectly. It’s lo fi quality and colour suited what i was doing.

The guitar was recorded with its sister microphone a sm 57. You can pick both of these up for a 100 squids or so or cheaper second hand. The point of the matter is don’t let your circumstances dictates your desire to create something.

I often get emails from people asking if they should save up to go into a studio or what is the minimum needed to record something.

The answer is use what you can find, beg , borrow or…ok don’t steal it.

It doesn’t have to be expensive. Your circumstance will add a colour to your voice/song. Apple tree was recorded in a damp flat straight into a computer with a cheap 57 in front of a cheap practice amp for the guitar and the vocal was sung with a 58. It was only supposed to be a demo. But i never could re create the feel of it again, especially with the vocal.

I don’t have half the gear i would like but having to work around those limitations forces me to come up with sounds and ways of doing things I would not have touched before.

And that is the crux of the matter, performance, feel. This will always win out over expensive studios. A good song well performed with spirit will carry no matter what. If you don’t believe me then pick up a Robert Johnson record. Or Black Sabbath’s first album recorded on 4 tracks. Some of those classic Bob Marley tracks sound the way they do because they had to bounce all the bass and drums down to just one track.

Why am I writing this?

So you don’t get paralysed by “Oh i don’t have the right gear” or “I will just wait and something will come up”

Fuck it, just get out there and do it. This applies to art, life, music…

Fuck paralysis by analysis.