edited - see front page for free downloads
These are two of the ten tracks that I have to complete by Friday. These are finished, as I can’t be pressed to do anything more to them (probably better that way). I’m thinking I might send off the CD to RPM, put up a few free downloads, then try remixing and re-recording, but there’s always the chance I’ll ruin them or something .

A lot of the normal things I do like EQing and compressing the drums, working with automation to squeeze some dynamic range out of the track, is lessened here just for time purposes. The acoustic guitar on You Rise is recorded in mid/side technique, something I hope to go into depth on once the project’s over.

Well, it’s almost halfway through the RPM Challenge month. Plans are clear for 9 songs, some written this month, some written earlier, some scraps and riffs that got worked into full-length tunes (I had been meaning to, really). I’ve got rough mixes for five songs - vocals need to be redone for sure, but some of them are close. About 3 songs are pretty much done as far as recording.

I’m not overworking myself, but it’s sometimes hard to remember this is supposed to be fun!

The Clips

Apex 205 (guitar only)
Apex 205 (w/ drum loop)
Shure SM57 (guitar only)
Shure SM57 (w/ drum loop

In vain self-promotion and fear of copyright law I jammed on my own song, 58008, for the clips. The shootout is hardly scientific. Someone smart taught me this so keep it under your hat. I knew I would prefer the Apex so I placed the Shure first. I turned on my amp, no guitar yet attached, pulled on my headphones, set the amp gain to max, and found the spot with the most hiss. I did the same for the Apex.

The Story

My Studio Projects B1 was not giving me the distorted guitar sound I wanted. I didn’t want to use plugins; I wanted my amp’s sound. After a lot of research and egging on by colleagues, I broke down and bought a Shure SM57.

I hated it immediately. I’d call it coarse, squashed and bitey and lots of stupid words no one understands, but basically it didn’t sound like my amp no matter where I put it.

I read and read and read and everyone seemed to favor the Royer R121 on guitar cabinets. The problem? The thing is about $1200. I started to hear about the various folks selling cheaper ribbon mics like Cascade and Shinybox, and the budget bin Chinese ribbon mics from T-Bone, Nady and Apex. As far as I hear tell, certain models from the last three are exactly the same thing with different badges on the front. I found the Apex 205 to be the lowest priced bang for buck (same price as the 57), so I ordered one.

Recommended Listening for those of you without a DAW

1. Download Audacity
2. Go to Project->Import Audio, select the two (or more) files you want to compare.
3. Hold the Shift key and click on the solo button on one of the tracks. This will isolate the track, so when you Shift-click Solo on the other track, you won’t have both playing.
4. Listen! Go back and forth, compare the two and see which one you prefer.

The Apex 205 has great transient response. This can be a good thing and a bad thing. You can capture all the dynamics of a great guitar player, but this can easily lead to clipping if you’re not careful with the levels. If you’re doing fancy garbage jazz on the clean channel like I like to do, you had better run the gain lower.

Both of these mics require a lot of amplification. I practically cranked my M-Audio DMP3 (which says it has 66dB of gain) to get a decent level. Neither mic requires phantom power. You can always do the opposite and crank the gain on the amp, but I have roommates and neighbors in the way of that.

The Shure is fine for what it is. Many folks recommend it to be used in conjunction with a condenser mic (placed further back) for studio use. I tried this with my B1 and was not really happy. To tell the truth, the Apex and Shure sound great together. One thing you may have to do, if you are a lazy idiot and do not understand phase relationships, (like me) is to phase correct the recordings. Open up the ‘guitar only’ clips in your recording program, and zoom as far in as you can, but not so far that you can’t see the waves. One of them will be slightly ahead of the other. If both the clips are panned center (or you’re listening to mono), it will sound like garbage - no high end, lots of bass. Now that you’re zoomed in, take the move tool (or whatever shifts the audio in time) and move one wave so that it matches up with the other. Listen again. Sounds great, huh? Now adjust the levels until you think it’s best.

Shure vs. Apex: The last word

The decision is yours! In my opinion, if you want a mic that you can throw at a guitarist, get the SM57. You can step on it, leave it in the middle of the floor, step on it all the time, use it live, record a fart, whatever. The Apex, despite its low price, is still first and foremost a fragile studio mic. Apex recommends you store it standing upright in its bag or box, never blow into it, shake it, or hit it. Avoid using phantom power with the Apex - its circuitry protects against the 48v current damaging the ribbon, but make sure 48v phantom power is OFF when attaching the mic to the preamp. You can turn it on once securely connected.