San Jose, CA (August 4, 2022)—Tasked with capturing the 19 musicians of Snarky Puppy simultaneously, recording and mix engineer Nic Hard employed 26 Lauten Audio microphones for use on the group’s 14th album, Empire Central.
“I really believe that without these mics, the record wouldn’t sound the same,” Hard said. Looking back on the eight-night live recording session at the Deep Ellum Art Company in Dallas, TX, Hard says, “What stood out to me the most was Lauten’s functionality and manipulability. I loved having all of the filters on the mics, and I loved the control of bleed I could get with the LS-208s, as well as being able to change the sonic character of the Atlantis.”
The list of Lauten Audio microphones used on the Empire Central sessions, which were tracked live in front of a studio audience, includes four LA-120, ten LA-220, five Atlantis FC-387, three Clarion FC-357 and four LS-208. The session setup included three complete drum kits, where each tom was recorded with its own LA-220. Hi-hats were captured with LA-120, and a Clarion was used for outside the kick drum. The Atlantis mics were chosen for percussion overheads and solo trumpet.
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“I find the extensive filters/roll-offs extremely useful for drums, and I had no EQs available to process sound on the way in, so I was taking advantage of the options available on the Lauten mics,” Hard explains. “I used a Clarion on a kick, and it sounded great!”
Lauten Audio’s LS-208 was also used in the live recording environment, according to Hard. “I chose the 208s for horns because it was necessary to have as much isolation as possible. The surprise for me was how tight the pickup pattern is on the LS-208s — an incredibly useful tool! Honestly, I could’ve used about 20 more of the 208s for percussion. The 208 for talk-box is amazing [too]! The talk-box became much more vibrant while still having manageable amounts of bleed.”
