sE Electronics News: Grammy winning drummer Ricky Lawson discovers sE Mics
Posted on Wed 03 November 2010 in entries
‘Drummer to the Stars’ on his sE 4 matched pair: “As soon as we put those mics up… bam! Compared to previous mics I’ve been using its like night and day.”
In the world of drummers, none come bigger than Ricky Lawson. The legendary sticks-man has played with some of the biggest names in the business, including Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Quincy Jones, Al Jarreau, Bette Midler… such is the calibre of Ricky’s CV that he’s even become known throughout the music industry as “Drummer to the Stars.”
As well as being twice nominated for Grammy awards – winning one – Ricky also regularly appears in Top 10s of the world’s best drummers, be it for his contributions to Pop, R&B or Soul.
Ricky not only knows about hitting drums, he also knows how to record them, and he is a recent convert to the sound of his sE4 matched pair condenser mics that he’s now using as main overheads in his California-based studio.
“I’m using a set of sE4 mics right here in my recording studio in Los Angeles. I have a nice little set up here with a G5 [Mac] where I can record, mix and master all within one facility.”
“The matched pair of sE4’s are being used as my main overheads on the drum kit. They’re each about as big as a real nice cigar… and they sound just fantastic!”
“I love sE mics… it’s the clarity, for one. Whatever you play through them, then that’s what you got. Whatever you record in to them, it’s not gonna, you know… mask or colour the sound. Literally what you hear is what comes out on the other side. Perfect clarity. Most microphones just don’t have the guts in them to do that.”
“You know, the sE mics that we’re using sound much better than the other mics that are out there in this price range… As a matter of fact, these mics sound better than a lot of microphones that cost a lot more! The pair that we’re using… as soon as we put them up… Bam! You can hear it instantly. We’ll have them set to the same parameters as the previous mics that we’d been using… and as soon as we put those sE’s up… well, it’s like night and day. They’ve been up there ever since!”
“I’m using the Instrument Reflexion Filters on those sE4s as well, just to focus the sound a bit more. If you’re doing any significant recording then these are a must. Trust me – these Instrument Reflexion Filters will change your recording process for the better!”