How to Sound Like NPR Tiny Desk

Performers Instagrams:

Taylor Crawford (Vocals, writer) - @taylorjohncrawford
Michael Hojnacki (Drums) - @mhoj_music
Mr. Kindness (Bass) - @mrkindness_
Owynn (Keys) - @owynnmusic

Additional Crew:

Lora Mouna (Camera) - @loramouna

My Instagram - @realaudiohaze

Drum Microphones:
KICK:

Snare:

Overhead:

Guitar Mic:

Room Microphones:

Figure 8 M/S Microphone:

Vocal Shotgun Mic:

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(Please note these rankings represent my subjective tastes. These lists would change with different applications, so this is a bit of an oversimplification.)

TOP THREE BUDGET CONDENSERS:

TOP THREE BUDGET DYNAMICS:

TOP THREE CONDENSERS

TOP THREE DYNAMICS:

TOP yOu CaN'T pUT mE iN a bOx MIC:

[tinybobboilen]

Hi, Bob Boilen here. I'm the creator of Tiny Desk concerts. I love what you did here and appreciate your appreciation of the Tiny Desk sound. I won’t go into details on what you came up with other than to say you did a great job. You should see a Tiny Desk concert sometime. Given all you did here, you’d appreciate it immensely. The one thing I would critique that is vital to the Tiny Desk and an important part of my philosophy for these concerts is this: no headphones or monitors. The singer sings in the room without any amplification. Since there are also no monitors, everyone has to play at a volume that allows them to hear the singer and also every other instrument. So, in essence, the band is ‘self-mixing.’ That makes the performance unique, as well as the recording techniques.

[MattyWhens]

Tiny Desk is the Unplugged of the 21st century. I love it so much. Thanks for this!

[wildhorse]

this is probably the best audio production channel on youtube at this point

[SOUNDINTHECITY]

If I remember correctly the guy in charge of Tiny Desks recordings did an AMA on Reddit with a list of equipment.

[davidrick]

Some good observations here. I was present when Josh Rogosin gave a talk at the Audio Engineering Society convention in NYC last fall. One thing I walked away with was how active he was being in managing the bleed from all those microphones. While Josh may use a lot of instrument spots when recording a large ensemble, when he showed his DAW session on the screen, it was clear that the majority of those mics were muted most of the time. Spot mics were unmuted only at specific points in the song where they were needed to highlight something. When unmuted, they were often heavily EQ'd to add only exactly what was needed to the mix and to keep unwanted bleed under control. Josh usually has some kind of ambience feed available -- sometimes just a more distant stereo mic -- but he doesn't use it continually in the mix. It might be faded up in the spaces (another production nod to field reporting) or used for a more distant perspective on a horn section, but it's not the sole source of ambience in the final mix. There are always those stereo mics, but Josh is also not afraid to use artificial reverb plug ins. The end result FEELS like intimate live capture, but what's really going on here is storytelling and, in service of that story, no post-production trick is off the table.

[davidmcgirr]

I don't perform live or play well, or even really use mics, mostly a daw based electronic artist, but 'Emotional mixing decisions' is a fantastic concept that's going in the toolkit.

[campfire]

I run a small recording studio on my college's campus out of an old radio station's building, and I've been looking for how to up my "live recording" vibe for a couple of months now as work has picked up. I can't even begin to say how valuable the past 20 minutes I just spent watching this video will be to me moving forward. I'm already itching to try so much of this out.

[official.suburbia]

Unbelievable recreation. Sounds exactly like the NPR Edition. Amazing performances too..

We’ve been working with Ricky for the last few months on our debut EP. He’s been amazing to work with and his attention to detail is second to none.. send him those demos, you won’t regret it😅

[madsenamplification]

I love tiny desk, and this channel. I would have never thought to break down the tiny desk production but this is fantastic. Reminds me of all the reasons I love folk and jazz recordings where all the people are in the room together with out headphones and they’re listening to each other and having a musical conversation.

[Volitudo]

in a few minutes I know this is a high quality, well written, well researched and additionally amazing visual aide. Props to everyone who worked on this video. Followed this channel back in the microphone comparison videos, and great to see more of docu-esque type videos now. This channel needs more recognition!

[CED.Dweller]

WHOA...nailed it! This sounds so great. Nice work taming the drums in the mid/side vocal mic input, too.

[andrefludd]

This video is one of the best things about production I've ever seen. I'm floored by the quality and the useful information. Going to be coming back to the video a lot in the future.

[longwelsh]

I find it largely depends on the performers positioning. Radio sessions where everyone is standing in the round facing each other I find less use for MS, especially if it’s being filmed as they won’t have a consistent ‘viewer aspect’ kind of like crossing the line in an interview. TinyDesk style where the lead artist is at the front facing the crowd with the rest of the band generally behind them that MS can really shine and gives you a really nice guide to where the spot mics need to be panned. A Goniometer meter really helps with setting up MS and lets you see when there’s excess bass on one side of fig8 element, which isn’t always immediately audible monitoring during setup or tracking.

If I ended up in a really small studio I would often try to open up the door to the gallery or corridor. Anything to increase air volume.

Really enjoy the channel, great work.

[Uninterested]

Dude im in my 3rd year of sound engineering right now and ive gotta say your videos are brilliant!

So underated ive been showing them to all of my friends! Im currently working on my final project, and im gonna use a lot of the techniques you've spoken about on an album!

[AlexOnThePianoD]

Love the way the editing on this matches the tiny desk theme. And also the inclusion of cheaper mic options for a more affordable budget:) great video once again!

[AreaResort]

You are absolutely on the right track (no pun intended) with doing the forensic videos. They are great as well as being a great inspiration. And this video is amazing. What a performance and what a great band! Well done to one and all including your production team! Keep up the great work, you now have one of the best and most important channels on YouTube!

[rctnut]

Malcolm's tiny desk performance makes me so sad and happy, he's gone but his music lives on. I'll raise my kids listening to Mac Miller. It's so genuine, he laughs and jokes but you can tell he's nervous, and the chemistry between Thundetcat and Malcolm, not just musically, warms your heart. rip Malcom McCormick, hug your loved ones

[neilsmith]

yes yes yes. Knocking it out of the park. Practical, informative, illustrative and lessons learnt. These must take an age to put together - but I'm sure I speak for many when I say, I'd much rather you continued this course than go down the clickbait "my top 5 EQs", "I've hade enough" titles. thank you.

[beaneuh]

every time im wondering how a sound or effect is made you just manage to drop a video on that exact subject, you are such an amazing producer and person! i cant thank u enough for making music producing accessible to all :)

[Ted_Swayinghill]

Tiny desk is magical to me because they’re focused on capturing the energy of the room as you mentioned

Now a days there isn’t a lot of that. The room mic might be blended to add depth but not to capture the energy/vibe of a room.

I love you talked about this! I’m subbing!