Klarinet Archive - Posting 000240.txt from 1999/08

From: "Benjamin Maas" <benmaas@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] radio mic for/in barrel
Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1999 16:16:57 -0400

> The only way I would mike a clarinet in the barrel is, if I
> didn't want the
> sound to resemble a clarinet in anyway. I have found a really
> awsome set up
> for clarinet amplification. It's a wireless AkG 419 instrument
> mic. I clip it
> on the bell and the mic is positioned up over the right hand. It
> sounds very
> acurate. I can run it though effects if I want. The main
> advantage the AKG
> has over the SHURE system is that the mic is smaller and lighter,
> if clipped
> on the bell it's not noticibly changing the balace of the
> clarinet. If you
> play other instuments on a gig if is very fast to put on other things. It
> does a pretty good job on bass clarinet when I run it through a
> slight amount
> of compression (dbx 166). The Wm560 wireless mic system is a very
> good radio
> sender reciever kit, the C419 mic plugs into a pak (the size of a
> cigarette
> pak) the clips on your belt and a the reciever sits somewhere on
> stager or
> rakmounted by the board. If you are looking to do special effects
> for modern
> perfomance, you can set this mic so your playing is so quiet all
> you hear is
> the effect.
>
> Now free to move about the stage, the artist formerly known as sarge
> Tom Puwalski
>

There are numerous wireless options out there if you so desire. The SHURE
pack that Tom mentioned is a standard in the live sound world. The cool
thing about it is that there are a bunch of companies that make capsules for
it. I have used it with AKG, Audio Technica and Sennheiser.

I used one with a Audio Technica Capsule on Richard Stoltzman last Saturday
night in a show for the Mancini Institute here in LA. I rented the mic with
a clip that could attach to the instrument, but much to my surprise,
Stoltzman didn't want to use it. He had me mount the capsule (on a lavelier
clip) on his shirt about half way up his chest (behind about the middle of
the horn). The pickup was amazing and very natural. We didn't have key
clicks and no production noise, just good sound. Unfortunately we had a
directional microphone so sometimes the pickup at the bottom of the horn was
a tad muffled, but an omni mic would fix that (Sennheiser MK2 capsule I
believe is a good omni). He said the only disadvantage is that sometimes
throat tones are picked up a little stronger so he put his solos in other
registers to get around this.

He said he's been doing this for years and that is what he does in all the
venues he plays. (He said it was done at the Hollywood Bowl--Seats 18,000--
recently with great results.) You can then process the sound however you
want for your particular performance. Delays, Reverb, etc, can be patched
between the receiver (the receiver can output both mic and line level) and
your amplifiers.

I don't know how this would work for bass clarinet, although I assume it
would be pretty similar. I have done it on violins on the shirt just under
the instrument with much success, too.

--Ben

Benjamin Maas
Freelance Clarinetist and Recording Engineer
Los Angeles, CA
benmaas@-----.com
http://www.fifthcircle.com

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