 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: Luke
Date: 2003-12-29 20:08
I'm using an AKG Condenser type mic and can set it to pick up sound from different directions, i.e. cardiac, hemispherical, unidirectional, some others. I'm recording some clarinet pieces in my home-studio soon, and was wondering... where exactly should the mic be positioned in relation to the bell (what height, how far away, and also with which sound detection pickup?)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: William
Date: 2003-12-29 23:10
When Pete Fountain plays, he puts his mouthpiece at the bell of his clarinet. When playing softer notes, he moves very close, but for the most part, he stands back a few inchs and the pick-up seems quite even throughout his range. My miking strategy as well.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Katrina
Date: 2003-12-30 02:51
I usually mic right above the finger holes. If I need to get a low note especially prominent in the performance, I move the bell to the mic. Of course, this is based on my simple Shure SM57. I don't know much more about mics, but do know that this one is fairly unidirectional so it works well for this purpose. There do exist some wireless (?) mics which have two smaller mics...one for bell sound and one for finger hole sound.
Katrina
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Mark Pinner
Date: 2003-12-30 10:43
Above the finger holes, this avoids a spike in levels when the lower keys are closed. You need to set the gain correctly and pick up as much sound as possible and allow you some clearance from the mike. This should be done in one of the omni-directional settings, you just have to experiment a bit with which one is best with different mikes. Inconsistencies can be ironed out to an extent in the editing process. You ideally want to minimise any mechanism noise as this is harder to delete than a squeak, likewise breathing. Saxophone is a different proposition if you are heading in that direction.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: sfalexi
Date: 2003-12-30 12:30
I'm a rookie and don't know much about recording or what goes into it, but wouldn't it be better to set the mike a few feet away? Maybe aboiut four feet away and set it to be more "sensative" to pick up those softer notes? I would think that would better eliminate the key action while also helping to diffuse the changes in volume between air resonating and escaping through the tone holes and those notes that go through the entire clarinet.
Sort of like it was said in another thread, if you set the mic where your audience is, you'll get a truer sound of what your audience hears?
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: DougR
Date: 2003-12-30 13:09
I KNOW there are previously posted threads on this, so try searching for them. Mike placement depends on the overall sound YOU want for THIS recording, and only you know that. The only reliable guide is your taste, and your ears, and you're going to have to experiment to find the kind of sound you like. Generally, though, you'd close-mic if you wanted a big warm clarinet presence without much, or any, room sound in it. (or, if you were recording the clarinet with another instrument, say a piano, you'd close-mic the clarinet so you could adjust its volume, tone color etc. without altering the piano sound, which you presumably would be recording on another mic.)
If you wanted more of a sense of a clarinet in a room, e.g. a concert hall or recital hall, you'd put the mic out where the "audience" would be, and you'd get a less-present clarinet sound and more room tone and reverberation (and also buses going by outside, sirens etc., if that's a factor in your case).
If you're close-mic'ing (above the finger-holes IS correct placement, by the way), you're going to have to experiment with pickup patterns (cardioid, omni, etc.) to see what produces the sound you like the most.
Also, before "recording day," you might try a dry run to see how noisy the horn's key action is, and discover any other extraneous noises that might get recorded (audible breaths, unconscious throat-clearing, hissing air escaping from your embouchre) and get the horn's action quieted-down, if necessary, BEFORE you try to record. Otherwise you waste a lot of time trying to edit out key clicks and other unwanted sounds, and some will be impossible to remove.
Finally: it works best to NEVER record with the idea, "I'll fix any mistakes in the mix." Prep as well as you can in advance of recording, so the takes you do are truly "finished." (unless you LIKE playing around in the studio, and hey--who doesn't??)
Have fun, let us know how it went!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
