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Re: And another thing...

157.30.176.47

Posted by Paul C. on December 11, 2005 at 12:01:15

In Reply to: And another thing... posted by Inmate51 on December 11, 2005 at 08:18:19:

Yes... 6"-12" is good. And always use a foam windscreen. It reduces the noise when the player bumps the mic with the bell of his horn... which he will do.

Use a boom coming up over the music stand, and to one side. about a foot away works well.

Alto, Tenor, Bari Sax, and CURVED soprano sax (looks like a tiny alto): The mic should be angled to pick up both from the bell and the upper, or left hand keys. Saxophone radiates about half its sound energy from the open tone holes, and the rest from the bell. The bell section acts as a high pass filter, and that tone is brighter, brassier than the tone heard without micing. This is an advantage, brightens the tone and helps projection for rock, jazz, R&B live performance. You don't want to close mic sax at the bell for classical recordings in the studio.

Straight soprano sax, clarinet... this is more difficult. If you mic only at the bell, or use a clip on, you get the "Kenny G effect", where the tone and volume changes as he plays up and down the scale. Better is to use one boom angled down, with the mic turned up slightly and aimed at the bell. A second mic the boom comes up and over, mic angled down and aimed at the middle of the soprano sax. Mix for best effect. There is a clip on with gooseneck that does the same thing, with two mic heads.

Most people mic flute at the head, ALWAYS use a foam windscreen. But I get better results micing flute at the foot, with a home made clear plastic dish on the mic handle. This dish is made from clear Lexan (like R/C car bodies), formed with a heat gun and moldd into a Chinese wok, trimmed with scissors. A hold cut in the middle, and slipped over the handle of the mic. It is retained in position with two rings of foam cut from foam pipe insulation. The dish allows some freedom of movement and the tone remains consistent in volume and timbre even as the player moves around a bit.

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