recording brass

[mongoose]

Do you guys have any advice on recording brass.
I'm gonna be recording a trumpet and a trombone in a pro studio with a seperate recording room.
Any mic tips, condenser or dynamic, mic placement etc...?

[dagosto]

If you have acces to any ribbon mics give them a try. 2-3 feet away from the bell of the horn. Yo may also want to place the mic a few inches of of directly in front of the horn. This is because a blast of air could damage the element. The studio may not want you using their ribbons especially if they are older, but ask nontheless.

Ribbons are very sensative so you should put a cover over them anythime you move them. Also never put phantom power on a ribbon. Although newer mics can handle it it is a good practice to just not do it. It's like blowing a fuse only the filament is the mic element.

If you can't get a ribbon, most large diaphram condensers work well placed in the same manner.

[Bellringer]

I have had good luck using the Shure KSM32 on sax and trumpet. Set up about 3-4 feet from the bell it recorded with excellent tone. We were able to get the sound we wanted with very little eq. Much better than the close micing we tried with a few other mics. We also got a nice sound from an AKG C300B but it took some eq in the mids to bring the brass to life.
You should toy with the distance just a bit depending on the room and a mid priced large condenser should do fine.

[mikegee]

here's a great excert from electronic musician magazine, quoting Cake's Trumpet Player Vince DiFouri:



Let's talk about recording trumpet.

di Fiore: One of the reasons it's fun playing trumpet in this band is that I'm not part of a section. It's a guitar band and I'm the thing that sounds different. The trumpet is a good foil for the electric guitar. It gives it something different to react against.

We recorded trumpet mainly in a small bedroom where we'd put some carpet on the floor. There was a little bit of room sound, but not too much. The reverb wasn't washy, and for the most part, I played right up on the mic. We used an SM57 quite a bit. I tried other, more lush mics, like the Røde NTK. The Røde sounded really present, and we used it on about half the songs, but we got a tight sound on the SM57 that worked for a lot of the songs.

Once you're sure you're using the right mic, it makes it easier to record. You don't feel as ambivalent about things, because once you understand the mic, it's all up to you as the player. You know what you're going to get out of it, and the rest of it — the tone, etcetera — is up to you.

It's important to spend a lot of time with a mic, to listen to it in different rooms and see how it's responding. That gives you a sense of consistency. That's why I went with the SM57. I understood it. With some of the other mics there seemed to be too many factors that went into getting the most out of them. A lot of times I had to play something really in the moment, without time for an elaborate setup. I didn't have to have to treat the mic gingerly. I could just slap up the 57 and go.

That's true with the board setting too. You want to know what's coming from the mic, and what's coming from the board. I have to admit that I didn't want to even begin learning about the mics. I thought they weren't as important as the performance. But that's not really true. There are a lot of subtle and not so subtle characteristics about mics. In this case, it was usually best for me to stick with the simple thing and concentrate on the performance.


Here's a link to the whole interview, lots of great advice for home recording!

http://emusician.com/mag/emusic_home...ke/index2.html

[abarnett]

a lot of people have luck with a horn section pointing at a wall and a small diaphragm condensor pointed at the wall from above and behind the players.

That's how sir duke was done.

I would use a ribbon or ldc for mellow stuff about 3ft out and a couple inches off axis

for loud solos I would use a 57 just a bit outta the bell with an ldc for the room.

however, if this is a pro studio, they've probably figured out how to do it well in their space with their stuff.

[mongoose]

thanks for the advice but I ended up getting lucky and borrowed a Brauner valve mic and oooohhh, the sound is extremely nice with whatever you put through those guys.

[Nubus]

Originally Posted by abarnett

a lot of people have luck with a horn section pointing at a wall and a small diaphragm condensor pointed at the wall from above and behind the players.

That's how sir duke was done.

that's a good idea.

[warmowski]

In my opinion, the reflectivity trick his works better the more reflective the surface is. My favorite wall surface for utilizing reflectivity is glazed cinderblock, great results for trumpet and guitar amps.

For in-bell applications, a 57 is often very nice, as is a SM81 (not quite as close.)

-r

[SorenP]

AKG 421 is a great do it all for brass if you don't want any big rich coloration. Also if you can track one down Rode's NT1 and NTK are easymode for trombones. Just something about the response of the NT1 right in the heart of the sound of the bone.

[smopo24]

While it's great on drums, and a ton of other things, I'm not a fan of the 421 on trumpet. The studio I worked in A/B'd it with an AEA ribbon, and the AEA totally left it behind. It was too muffled, and lacked detail. The AEA sounded much fuller, and captured what he heard much better. We were totally thrilled with how much better the ribbon was.