Microphone for brass instruments

F

flamefire999

New member
Hello,
So basically there's a scholarship available if I send in a video of me playing and I have 0 equipment. I live out in the boonies (I'm tethered to my laptop with 3G, that's how bad it is), so there are no recording studios and the closest one is extremely expensive ($500+). I'm not looking to make an entire home studio or anything like that, so all I need (I think) is a microphone, one of those fancy microphone holder things that looks like a spider or something, a pop filter, and a thing to plug it into (that has those twisty dials and lights and stuff).

I want to record my trombone and trumpet, but is it possible to also use it as a normal microphone for the computer? For a budget I was thinking maybe $400? I could go up if need be, but from my minimal research that's what it looks like the price would be (roughly).

Thanks,
Mitch

TL;DR: Microphone setup under $400 for trombone.
 
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flamefire999 said:
so all I need (I think) is a microphone, one of those fancy microphone holder things that looks like a spider or something, a pop filter, and a thing to plug it into (that has those twisty dials and lights and stuff).
Click to expand...

Add some decent closed back headphones and you're pretty much ready to start recording. For serious mixing some you'll need studio monitors and a good space to work, but perhaps for this scholarship demo you can get by with the headphones. Most likely you won't need the spider thing and can just use a simple mic clip and mic stand.

For brass it's common to use a dynamic microphone. Typical models include Electro-Voice RE20, Sennheiser MD421, and Shure SM57 and SM58. The SM57 is sort of the universal instrument mic. They go for about $100. The SM58 is almost a twin, but with a round grill pop screen to make it vocal friendly. That would also be a good way to go.

Then you need the audio interface. There's a bunch of them out there but since I use older and bigger gear I'll leave the specifics to some other poster.
 
Hi Mitch,
some years ago my son had to do something similar for auditions and they wanted to be sure the video was actually of HIM playing guitar!

So, notwithstanding the excellent advice so far, I would suggest you K.I.S.Sir? Try recording from a phone or digital camera that does video. For sure the quality will be poor (but no worse than what the kids listen to on the Tooob!) but at least it will be YOU playing the right notes!

By all means get yourself a decent set up but for this particular job I think quick and dirty will serve? I am actually quite interested in brass recording, eldest grandson has just bought a sax. Pretty good on it too, been playing clarinet for some years.

Dave.
 
Actually, I agree. Just use a decent phone for the video. Production values beyond that won't really help your case. It's your playing that they want to hear.
 
If you've got a camcorder, you can use that. For auditions and skillsets, I don't think you need much. In middle school, my son would use the built-in mic on his laptop for his trumpet auditions and progress reports. It was fine for the purpose intended.

If you're stuck with 3G for an internet connection, use your phone. For once, I'll agree with ECC83 (Dave), keep it simple.
 
Chili said:
If you've got a camcorder, you can use that. For auditions and skillsets, I don't think you need much. In middle school, my son would use the built-in mic on his laptop for his trumpet auditions and progress reports. It was fine for the purpose intended.

If you're stuck with 3G for an internet connection, use your phone. For once, I'll agree with ECC83 (Dave), keep it simple.
Click to expand...

For ONCE?!! When else have I ever offended thee?

Dave.
 
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