Cello?

nessbass

nessbass

New member
Hey folks,

I'm willing to record a cello next week for a song of my band. I'm in the 'post-production'-process right now, so I will have to record it in my bedroom. The guy, that is going to play the cello owns a pickup system for it, so I planned to record it stereo - the pickup on one side, and a mic on the other side. Any recommendations on mic placement? I think I will use a AKG C3000 or C1000, but I'm afraid the latter will not have enough bass response. I wanted to check it, though, because the melody the cello will play is basically a counterpart to the line, the bass is playing. So my idea was to use a bass-light sound for the cello, on the one hand to have a contrast to the bass guitar and on the other hand, because I especially like this scratching string sound of a single cello.
Any tips or hints anyone?

Thanks, David.
 
I have no experience whatsover, but:

I think I would rather use both mics than one mic and the pickup system... Guitar and double bass micing techniques could be a starting point.

A good sounding acoustic room could be nice. Combining close micing and distant micing.

Think you'll have to experiment, looking at the many responses you get... :D
 
I haven't had any experience either but….

I got some info from one of my recording books "Home Recording by Ray Baragary" (now I'm covered...hehe). This was originally for a bass but I'm sure you can translate where necessary. The book also says to use a PZM mic, but in your case use your condenser.
from Ray Baragary
"Build a tent out of thick blankets and clothes line or extra mic stands and place the bass player right in the middle (you can also use a clothes closet with lots of hanging clothes and have him face the closet standing about 3ft from it). The best bet is to use both a dynamic mic and a condenser and put the dynamic on a stand about a foot away from the bass and aim it at the spot where the bassist's hand plucks the strings. Now place the condenser on a stand roughly two or three feet away at chest height. The dynamic will pick up the attack and the condenser will pick up the body resonances and if the bass has a good pickup you don't need to use the dynamic."
Click to expand...
I hope this helps
Good luck

-tkr
 
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hmmmm... Don't think you need the attack of a cello. (No plucking...) The condensor (C3000) to pick up the resonance is very good. But I would use a dynamic (or maybe the C1000?) to pick up the string noises; cfr a guitar mic at the 12 fret.

But I'm really guessing... :D
 
I assisted in engineering a session this past weekend in which we recorded an upright bass (among other instruments) - so this may apply or not (I think it would be worth a try, at least) -

We mic'd the F-hole of the bass with a Neumann U-87 (your AKG C3000 would come into play here); the upright had a pickup so we ran it into a DI box and straight into the board - this combination worked extremely well

good luck
 
Thanks

Thank you all for your responses. I'll be recording today.
If it's going to be good, I'll post some of it (I think I screw up the tenses again, sorry!).

David
 
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