Help: recording a horn section

F

Foo-bu

New member
Hey guys, I was hoping you could help me out here. I've got a project coming up with a horn secton that consists of a tennor sax, alto sax, baritone sax, trumpet and trombone. I have no clue how I should record these.

right now I don't have a whole lot of mic choices other than a bunch of 57s/58s, an apex LD condenser a Neumann TL103 and a few small diaphragm condensers, beta 52, d112, audix d4. My gut instinct says I should use dynamic mics on each of them and then record the room tone with a nice condenser. but i'm not sure

is it even worth recording them as a group? should i just do them individually? any help would be amazing. Thanks!
 
If you have a nice room just mic them as a group with a few different mics for mixdown options. Maybe a few close mics and a stereo pair in the back of the room.
 
For this, I have used two R84 Ribbons in a Blumlein X-Y pattern out front with some spot mics. Can work very well.
 
Another great way is to use a figure-8 mic and have the players face each other. That helps them play off each other instead of all facing the wall...
 
I would prefer a ribbon mic on every horn including the bariton sax and close mic them. Beware that the sound of saxes comes for a great deal from the valves, so don't aim a cardiod to the bell only.

If you don't own ribbons or there is no chance to rent them, use the 57/58's for trumpet and bones and the LDC's for bariton and tenor sax, find out which one sounds best on what. I think 57's do better on smaller saxes like alto than the big ones.

Remember the 1:3 rule, horns are very loud so keep some 1'>2' distance from the mics, but don't put the players too close to eachother.

Don't be afraid, it's not that difficult. Tell the players this is a recording, not a gig so they won't move too much.
 
beg borrow or steal some better mics for the day... i like them recorded M-S ... they need to be able to play off of each other... may want to encourage them to play with one ear uncovered so they can hear each other...
 
The horns in this song:

were recorded pretty simply and I love how they turned out. They don't crank up until a minute or so in the song.

Each horn (recorded in single passes) had a dynamic mic (SM58, typically) near the bell of the horn (trumpet, tenor and alto sax).

About 10 feet away, I had my Neumann mic picking up room sound.

In lieu of a nice ribbon mic, this worked pretty well.
 
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