Recording Banjo

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ciderbill

New member
I'm going to be recording a bluegrass band, and wondered if anyone has any thoughts on the best way to do the banjo, short of throwing it into a woodchipper.
 
I'm pretty new to recording things myself - although I've been involved with recording for several years now (on the other side of the glass).

With that caveat, in my limited experience I would recommend a condensor mics at distance on the banjo. This is how we recorded the banjo on this track:


We had one mic (a Rode NT2 I think) at distance of about one meter.
It seemed to work well enough.

If the bluegrass band are up for it I would try and record them live with a stereo pair in X-Y, some close mics and some ambient mics (if you have the inputs).
In this case you might want to use a dynamic mic a little closer to the banjo to get better isolation.
 
Thanks for the reply. I was thinking along the condenser mic lines. I've been doing the home recording thing for awhile, and have made some decent recordings, but I'm still looking for the "banjo sound" that'll satisfy our banjo player. Normally he uses an SM57, but he doesn't have a real understanding of mic placement. I'm going to try my Rode NT1 and see what happens. We've done some recordings using our PA mixer and the banjo always gets lost. You can check out some of our recordings here:


 
I've had good luck with an AT4033 at a distance recording the whole band (WSM style). I've also tight mic'ed with a SM-57 (after all, it's practicly a drum).
 
ciderbill said:
Thanks for the reply. I was thinking along the condenser mic lines. I've been doing the home recording thing for awhile, and have made some decent recordings, but I'm still looking for the "banjo sound" that'll satisfy our banjo player. Normally he uses an SM57, but he doesn't have a real understanding of mic placement. I'm going to try my Rode NT1 and see what happens. We've done some recordings using our PA mixer and the banjo always gets lost. You can check out some of our recordings here:


Click to expand...
Cool! Thanks for posting those - I really enjoyed the tracks :)

I see what you mean about the banjo getting lost. I do like the live feel of the tracks though. Could you record with the same set-up and additionally close mic the banjo with a 57 (or equivalent) as the guy above says, and mix it in this way?

It would be a real shame to overdub and lose that live feel, which really adds to the charm IMO :)
 
My banjos are open-backs (no resonator), and I record them by strapping an SM-57 right to the dowel stick (inside the banjo pot itself) with velcro straps. Really works well. Not sure how it'd work with a bluegrass resonator type banjo though. Would be tough to get the mic chord out through the resonator without modifications. The banjo player might not be too crazy about that idea. You could see if you can talk him into trying it with the resonator off, and see how it sounds.

I know a lot of bluegrass bands like to use the single or two mic method, and just step up for their breaks, then back off. Probably better suited to performance rather than recording.
 
Thanks for all the feedback folks.
Glad you liked the tracks Codmate. I plan on doing just that, taking the mix from the pa as a stero pair and then setting up the condenser just for the banjo. Of course all this depends on getting my tascam 488 up and running again. By the way, those tracks went from the pa to my dat.
 
We recorded a bluegrass CD last year. After talking to many people, for advice (and trying various conbinations) we used a 4033 to capture the group (as the primary signal chain) we close mic'd the banjo with a SM57 (just in case we needed a little more islolation).

Talking to many people I found the 4033 seems to be a very standard mic for bluegrass sessions (both in the studio and on stage).

If the group is seasoned you should not have to worr about close mics - good bluegrass pickers know how to work the mic.
 
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