Banjo Mic

  • Thread starter Thread starter rll882000
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Perfect Pitch

Sorry - this thread reminded me of an old joke.

Question: What's "perfect pitch"?
Answer: It's when you throw a banjo into a dumpster and it hits an accordian on the way in.

Again, sorry, I actually like banjo, honest I do, seriously, I'm not kidding. :D
(No really - one of my favorite albums is Jerry Douglas "Restless on the Farm" - some brilliant dobro/banjo interplay on there.)

.... last thing I want is someone swinging a heavy banjo at my head....... or accordian for that matter. (Any accordian players on this site? Okay, I'm a huge Weird Al fan. Okay? It's just a joke.)
 
All jokes aside, What kind of banjo sound do you consider "good"?

I record mainly bluegrass/acoustic stuff and I am also still trying to get a good banjo sound. I like really like the banjo sound of the newer AKUS (Ron Block) recordings, Lonesome River Band (Sammy Shelor), Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder (Jim Mills) and the like. I also really like Ron Stewart's playing/sound.
I think that most of the above would not be considered a (tinny) traditional sound but one with not so much of a harsh edge. I had the opportunity to talk with Ron Stewart at one of his shows and he said that he normally uses either a u87 or an AKG 414. I have also been told that a u67 as well as a u47 are often used.
I can't really afford anything like that so I haven't had the chance to try them out.
I just finished doing the mojave audio mod for the mxl 2001 and tried it out on my banjo (Huber Model) and was very pleased with the result. It has came closer to the sound I am after than anything else I have tried. Another big variable (as cavedog said) is the room.

You can hear clips of the U67 at www.huberbanjos.com and click on the team flathead CD. From what I understand there is no extra processing on the banjo.

Good luck,
Jeff
 
interesting thread

The last banjo I recorded I set a E609 right up tight on neck, right at it's connected to the "shell". It was a very pleasent tone. The player didn't want to try anything else after hearing it, and he has quite a few credits. It was through my M12, spdif to the Tascam CD, in a live setting in a coffee house. It is a drum head after all.
 
I can't repeatedly rip on the banjo without mentioning my absolute love for Pete Seeger, whose banjo reads:

"This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender."

(I'm not telling you banjo folks anything you don't already know.)

In the hands of such a master, the banjo is indeed wonderful. Listen to any of his recordings and eq your banjo as such...if you can.
 
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