Harmonica condenser or dynamic mic??
- Thread starter CellarCat
- Start date
Dom Franco
New member
I would use a dynamic mic, held right up against the harmonica air outlets.
Dom Franco
Dom Franco
Gear_Junky
New member
I've a friend who's really good on harmonica and he has this retro-looking harmonica mic, which sounds really cool. I think Shure makes one of those and it has a "distortion" knob for that "nasty blues sound" 
For "dirty" blues harp, a green bullet, Astatic JT-30, or any number of high impedence mics plugged into a small tube amp, CRANKED. Then mic the amp with a 57 or the like. Add a little slap-back echo for the "Butterfield" sound.
But "clean" harmonica is another story. Dick Gardiner, who used to play with the Harmonicats and now repairs Shure ribbon mics, told me a facinating story of the Harmonicat's pilgrimage to Milwaukee, Wis., the home of the Bob Paquette mic collection (one of the largest in the world) to try out EVERY mic to see which one is the "best" to record clean harmonica. They played through everything, and settled on a Shure 330 ribbon. Needless to say, put up a pop screen to avoid blowing the ribbon out if you're going to record harp with a ribbon...
But "clean" harmonica is another story. Dick Gardiner, who used to play with the Harmonicats and now repairs Shure ribbon mics, told me a facinating story of the Harmonicat's pilgrimage to Milwaukee, Wis., the home of the Bob Paquette mic collection (one of the largest in the world) to try out EVERY mic to see which one is the "best" to record clean harmonica. They played through everything, and settled on a Shure 330 ribbon. Needless to say, put up a pop screen to avoid blowing the ribbon out if you're going to record harp with a ribbon...