Micing Brass (first time, I need HELP)

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What kind of mic would you use on say a trumpet or saxophone, I'm not so much looking for a "sweet" so sound, but something that will cut through distroted guitars. I'm recording my first ska band, well its actually more of punk with horns, and I've never miced any instrument that you have to blow through. I'm thinking of using an mc012, and I would guess that goes by the big hole at the end. My options are NTK, Mc012, sm57, e602. Those are my best mics from those categories, LD, SD, dynamic, and dynamic bass instrument. Any setup for horns I would think would use condensors, but maybe not, I've never done it before.

The band I'm recording has three different brass instruments, I think there are seven guys all together. This should be an exciting new experience, :) .

Eric

P.S. I'm thinking a Less than Jake sound for the brass
 
the sm57 rocks on trupet! a friend and i tryed it with no eq or nothing and it was loud(but not distorting) and sounded really good. i have not heard the shennhiser e604 on trumpet but i think it wound do good. but if you already have a sm57 use it. it really does a great job.
 
generaly i would recommend ribbon mics for brass (my favourite is the beyer m260). But for a more agressive sound the 57 might fit very well. I would also try the ntk, especialy on trombone and sax. Use suficient distance from the bell, especially when the parts are very loud (3-4ft). Trumpet has some very nasty transients that can clip your pres easily if you don't look for at least 6db headroom, better 12. Experiment with micing off axis, not pointing straight to the bell. try the mc012 w/ hypercardoid capsule.
good luck
Harald
ps if you want to listen to some heavy brass arrangments recorded with the beyer m260 and a pl20 listen here:
www.besonic.de/liquidjazz
the song is "hannahgram"
 
Nearly all my recording is done with my Ska punk bands and I've found that the best brass sound iis with a Sennheiser e604, which you don't have.
In your postion I'd use the 57. It should cut through the mix pretty well.
Reel Big Fish used Ribbon Mics for Why do they Rock so hard and Cheer up, and it shows. However, Losing streak was done using 57's. Hello Rockview was done using condensors suprisingly. Jus compressed a lot.
 
Kuhn: Heard the tune "Hanahgram." As a trumpet player I can tell you that is all around great playing...as to the recorded sound itself...well, I am struggling myself to get good recordings of my jazz quintet and your sound reminds of me of what I'm getting.

This is not a put down, it just seems that we are in a similar situation with the recording arts - Good playing/so-so recording!
I have tried the Beyer M260 and the Rode NTK thru a Grace Design 101 and using an Audioarts 1200 comp and I am not satisfied. I have also tried the Sennheiser 421 II, same thing.

I wonder if there is some secret that the "big boys of recording" are not telling in order to corner the market on "pro sound."!!! Just for yuks..what was your chain after the mic?
 
I've used a Shure KSM32/sl on saxaphone before in a live setup and I thought it sounded really good, but its harder to tell because it was live.
 
Claude G said:
as to the recorded sound itself...well, I am struggling myself to get good recordings of my jazz quintet and your sound reminds of me of what I'm getting.

I wonder if there is some secret that the "big boys of recording" are not telling in order to corner the market on "pro sound."!!! Just for yuks..what was your chain after the mic?
Click to expand...

the preamp is a self built 30 $ preamp...it was more sort of an experiment, I wanted to see what one can do with super low budget equipment, I think the whole recording chain costed less than 1000US$. The mics are the m260, a beat up pl20, a sm58. Compressors are the ones that come with logic audio and freeware (endorphin from digital fishphones), the only expensive plugin was a touch of waves trueverb. I think the main problem wasn't the equipment but the combination bad room/trueverb. And things didn't get better by stacking 20 tracks recorded in that shitty room. I think the room is one of the secrets for great sounding Jazz recordings, have you ever seen fotos from RVG's studio or avatar (former power station) Studio A?
greetings
Harald
PS I feel that the bugle on hannahgram still sounds much better than many of my recordings made in so called professional studios, at least the ones I have had acces to so far.
 
Harald: Wow! It does sound good particularly considering the equipment used! I agree w/you on the room issue...my room is decent (not great) its 22 by 18 and 15 foot gabled ceiling. I've also treated it with some Auralex, but I know its a far cry from a good sonic space.

Wonder if close micing and using a good reverb (PCM60?) would solve something? I have seen some pictures of the big studios, not sure if Avatar, but they are impressive...I have the real estate to put one on in my house, but I can't afford the cost right now.

Who was the trumpeter in Hannagram? I like his style, and the arrangement was super!
 
Claude G said:
Harald: Wow! It does sound good particularly considering the equipment used! I agree w/you on the room issue...my room is decent (not great) its 22 by 18 and 15 foot gabled ceiling. I've also treated it with some Auralex, but I know its a far cry from a good sonic space.

Wonder if close micing and using a good reverb (PCM60?) would solve something? I have seen some pictures of the big studios, not sure if Avatar, but they are impressive...I have the real estate to put one on in my house, but I can't afford the cost right now.

Who was the trumpeter in Hannagram? I like his style, and the arrangement was super!
Click to expand...

my room was small, about 3m x 5m x 2.4m, treated with ethans basstraps and tube traps, but still too small. I once recorded in a real great room a trio, if I have the chance I will put a short piece online, you will understand what i mean by "shitty room"....I think one big part of the Jazz sound is that there is a bunch of people in the same room playing together. This wasn't the case at all with Hannahgram, in fact every track was recorded as overdub. I am having a hard time calling this kind of thing "music", if you know what I mean.

And, well, (blush), I played all the horns, the piano and wrote the tune, thank you! It was one percussionist playing all the batucada parts (roy galvan) and pablo gonzales with his new bass, playing directly through my mp20 and the rnc.
 
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