Recording a Sitar?

  • Thread starter Thread starter CrowsofFritz
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CrowsofFritz

CrowsofFritz

Flamingo!
Has anyone any experience recording a sitar? I know the mic should be placed at a distance because of the resonating sympathetic strings, but other than that, i have no idea where to place a mic (or what kind of mic) to get the best sound.
 
Treat it much the same as an acoustic guitar and use at least two microphones. I guess a distant microphone wouldn't hurt either.

One of the sitars I recorded also had a pickup so I got that Di as well!
 
I always put one near the --- uh... What would be the bass of the soundboard on a guitar (never asked what it was called). The base of the body. And another (SDC's I'm talking here...) near the neck joint from the front. Anoushka had a pickup (which I wasn't really crazy about) and a DPA that filled everything in nicely.
 
(Why the hell does this place keep doing weird things to my posts?)
 
Bump. I just ordered new sitar strings. They were a huge PITA to replace. 2 hours to replace 7 strings haha. I am going to record it using the mic placement methods above and post the results here.
 
moresound said:
Treat it much the same as an acoustic guitar
Click to expand...

I'd reiterate this, but not necessarily the 'at least two mics' I've done most sitar recordings I've done with one mic just carefully placed.

If you listen to the player playing in the room and move one ear around where you think you might get a good sound, then put one mic up at a time adding mics if you think you need them, you'll not get lost and have fewer phase problems.

I've spent most of my career recording instruments I'd never heard of before, never mind recorded so I wrote this blog on how I go about doing it. I actually like recording stuff like that now. It's far more fun :-).

mixtipsblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/micing-techniques-first-time.html
 
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