recording cello

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eclips1

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I am looking for a good teqnique for recording a cello. I recorded it once and the recording didn't come out too good. I had the mic placed approx 1ft from the upper part of the cello(just above the hole). I had to amplify the sound a lot more than vocals and the noise floor was brought up to around -28 dbs. I use an AT4033 cardiod mic w/ an ART tube pre.

Is the hole on the instrument the origin of sound and if so should I get the mic as close as possible to this point??
 
hello eclips1...use more than one mic for starters and make sure at least one of them is a quality condenser mic...also, and this will take some effort, but it'll be worth it, get in touch with a guy named Wayne Kamp in indianapolis--I don't currently have a working # for him because he has recently moved his shop--but this guy makes an incredibly sensitive and accurate (it won't color the sound) "pick-up" which can be easily attached to any instrument...I believe he calls it "the clip-and-play"...I bought a proto-type made from a clothes-pin and WOW!...simply add this line-level signal to the bus on your recorder...add one of these to your equipment bag and you'll never worry about getting a good recording no matter what mics you use...
p.s. I used to be a stagehand and I've had plenty of experience using all kinds of mics in every imaginable setting--including the symphony--and I can't stress this clip-and-play thing enough...I'm not sure what the guy charges, but, it's truly a remarkable item...I personally know of a lady in Mass. who runs a "harp" school, of all things, and she bought one for every harp in the school...the classical harp is known as one of the hardest instruments to mic...later.
 
Eclipse, I personally would steer clear of the clip-on mics that Toy metioned, sorry Toy :(

I am a pro Violinist, and I use clip-ons all the time. They are great for live shows that are loud, we use them for gigs like Mannheim Steamroller, Broadway gigs, etc. For those gigs they are great.

For studio records, clip-ons dont capture the overtones
a string makes as well as a good condenser mic. It also makes players very uncomfortable and actually play differently, hard to play a cello when you got a wire tangling with your bow arm. To me, the clip-ons sound tinny and give the AM Radio sound.

Most sessions I do use AKGs are Neumanns. I am not a mic expert but it is usually the AKG 414 in the smaller studios. I would point the mic(s) at the f-holes, perhaps a few weet away. Better that, I would have a mic or two on the Cello, and a mic recording the room. In classical music, we dont use studios that much, we tend to use a concert hall, so if you have a nice room, lets hear it. Dave
 
hi all...I didn't mention a clip-on mic, I mentioned a "pick-up" that can be clipped on to any instrument...this fairly inexpensive item has a lot of great attributes--1) it doesn't color the sound--unlike a DeanMarkley or such.. ask a recording engineer how hard it is to find equipment that doesn't color the sound...
..you can clip it onto a "sweet-spot" on "any" instrument--I have a 1964 Gibson Co-Classical that is very quiet and as such it is very hard to mic--unless you can afford a $3000 tube-condenser....to make up for what my AT condenser mic doesn't register from the guitar itself, I just clip this pick-up onto one of the keys so that it is in contact with the head-stock and connect the 1/4" jack either straight into an amp set-up clean or thru an effects processor then to an amp, and then mic the amp...then these two mics are combined on the stereo-bus of my mixer....the sound is huge... it is very sensitive to almost any vibration--you can even hold it to your throat and it actually picks up your voice...
because it is so sensitive, it's easy to find a sweet spot on any instrument--it's so sensitive that you'll also find spots on the instrument that are too hot and cannot be used...
David...nice to meet you...while I'm hardly ready for the symphony, I do own a 110 yr old violin that just loves this pick-up...I clip it onto one of the top pegs and connect it to the BossSE-50 (large hall program), then straight into the mxr, put the headphones on, and I'm no longer playing in a dead room, but, rather playing at the hall...the sound is fantastic...I've met many professional types during my 6 years as a stagehand with IATSE, and you may be interested to know that this cheap little clip-and-play device was received warmly on each occasion that it was offerred....I've checked it out on harmonica, harp, hundreds of guitars, violin, cello, viola, up-right bass, piano (you need three for piano), all the brass instruments, even the wind instruments vibrate enough to be picked up and replicated fairly accurately although not as well as other instruments....it's a simple device, but, painstaking development and testing will go a long way--a small section of the end of a clothes-pin is preped for silk-screening of a fine layer of precisely ground crystal--precise thickness, length and width...lead contacts are embedded into the crystal thereby making the connection to a standard 1/4" instrument jack...these things have only been around for a few years, and the guy doesn't exactly have them in production...actually, he has only made enough so far to cover most of his long-time customers...some people have tried to place orders for hundreds, but, that ain't likely to happen any time soon....I need some work done on a couple of guitars, so, I'll be getting up with Wayne soon and I'll check to see how this particular part of his shop is doing....later
 
Use the AT 4033, in conjunction with a Bass drum mic... (audix, has a nice one).... Let the At take care of the high mids and highs, and the bass drum mic, will capture, the thunderous bass, that the cello gives off... (ok 'thunderous is a bit of an exageration, but you know what I mean)....
Joe
 
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