saxophones and mics

  • Thread starter Thread starter BlindOwl
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BlindOwl

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I need to record a saxophone next week and have never done it before. What type of mic should I use and what technique should be used in aiming the mic and so forth. Any ideas are appreciated.

Doug
 
I used a LD tube mic in omni about 18" from the bell on my dad's clarinet and got a really nice sound. It was in a fairly large, open sounding room with good natural reverb.
 
i saw Karl Denson's Tiny Universe open for the Allman Brothers a month or so ago and when Karl (alto and tenor sax) sat in with the Allmans, they used an EV RE-20 to mic his sax. It produced a great sound coming through the PA. they positioned it so it was 4-6inches from the bell of the sax and was pointing pretty much down the bell.

i can only imagine you'd get good results with this in the studio as well.


wade
 
I'll second the 421. A good friend of mine (a sax player) swears by them.
 
My absolute drop dead favorite for a Tenor or Alto is an RCA 77-DX... in lieu of that an AEA R-84 always does nicely.

I often favor an RCA 44-BX or AEA 44-CX for Bari sax...
 
I've had great results with the Sennheiser e604 for Sax. The MD 421 is also a great Sax mic. At a pinch, an SM57 would do.

The sound from a Sax also comes from the soundholes, not just the bell. When I mic a Sax I put the dynamic (e604, MD421, SM57, etc) at the bell pointing down it. A foot or two away I'll put a LD condensor to pick up the general feel and sound from the holes.

Good luck!

Neil
 
On the budget end, someone here did a nice recording of Alto Sax using the MXL V67G.

Interesting thought on the RCA 77DX, Fletcher. I play alto sax AND have a 77DX. I'll have to try that sometime.
 
Neil's right; the entire body of the sax radiates sound.

I have good success using a dynamic (SM57 works, RE20 really nice) about a foot or so from the bell and then a condenser back about 6 feet; mix till sweet.

You will have to work with each sax player to get optimum mic placement and levels.
 
I've used an sm57 a foot from the bell pointing in and a little bit of C1 as a room mic before - sounded quite good, but even better was my peavey 520i (underrated LD dynamic) instead of the 57.
If I had a ribbon, I'd use it, but in the cheap world, these both worked well.

Steve
 
good ideas

Thanls for all the help. I think I have some ideas on placement and I will use two mics in the room as many have suggested.
 
Dan Kennedy just told me in another thread to try my Shure Model 300 on loud sources, it's not much good on anything quiet.

Anyone tried one on a sax?
 
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