Violin Mic question

  • Thread starter Thread starter tromostheory
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tromostheory said:
Thanks a lot guys. I'm actually getting an RE20 as a bass drum/multipurpose mic soon, but I didn't imagine it would work well on violin. I'll give the $20 MSH mics a try soon for the hell of it. I might wait to hear how the RE20 sounds. I've heard these tube mics are amazing for the price (around $300), and they have a figure 8 option on them. http://pacificproaudio.com/ld2_specs.asp
What do you guys think? Thanks a lot for all your input.
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I have been using a Studio Projects T3 on the violin which is close to your price range and gives decent sound. When fiddling I use my Avatone ribbon just like MSHilarious might suggest. I think the room is more important than the mic when recording violin. Find a good space and try recording there. jmho
 
Robert D said:
The room is everything when it comes to violin, and any attempt to remove the room from the violin sound and adding it via reverb will almost certainly leave you dissapointed. Not that you can't add reverb, but there just has to be some space around the violin to start with, and close micing will rarely yield a decent sound. The violin, and the bow and rosin can make quite a difference also, of course, so how these elements combine will make quite a difference to what mic(s) and technique to use to arrive at the last variable, what kind of violin sound you're after for what track.
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good advice in general but...well... never say never. i get some of my best violin sounds with a mic an inch or two from where the bow meets the strings....and i at first miced it that way against my will as the fiddle player wanted it! whenever i'm doing a violin on a multitrack now it's my standard go to thing...if it doesn't work...i'll try something else.

Mike
 
My first thought is to ask whether you've considered a bridge pickup or a stick-on ceramic or piezo contact pickup.... I've miked cello that way on occasion, and it takes significant EQ to bring up the lower register, but it sounds like it would be pretty good as-is for violin/viola. Works well as-is if the music stays largely on the upper string on the cello....
 
xstatic said:
Ribbon mics would be a good suggestion, but I am not sure I would venture down that path wiithout either a Royer R122 or a really nice quiet high gain preamp.
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I heard a Royer 122 on violin for the first time a couple weeks ago. Smooth and gorgeous. (but a little out of the stated price range)
 
Placement, placement, placement!!!

It's often more important than which mic you use.

When miking an unfamiliar instrument, take the time to move the mic around and try different spots. One classical violinist I recorded always complained about how different his recorded sound was from his live sound.

I put him in a corner of the room, with the mic out in the center of the room, and he loved it!! It was the most accurate recording of his violin he had ever heard.
 
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dgatwood said:
My first thought is to ask whether you've considered a bridge pickup or a stick-on ceramic or piezo contact pickup.... I've miked cello that way on occasion, and it takes significant EQ to bring up the lower register, but it sounds like it would be pretty good as-is for violin/viola. Works well as-is if the music stays largely on the upper string on the cello....
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Wow. I'd love to believe- but for literally the years of frustration with the sound of amplified acoustic guitar, and never hearing a piezo that didn't.. shall we say 'screech or clack' in some aspect or the other. :)
 
mixsit said:
Wow. I'd love to believe- but for literally the years of frustration with the sound of amplified acoustic guitar, and never hearing a piezo that didn't.. shall we say 'screech or clack' in some aspect or the other. :)
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I hate piezos and that's why I use a Fishman soundhole pup and Chris Harris, the Mango Supremo, uses a Variax. I'd like to hear violin recorded with an MSH SDC.
 
I've had a fair amount of experience with violin and viola, as well as a viola DeGamba, a sort of micro-cello. This came courtesy of Audrey White, a professor of strings at the New England Conservatory. She graced my first album with several string tracks.)Woo Hoo) Of course, we could only put up the mics we had. I didn't like AKG C414B-ULS. Its high end detail picked up a lot of bow scratch. B.L.U.E. Kiwi was pretty good, especially in wide cardioid, but it's supposed to work, it's a $2000 mic. For cheap, we had our best luck with AKG C2000B, and a pair of Oktava MC-012's. Either one, or all three work well together. I bought the MC-012'2 for $50 apiece. and the C2000B for $99 used. We also got usable tracks with Rode NTK and Shure SM82, an unusual line level broadcast consenser. All in all, I got my best results recording strings when the mic added a little color and was a good distance from the instrument, as in 4-6 feet.
 
As I said before I have two unmatched C1000s that don't work on violin. I also will soon be micing a drum set. Will the C1000s work for overhead drum mics, or should I buy a matched pair of small condensors that will work for both violin and overhead drums? I am on a budget so if the C1000s don't work for drum overheads, I'd like to get a pair of overhead mics that work on violin, violin being more important than the drums. Suggestions? How do the MSH's sound for drum overheads? Thanks again.
 
i have owned a number of neumann, schoeps, DPA, and other nice SD condensers, as well as royer and other ribbons. my favorite mic on violin is the AKG C480 w/ CK61 capsule. just perfect.
 
I use both the Neumann km184 and the Peluso CEMC6. Both are great, clean natural sounding to my ears. The peluso is a little brighter, but still nice. The mic needs to be about 3 or more feet above the violin if possible - behind the player sounds nice, pointing to the wood not the bridge. Play around with placement while wearing good quality headphones - a couple of inches can make a huge difference. I also have the MSH mics, they sound good, but as they are omnis, your room/computer has to be good.

Dan
 
Ok more newbee question time.
I had gone only about a foot above (and a little forward). Now I went back and listened again to the 121 (which had been set aside) vs the QTC and it was the body tone that was missing on the 121. (I expected the oposite.. highly directional/ribbon vs omni..?
But these mic were also a good five inches apart. Even at a foot+ out could the other one have just as well been the full sounding one if they're positions had been flipped?

It seems like the 'from above perspective' is a natural go to spot. But since most of us are hearing the instrument from out in front, is there time when you'd shoot from there?
Seems like it would be more defuse/less direct sounding/haven't been in the trenches far enough to know.... :D

I hope this all stays in with where the O/P was going. :)
 
i recorded a fiddle and a viola on sunday and the guy had a C411, i believe. it was an akg contact mic. worked very well. i also used a 4011 when the 411 ran out of batteries. the tracks are almost seamless. i was impressed. the dude was a great player though.
 
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