Mics
-
Albertibass
- 3 valves
- Posts: 285
- Joined: Thu Apr 14, 2005 7:25 pm
- Location: Fort Worth, TX
Mics
I have an upcoming audition where i have to send in a recording of myself playnig. What would be a microphone that would be suitable for my BBb tuba?
-
sc_curtis
- pro musician
- Posts: 597
- Joined: Sun Sep 18, 2005 11:47 pm
- Location: Houston, TX
- Contact:
-
Albertibass
- 3 valves
- Posts: 285
- Joined: Thu Apr 14, 2005 7:25 pm
- Location: Fort Worth, TX
-
mTaUrBkA
- 3 valves
- Posts: 251
- Joined: Wed Feb 23, 2005 9:35 pm
- Location: Urbana, IL
without a doubt I would use a shure sm57 mic. I generally only use it when I play trombone in a ska band.....but I have fooled around with it with my tuba. Its by far the best instrument microphone you can get. Only downside is......it will run you about 90 bucks which it may not be worth it for this one audition. You may be able to rent one from a daddys junky music or similar store, or borrow one from a friend.
-
SplatterTone
- 5 valves
- Posts: 1906
- Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2005 11:17 pm
- Location: Tulsa, OK
- Contact:
You can get all kinds of recommendations (for example, Audio Technica AT3035) which will probably just leave you confused.
A general approach you can use: The specs for most good mics can be gotten from the vendor's website. Here is a chart of music note frequencies.
http://www.phy.mtu.edu/~suits/notefreqs.html
Find a mic with a flat response that includes the frequencies you will play. For example, about the lowest note I can ever play before the back pressure becomes to great with my horn/mouthpiece combo is the E-flat at 38.89 Hz; or D as a false tone (it's very weak using 234 with my horn/mouthpiece).
The frequency response specs don't show the little blips in response that happen at certain frequencies which are what cause different mics with "flat" response to sound a little different. For your purpose, I don't think it's going to be that big of a deal. With tuba, I don't think stuff like sensitivity and signal to noise will be all that big of a deal either. So, for what you need, the $99 Audio Technica AT2020 might be just as good as the $199 AT3035.
Another big consideration is the room in which you will record. A church sanctuary is a good spot if it isn't one of those holy roller types where there is carpet and other sound killing material wall to wall and ceiling to floor.
Recording in your acoustically dead little bedroom will do a lot to kill any advantage a good mic might give you. A good example of this is at the following link, where a simultaneous recording in a crummy little room was made using AT3035 and CAD D94 -- a run of the mill dynamic vocal mike. Scroll down to the bottom of the page.
http://t-recs.net/7101.html
I've never submitted a recording to a college faculty, so I don't know this for a fact, but I would guess that they have heard enough recordings to listen past lousy recording equipment and hear what the tuba player is doing. But a good recording certainly won't hurt.
A general approach you can use: The specs for most good mics can be gotten from the vendor's website. Here is a chart of music note frequencies.
http://www.phy.mtu.edu/~suits/notefreqs.html
Find a mic with a flat response that includes the frequencies you will play. For example, about the lowest note I can ever play before the back pressure becomes to great with my horn/mouthpiece combo is the E-flat at 38.89 Hz; or D as a false tone (it's very weak using 234 with my horn/mouthpiece).
The frequency response specs don't show the little blips in response that happen at certain frequencies which are what cause different mics with "flat" response to sound a little different. For your purpose, I don't think it's going to be that big of a deal. With tuba, I don't think stuff like sensitivity and signal to noise will be all that big of a deal either. So, for what you need, the $99 Audio Technica AT2020 might be just as good as the $199 AT3035.
Another big consideration is the room in which you will record. A church sanctuary is a good spot if it isn't one of those holy roller types where there is carpet and other sound killing material wall to wall and ceiling to floor.
Recording in your acoustically dead little bedroom will do a lot to kill any advantage a good mic might give you. A good example of this is at the following link, where a simultaneous recording in a crummy little room was made using AT3035 and CAD D94 -- a run of the mill dynamic vocal mike. Scroll down to the bottom of the page.
http://t-recs.net/7101.html
I've never submitted a recording to a college faculty, so I don't know this for a fact, but I would guess that they have heard enough recordings to listen past lousy recording equipment and hear what the tuba player is doing. But a good recording certainly won't hurt.
Good signature lines: http://tinyurl.com/a47spm