Posted by Daryl on February 15, 2003 at 00:44:38:
In Reply to: Tech advice...recording equip? posted by JasonW on February 14, 2003 at 22:50:31:
The general rule of thumb with mics is - you get what you pay for. That being said, there are some really great values in microphones out there. Plus, with some careful attention being paid to the physics of sound you may be able to improve your results.
First things first - make sure you know how to get the most out of any mic that you might be using. Brass instruments are strange beasts to record, the tuba in particular. The first thing that many people (Myself included, and I am an owner/producer in a fairly successful small studio) forget is how much physical room it takes to get a "good" tuba sound - and by good I mean a pleasant, open, undistorted sound quality. In order for the sound wave that a tuba produces playing a mid-register note (say, C3 for example) to fully finish its cycle it needs approximately 3 feet of uninterrupted space from the edge of the bell out. And that's just a good, clean tuba sound without any of the diffusion (allowing the sound to open up) or resonance (natural room reverb) that most players would associate with a good sound on a recording. If you want THAT, add anywhere from 6-10 more feet of open space straight out from the bell (if not more) - even more if the room has carpeting or fibrous walls or anything else that will suck up the sound. Thus, the best equipment to get for a good tuba recording is - a big a$$ room. Then make sure you set your mic(s) at least 5 feet away from you and 6 feet in the air. Experiment with positioning if you can to find the best location for it. Watch out for sympathetic resonances as well - tubas like to shake things (there was a tile in practice room 14 at MSU that LOVED Ab), and those resonances often manifest themselves as distortion on recordings.
Now, mics - depends on the intended use. My guess is that you're looking for a mic that you can use to document practice sessions, possibly record recitals and lessons. Save yourself some trouble and get one of the plethora of good stereo mics out there (a single mic that will record in stereo). My current favorite is the Audio Technica AT822/825 - about $300, but solid as a tank and sounds great. I've also had some colleagues buy the Sony stereo mic (About $100) - seemed to record reasonably well but was a tad noisy for my tastes and seemed to be really flimsy. AKG also makes a stereo mic but it retails at a little under a grand - probably more than you want to spend for that purpose.
Anyway, those are just my initial suggestions - if you want more specific stuff, email me and I'll see if I can help you out.
Daryl
tuba player and recording engineer