Members dravenzouk Posted February 13, 2007 Members Share Posted February 13, 2007 Hey all. One thing I have NO experience in is mic setups/selection for brass and horn sections. I'm talking about small to medium venues, generally rock or jazz type bands. My first question is about mic selection. Anyone have any particular favorites for this job? (lower budget is good as I will only occasionally need to mic horns). What do players often request? The next question concerns just general sound reinforcement for horns. Any basic tips or favorite techniques would be appreciated. Also, "heads up" suggestions on pitfalls to avoid would be nice. I've noticed a few bands with horns, when playing in smaller clubs using no reinforcement at all for the horns. Seemed to work "ok", but I'd rather approach the jobs with a bit better plan than that! Thanks in advance, d. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mr.Talent Posted February 13, 2007 Members Share Posted February 13, 2007 we usually use SM57s for trumpet and most saxes... larger horns like a baritone sax, trombone, tuba I may go with a D112 for a good bottom end. Alot of horn players who gig regularly may have their own mics.. usually some clip-on electret-condenser thingy and occasionally one will show up with a large diaphram condenser... As far as EQ.. I'll roll a little low-end off the higher horns (cause they don't need it).. And, depending where the vocals are, pull some high mids. Depending on how much they play.. I may gate the horn mics to keep other {censored} from bleeding in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members B. Adams Posted February 13, 2007 Members Share Posted February 13, 2007 I use 57's on trumpet, Beta 58's on trombone, Beta 57's on sax, and occasionally a D6, D4, or something else with low end for bari sax. The 57's, Beta 57's, and Beta 58's are pretty standard gear, so you're not really losing anything by having a few of them around, even if they don't always get used for horns. I would definitely mic the saxes all the time, you can probably get by without miking the trumpets and bone in a small venue, or maybe give them a single mic for solos. It's nice to have a mic for each horn though, and you'll need them for big shows. If you can't compress each channel, hopefully you can compress them by category (like saxes and everything else), or at least compress them all as a group. Clip-on mics are great most of the time, but a player who really knows how to use a standard mic can be really cool too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dogoth Posted February 13, 2007 Members Share Posted February 13, 2007 On a budget hmmm. Yea My picks would be 57s and 58s as well. As B Adams said usualy Brass is plenty loud unless you're in bigger venue. I usualy put up a few section mics on the brass anyway (sometimes they play mutes). Ditto on D112 for Bari (an MD88 works good too if you've got one). I do a lot of shows that bring in local hired horn players. If it's a bigger section I'll pull the mics back a bit (a foot or so) and try to capture some of the natural blend of the section. Usualy a mic for each WW and 1 for every 2 or 3 Brass players (try to get one near the 1st chair to boost up solo's if needed). A lot of this depends on the musical material so my recomendations aren't hard and fast, just a guideline. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.