Micing a Uke?

[tlbs]

Hey guys, I'm pretty new to this recording thing, I got a presonus firestudio to record my friend and i's acoustic duo. he plays uke, but I'm not sure what microphone I should use on it. I want it to sound great, but not break the bank. Thanks for your help!

[Phil O'Keefe]

I'd try a ribbon (for a darker sound) or large diaphragm condenser (for a brighter one). I'd start with the positioning about a foot or so from the instrument, and I'd have the mic placed directly in front of the neck / body joint... and then I'd rotate the mic so it was aimed more at the soundhole (for a bassier sound) or more at the neck / body joint (for a brighter sound). Adjust to taste.

 

As far as what mic to use, that depends on your budget, the size of the Ukulele, and your general sonic preferences.

[Phil O'Keefe]

Speaking of Uke, check out this guy - Jake Shimabukuro - he's really good:

 

[video=youtube;puSkP3uym5k]

[UstadKhanAli]

I agree with Phil's starting point, adding (sorry if this is too pedantic) only that you can also move the mic farther/closer in addition to what he's described depending on what you want the track to do. If it's the main instrument, you might want to keep it closer, for instance, or to help it blend, you might want to take it out farther.

[tlbs]

I'd try a ribbon (for a darker sound) or large diaphragm condenser (for a brighter one). I'd start with the positioning about a foot or so from the instrument, and I'd have the mic placed directly in front of the neck / body joint... and then I'd rotate the mic so it was aimed more at the soundhole (for a bassier sound) or more at the neck / body joint (for a brighter sound). Adjust to taste. As far as what mic to use, that depends on your budget, the size of the Ukulele, and your general sonic preferences.

 

Thanks Phil, I was researching online about acoustic guitars, and it seems like the Cascade Fat Head is a good mic for acoustic instruments, so I suppose I could use it here as well.

[UstadKhanAli]

That could work. I use LDCs in omni and really love the results I get from that with acoustic guitars, so I suspect that ukes might be similar. But with an LDC in omni, I get a lot of "Wow, that's the best my acoustic guitar has ever sounded in a recording!" quite a bit.

[Kerouac]

I did this with just a regular old SM57. Probably not the best choice, but it worked in that arrangement.

 

[video=youtube;I_j7ifLtnw4]

[Phil O'Keefe]

Omni condensers can indeed work great on acoustics, as Ken said. It's a real "natural" sound; kind of as the player hears it, depending on where you put the mic obviously. I also like ribbon mikes on acoustics sometimes -- it really depends on the song and the arrangement and what we're looking for from the part, but they're known for being "natural" sounding too -- I think a lot of that is due to how they respond to transients. Anyway, I just got a pair of Cascade Fathead II's in for a review, and I've already started playing with one on acoustic guitar. So far, I really like it. If acoustic guitar was going to be your primary use for the mic though, I'd suggest that you might want the extended frequency bandwidth the upgraded transformers would give you. Or just add a little air / HF EQ if needed. I do like the fact that, once you get it back about a foot so that proximity effect isn't an issue (and it's always going to be a bear with a bi-directional mic), the standard version Fathead II's low frequencies start to roll off below 100 Hz, which helps keep the bottom of the acoustic from becoming overly boomy.

 

Remember that the back side of a Fathead II is just as hot as the front side is, so while the side rejection is near-perfect (gotta love that about fig-8 mikes ), the back of the mic is hearing what's going on within it's lobe very clearly, so if you're picking up too much room, move the mic in closer to the source, and / or baffle that backside! While you can't really baffle the "room" side of an omni, the same general "get it in closer" approach applies -- want more "room?" Move it back out away from the sound source a bit. Going the other direction, no matter how close you get, there's no proximity effect low frequency boost. Gotta love that about omnis.

 

They (the stock transformer equipped Fathead II's) are also really well suited to tracking guitar amps. Just don't blow into them, or put them where they'll be hit by a gust of wind...

 

I have not tried one on a Uke. However, I suspect that it might work well for that. Ribbons in general do capture transient rich material exceedingly well, and the frequency response of the instrument probably falls within a range that would work well with that of the microphone. Again, if you wanted more high frequency sparkle to the sound, you'd probably have to add it via EQ, but otherwise, I think it would probably do a good job on the Ukelele.

 

If I end up getting one (and I've kind of been tempted lately -- after all, the last few trade shows have been FILLED with Ukes! ) I'll give it a try and see.

[UstadKhanAli]

While you can't really baffle the "room" side of an omni, the same general "get it in closer" approach applies -- want more "room?" Move it back out away from the sound source a bit. Going the other direction, no matter how close you get, there's no proximity effect low frequency boost. Gotta love that about omnis.

 

Because I feel like I'm fighting the room I'm recording in somewhat (I record in a living room), I tend to use a lot of RealTraps around the microphones, including when I use an omni to record an acoustic guitar. I put two RealTraps MiniTraps in the back of the microphone, surrounding it by 180, and it really helps take the room out of it. You can, of course, vary the amount of room by positioning the microphone or MiniTraps accordingly. But this configuration allows me to back off the microphone as much as 2 or even 3 feet without getting this giant amount of room, a real bonus for recording. Sometimes, ugly rooms can lead one to get beautiful sounds.