Wondering if anyone has advice on mics for performing out. I’m thinking about a clip-on cardioid condenser. I’ve noticed a lack of mics that are made to attach to the head peice. Any advice on sites to check out?
Use the forum search tool - several old threads on this, including quite recent, I think.
Microvox. (I use one - it’s OK. I call it my “strap-on” 'cos that’s what it does!)
Best of luck!
That’s what I call mine! 
Anyway, it’s something named a “mini Mic” by a company called “Pick Up The World” or something like that, and I think it’s OK, but I never use it anymore. (I feel like such a heel, too – the guys in my band gave it to me for my birthday a few years ago)
It seemed to do a good job, but bottom line, it was anything but freeing. I couldn’t put the flute down very easily, making it really hard to switch to whistle or another flute – and unless I was to put a pickup on my whistle too, I still had to have a mic for it. And standing-up gigs, eh. We’re not good enough to have roadies to hand instruments back and forth to, so it was just too much of a tangle. Also, if you ever sing backup, well then you have to sing into your instrument – looks goofier with a fiddle, of course. Finally, I LIKE being able to back off a mic! (boy, do I!)
I’d be interested as well in a strap-on. 
Seriously. I get tired of trying to be as close as possible to the mic. Sometimes, I’ll close my eyes and play a bit and when I open them again, I’m several inches away from the mic, or I’ll bump the mic by accident. It’s a frickin’ pain in the …
But then, sometimes, it’s easy as pie, and I can back off of the mic when I want to and get close when I want…
Anyone try earpiece monitors?
Michael
Strictly a standard hypercardioid and a boom stand for me. I position the mike so it’s above and pointing downward from an angle pointed at me, about so my nose can touch the side of the top of the mike’s head (which is now effectively the bottom, if you’re being semantically picky). It works great, I’m free to move, and the positioning cuts out breath noise should it happen, which is the primo consideration for me.
I’m with Nano - specifically I’m usually on an SM-58, sometimes a 57 depending on what the sound guys have. My own mic’s an old Audio-Technica ATM 41 which I understand is supposed to be analagous, but somehow it seems to have a little wider pattern. I’m very happy with it and a good boom stand.
That’s what I was wondering about.
I hate how much breath noise I get playing into a mic. Especially on inhales…
It took me a while to figure it out…one of those things that when it hits you, it seems ridiculously obvious and you’re kind of embarrassed that you didn’t see it before.
Works equally well for singing, too, as set up my way for flute and at roughly the same nose-to-the-mike’s-top distance. I almost never play whistle onstage, so I don’t know if I’d have to pull the mike closer to the blade, but I assume it would be necessary.
When I play whistle on stage I usually keep the head of the whistle touching the mic. This way you get adequate volume and you don’t have to worry about involuntarily moving towards or away from the mic.
Our band’s so loud on stage I usually end up playing the whistle out of the side of my mouth so I can hear it a bit better under my ear (soooo attractive, I know) – but either way I just lean into the mic a little and it seems fine; almost better than straight-on because there’s less wind noise (the fipple window’s angled away from the mic head).
An alternative to angling the mic in from above is to keep the head of the mic to one side of the blowhole or the other – either toward the barrel, or toward the endcap depending on what works best for you like so:
I’ve seen lots of pros do that, and I guess (at least in the photo here) the nose can still serve as a curbfinder of sorts.
It’s worth the time to note such things when watching the great players; it’s all part of the package. Now if we could only get the sound engineers to be reasonably consistent! One more “heavy-reverb” whistle gig and I’m gonna die (or get killed, I’m not sure which)!
technofeeb!
Dagnabbit, there’s something between that image linking and me … well, actually I guess that something WOULD be me. 
But you love me anyway. My hero! How lucky am I?
ya need to get to where the thing ends in “.JPG” with no “=” or “&” in the string.
hint: right mouse the image and select “copy image location” or “view image”…
AHA! Hopefully I can remember this time. I actually went hunting for the last thread where you fixed my image issues, but …
Works for me, anyway. It’s less alarming than if yer flute bumps the mike.
Pretty much nails it. Playing in front of live amps and full drum kits >>> mic angled slightly down with nose pressed against it. I use an Audix OM5, because at about 3" out it rejects all signals and can be cranked in the monitors and mains without feedback or amplifying any other instruments from behind.
not any better with a Boehm either!
I don’t play gigs all that often, but when I do I use a little Audio Technica mic that I suppose is technically called a lavaliere mic. It has a clip that’s probably meant to hook to your lapel or shirt collar in order to get the mic close to your mouth. From the mic there’s a thin cord that hooks to the battery-operated power pack that clips onto your belt, and the standard mic cable plugs into that. For using this mic with the flute, I have a strip of elastic about an inch wide that I have fitted with Velcro to allow it to be looped tightly around the circumference of the headjoint with a little flap hanging out at the end that I clip the mic to. I position the mic so it’s pointing toward the embouchure hole, either on the side toward the end cap or the side toward the finger holes, and adjust the distance from the embouchure hole as a fine-tuning method depending on how hot the board is that I’m plugged into. It’s very important in this setup to use the windscreen on the mic. I got dirty looks from the other guys I was playing with the one time I misplaced the windscreen and was playing without it. The effect was very wind-tunnel like, they said. I have seen other flute players using mics like this with headstraps (the whole Madonna mic thing) and also with wireless setups that eliminate the need for a cable back to the board.
This setup actually works pretty well, for a total investment of about $100 ten years or so ago. It’s what I used to record the couple of clips I have under my signature line (feeding into GarageBand on a Mac with a Griffin iMic pre-amp) if anyone wants to hear what it sounds like.
My own experience with flute amplification is quite limited, and, so, this thread has been interesting, my thanks to all of you!
I have used a clip-on mic, and I can agree with Cat, in that the wiring can be troublesome, hanging up on things and getting in the way.
Nano, your upside-down-mic-on-a-boom is a great idea! My best attempt was to have the mic sideways, with the stand at the head joint end.
Denny, seriously, one of these days I’m heading off to the sandbox in the C&F basement. See you there?
