The family is considering getting me a set of microphones to set up a portable studio, that can in theory record practiclly anywhere. At present I have an old Apple G4 laptop with an mBox2 and ProTools. We are trying to decide on the best set up. Idealy we should be able to do live and studio recording with as little microphones as possible. It looks like at present that the best option is an omni-direction JS-1 large diaphragm to pick up the chanter and high notes on the regulators, and a CX-508 to pick up the drones and lower regulator notes. Any professional recorders out there who might have some other suggestions? I notice that my friend Jack got a pick-up built especially for his chanter. How expensive is it to get a pick-up custom made?
I’ve heard very good sound live with a couple of SM57s. The problem with condensers live is that they are not as robust and you may not always have access to phantom power.
The JS-1 you mentioned is not an omni-directional mic, it’s a cardoid pattern. I like the sound of the Shure KSM 44 but it’s a bit more expensive than the JTS.
In the ‘studio’ you can get away with one large condenser a bit further away that will give you a more natural blended sound. From talking to a couple of pipers that have recorded professionally and an engineer I know, one condenser works well plus optionally another mic a good distance away to pick up some of the room. If you mic too close you’ll need to use a lot of EQ to get a natural sound. The other problem is that you may get some phase effects boosting or cutting frequencies if the mics are too close together.
The Sure SM57Beta will present less feedback problems on stage than the standard SM57. It will also double as a decent studio mic. It is the next generation of the good old SM57 workhorse, although a bit more expensive.
The Audix D2 hypercardoid is another good choice for double duty. The Audix on the chanter and the SM57Beta on the drones will work well.
A good choice for the studio is the AKG 3000B condensor. It is a large diaphram cardoid. With the right positioning, it will give a nice natural sound and good balance between chanter and drones. Large diaphram condensor microphones can be truoblesome in a live setting, but can’t be beat for the studio.
It’s funny that you should bring up this subject because I’ve just had some microphone woes in relation to my new home recording setup.
I ended up buying a pair of Behringer C-2 mics for $99 (two mics in the one box). They are condenser mics with cardioid pick up patterns. I can’t vouch for how well they would work at capturing your drones because I don’t have any, but they do a good job of capturing my chanter (although I’ve not got more expensive mics to compare against!). Your mbox2 has the ability to provide 48volts of ‘phantom power’ to accomodate the mics and since you’re looking for two mics, this could work out much cheaper than what you’ve got planned so far.
My local music store was happy to pull mics out of the display cabinet for comparison purposes when I visited recently so hopefully you can take your pipes to a store up your way and try before you buy.
Good to see you around, haven’t heared from you in a while. How have you been? I did a recording of the Fox Chase for a music assignment with two Behringer C-2 microphones and it did a resonable job, yet I thought it sounded a tad dead. Too make it a tad more realistic sounding I added just a little reverb. For details have a look at the recording I placed on Clips and Snips (http://tinwhistletunes.com/clipssnip/Audio/09-06/The%20Fox%20Chase.mp3). However I still think I can do better with less cords and microphones.
If your music store allowed you to ‘try before you buy’, then maybe its worth seeing if my local Yamaha store would do the same. Small in-built recording studios are an expensive hobby and there’s no point paying $1 000 for a Roland when a $50 non-brand, microphone would do the job just as well.
