recording whistle

Whistle
1

DISCLAIMER: I am logged in under my wife’s name, so I will take the heat if my protocol is unacceptable.

I have searched the forum(s) concerning recording, but have not necessarily found the answer I am looking for, since whistle is my wife’s arena. I have recorded her before in a backup setting, but I want her to be in a lead position this time.

I am using Cakewalk Home Studio 2004XL with a dynamic microphone. I also have a condenser mic, but it is pushing 30 years old, and the condenser is beginning to weaken. I read in one of the posts here that putting the mic 6 to 8 feet in front of the player works well, but I think the forum it originated from was for flute. Will this method work well with whistle, or is another idea floating around out there that will work well also.

Thanks,
Michael

2

Whistle and flute are conceptually similar in terms of how they should be miced. Most of the sound is coming from the fipple / embouchure, plus some from the tone holes.

I haven’t seen the post you describe, but I wouldn’t generally suggest putting a mic 6-8 feet away. Correct placement depends on several factors:

  • How much room ambience (reverb, background noise, other musicians, etc.) you want vs. the amount of sound directly from the whistler.
  • The type of mic -- a hypercardoid pattern tends to alter its frequency response if placed too close, but an omnidirectional mic will pick up too much background noise if it's too far away.
  • Consider wind noise: You need the mic to be located at a position where (or sufficiently well shielded with a pop filter) the performer isn't blowing directly on the mic.
  • Other factors, such as the performer's comfort. Some performers don't like having a mic close to their face.
If I were recording a performer in a home without a lot of pleasing ambience (or a room with a lot of background noise) I'd want to mic them fairly close -- within a foot or so -- to emphasize the sound of the instrument over the background. Also, take care to shut off the HVAC and other things which might make too much background noise. If you're recording directly to the computer try to muffle the fan in some way. In a "live" studio or a church with pleasing ambience, I'd want to use a stereo pair of mics and back off enough to get a good room sound in the recording.
3

I have been playing around with recording, mainly low whistle. I found a Shure SM58 works well at about 2 feet from the whistle and more towards the end - thats where most of the sound comes from - but you also want some of the sound from the fipple (or embouchure for flute). By using two mikes one focussed at the top of the instrument and the other at the bottom and mixing the sound carefully a very nice sound can be got. Ideally it takes two mikes to get a perfect sound. Use a good mixer into the computer - Behringer do some nice ones at very reasonable prices.

I also use a large diaphragm condencer mike and it produces a very nice sound. The room/hall/studio acoustics are also VERY important to the sound produced. If you are trying to produce a commercial quality recording - it is best to use a rather dry acoustic (a room with a lot of soft furnishings to absorb the echos) and add in the ambiance at the editing stage.

Hope that does not sound too complicated to you. It all a bit of fun - if you enjoy fiddling with sound!!

4

If you have two mics available then I’d suggest a stereo pair as this will give a kind of realism you really don’t get from a monophonic recording. here’s](http://www.tape.com/Bartlett_Articles/stereo_microphone_techniques.html%22%3Ehere%27s) an article to get you started from the man who wrote the book on the subject. With cardiod pattern mics you can use a coincident pair pattern (described in the article) and then move it closer to or further from the performer as well as changing the angle of the mics to alter the stereo effect. Play with the settings until you’re happy with the results.

Note that the stereo effect will be different on headphones vs. speakers.

5

I’d also suggest using two mikes when recording whistles or flute…
One in close (1-3 feet) moving in towards the mike in low register and backing off when blowing into the second octave, and the other mike far away (8-12 feet) recording on a separate track. This gives you great natural reverb and a clean track to mix later. This produces a big thick sound without using delay/reverb effects boxes. Your results will depend alot on the room and the quality of the mikes… Scott