Wich microphone do you use in show ??

[pipemaniac]

I'm in a trad band and i play a lot of instruments. During a show everything is ok except the uilleann pipe, i didn't find a good microphone to work with the pipe. my bigest problems is with the chanter, the drones are not to hard to mike!!

Do somebody have any experience with good microphone for that instrument????

[benwalker]

sure sm57 about 12 inches away from chanter. Works for me.

[Joseph E. Smith]

Recently, a Marshall MXL991 condensor mike, in front, above and pointing down toward the tone holes at a distance of roughly 8-12 inches. This position seems to allow the back D to be equal in volume as the rest.

[David Lim]

Hi,

I alway use two mikes on my chanter as I believe it is impossible for one to get hold of all the note and keep them in some sort of balance.

By chance rather than design I use an AKG C1000 and a Beyer Dynamic MCE 801TG. These are both attached to a small flat bar that joins to a single low mike stand boom at it's centre and allows the mikes to attach at each end. The mikes point into the chanter at about 45 degrees to try to get the back D in balance.

I have the AKG at the top pointing between the B and C holes and the Beyer at the bottom pointing between the E and F#. The tone colours of the two mikes slightly accentuate the variation in timbre of the note as you move up and down the chanter.

Both of these are condenser mikes and both can run with batteries if phantom power is not available. A condenser mike in more sensitive than the usual moving coil types but can cause feed back problems on very loud gigs. (Usually avoided).

Without getting too carried away, these mikes run into a Peavy preamp and mixer rack unit where a drone mike can be blended in and each mike balanced and EQed separately. The whole mix then goes through a Quadraverb unit giving me complete control on the type and amount of reverb used. This all fits into a SKB 2U case (including mikes and all wires when packed away).

I can then give the sound engineer (who usually starts shaking at the sight of pipes) one wire and all he/she has to do in balance me in with the rest of the musicians.

I've heard many pipe gigs destroyed by sound engineers and like to give them as little to do as possible.

Hope that is some help

David

[Joseph E. Smith]

I've always mixed my own sound from the stage....I know exactly what I want and how to get it, and that way there's nobody else but myself to blame for flubbing it up.

[fancypiper]

I use an AKG C-3000B 1" condenser microphone about 18" away from the center of the chanter and bass drone outlet. I only use the one mic for both chanter and drones for live performances.

[The Sporting Pitchfork]

Nothing special, but the SM 57 works fine in a pinch.

Last week I was doin' a gig and a friend loaned me this blue microphone with a hard plastic outside that looked kinda like an art-deco billiard ball. Apparently was made in Latvia. Worked great!

[ballysodare]

I've had some success with my EV 676a. (Electrovoice's answer to the Sure Beta)

It's a pretty typical mike with a cardiod pattern. (The 676a however does have a more finely reception towards higher frequencies making it nice for whistles.)

I've found placement does a lot more than actual mike model.
I like cardiod patterns because you can angle the mike towards the 'bell' of the chanter while still getting a good reception of the upper tone holes even though the mike isn't pointed directly at them.

Also, if you notice....singers are constantly adjusting mike distance while they sing to help reduce overpowering notes. (especially while they are belting out higher octaves). I think getting comfortable with this technique is important to do because it just adds another layer of 'artistic control' to that tricky venture of sound reinforcement.

Cheers