Recording.......other acoustic instruments

paul_c2

Specifically....French Horn. I have just taken it up and I'm interested in recording it, basically to record my progress but also so I can play around with writing out simple lines (and accompanying eg on guitar) or possibly 2 or 3 part harmonies, for a bit of interest and variation.

 I know that its quite a challenge to record it, and that microphone placement would be somewhat of a trial and error process. First instinct would be to either 1) place the mike elsewhere in the room, some distance away or 2) place it near the bell. Approach 2 has the issue that the player's right hand might knock the mic (the right hand is used to hold and literally shape the notes) while approach 1 might pick up something completely different acoustically to the sound of the horn. Also bear in mind that the modern horn has evolved to be played like this, and to have its bell facing away from the main audience to create a smooth, mellow sound.

I have a basic audio interface already, which I use for guitar, I'm not actually sure if it has phantom power (suspect it doesn't) but it does have a balanced XLR input. I guess the other items I need are:

Microphone
Mic stand
Possibly, a phantom power supply?
A decent room acoustically to record it in; or make do with the lounge etc


What kind of mic? My budget is really low and its really just for personal use, so don't mind a little compromise although obviously I want it to sound reasonable/good and to pick up the subtelties of playing.

wave100

What kind of interface do you already have? If you have the phantom power sorted that obviously gives you a wider choice of microphone. Also, make sure your interface can record at 24 bits. Anything less is a compromise too far (IMO)
Some companies do a package deal of interface, mic, stand and cable, Focusrite and Presonus spring to mind.
 I haven't personally recorded a french horn, but the usual rules apply - if you mic further away, you pick up more room sound - whether this is a good thing depends on your room. I would imagine most domestic rooms don't sound that great, but give it a try, maybe yours will be ok. My advice would be to set up the mic then listen on headies while wondering round the room to see where it sounds best (up close as well for close micing). Also pointing the mic off axis can make a big difference to the sound. As you say, trial and error. I would imagine FH can get pretty loud (especially close micing) so make sure you leave plenty of headroom - another reason for recording in 24 bit.

Good luck!

steamabacus

Years and years ago, way back in the 80s when all I had available was very budget microphones and a cassette four track, I remember trying for ages to get a decent recording of an oboe. What worked in the end was to stick a PZM (Pressure Zone Microphone - Tandy did a remarkably cheap one that was great if you upped the voltage from a 1.5V pencil battery to 18V with two PP9s in series for much improved signal/noise ratio) to a wall and play at the wall from about 6 feet away.

I also remember Frank Zappa often used PZM mics (attached to clear plastic 'bowls' I believe) for his orchestra recordings.

If you've got a reasonable sounding room, a PZM might be the cheapest and easiest route (they tend to pick up the 'sound in the room' very evenly, hence why they're often used for studio talkback)

octatonic

IMHO the closest a mic should be to brass is about 4-6ft, unless you want a very bright sound.
I don't see the point in close micing it unless you have no other choice.

Cardiod SDC's are the way to go.
An LDC if you don't have access to an SDC.
You can get fancy with ORTF, Binarual, Mid Side and such- but I would start with a decent mic about 4-6ft away from the bell.

Brass is pretty directional so mic placement can be dramatically different if you move it a few inches.

Cirrus

Depending on your budget, a second hand RE20 would be a good choice for brass - quite full, open sounding, dynamic so quite rugged and no phantom power requirements, no big resonances in the harsh upper mids that kill your ears with brass sounds, and very useful for lots of other instruments/voices too.

paul_c2

Great, thanks, I'll have a look around and see what's out there.

hassleham

I recorded a saxophone in my kitchen by building a tent/vocal booth out of a duvet cover slung over an airer on the ceiling. I placed two condenser mics in the tent, one at the closed end of the tent (as far away from the sax as possible, around 4ft) and one close to the bell of the sax, with the sax player stood in the entrance of the tent.
The close mic also had a homemade muffle over it made out of a hollowed out foam football to reduce everything not coming directly from the sax.

This tent + muffle technique was effective in getting a decent "dry" signal of the sax, and I could add more of the room mic to taste. I'm pretty sure you could get similar results with a french horn.

Or if you want less faff then get yourself down to the local church or village hall and just record in there!