Quote:
Originally Posted by RedTuxedo  I've been very successful with a Senn 421 about a foot or 2 from above pointing down at the mouth. |
This is good advice.
Micing technique first and foremost needs to be you listening to where the instrument is producing "good" sound. Use your ear and walk around the room. What you are hearing is what your mic will pick up. In the case of a fixed resonating instrument - like the flute - the sound comes from 2 to 3 places at once.
1 - Mouth hole. A flute player blows accross the hole, not into it... like you would on a bottle. The sound here is the biggest part of the tone, and the player's embouchure a big part of the sound.
1 mic here to capture this, use a windscreen so you don't get funky harmonics from wind in the mic - just like micing outside a kick drum. ''
2 - Body. Place a Mic roughly 2/3rd the way down the body of the flute to capture both the final opening hole on the flute, but also any of the pad openings on the body of the flute. As they are open or closed, air goes out through them instead of the final opening. This changes the length of the resonating chamber and changes the pitch. Most of the tone in this mic will be the sounds of the pads opening and closing, and wind noises.
1 large diaphragm condenser mic here, pull it a bit back (2 -3 feet) so that the player can move around freely and not hit the mic itself.
3 - One additional mic set back to pick up the room tone, if you have a good sounding room. You could also do this in stereo.
The mics you should use are the ones you own, same as which pre-amps to use. Learn how to get the best sound you can with the gear you already have, before buying new stuff.
Best,
doc