Questions About Tuba (micing & fx)

[jaylistk]

Good day to everyone,

right now I'm working one of the best tuba players in Finland and when disgussing with him, he told me that he would like to use his tuba in "not-so-traditional-way". Meaning; he would like to play it through fxs and amps like it was a guitar etc.

So my question to you fellow gearsluts is; what kind system would you offer to him? I was think like maybe bass amp, with few bass fxs (wah, chorus, od etc.) But the problem is, how to get the sound from the tuba to bass amp? And the FXs?

Been working 16 hours straight so my textflow isn't as clear as I'd like it to be, but hope you get the picture! Thanks in advance!

[ambo]

I played with a tuba player some years back and he just wrapped a piece of thick foam around a dynamic mic, whatever was available, 57 or 58 and put it inside the bell. Sounded great. I've also seen basket type assemblies that position the mic above the bell which also sounds great but less isolation. This was for P.A. amplified acoustic music: banjo, accordian, trombone, tuba and drum kit.

[fifthcircle]

I worked with this guy: Buy Tom Heasley's CDs some years back. he was kind of an idiot, but his playing and system was pretty cool, actually.

I dont' remember the mic exactly, but he had a condenser mic attached to the top of his bell looking in. It was plugged into a Mackie Onyx console with an effects loop on the insert. He would layer different delays, flanges and such and then send them through one of a couple reverbs set to around 60 seconds. The ambient thing on the surface seems like it wouldn't work, but when listening to it, you just sort of drift to another place. Next thing you know, at the end of a 15-20 minute piece, he's done.

--Ben

[mohthom]

Just as an aside, I remember a concert I recorded of James Gourlay in a recital. He rehearsed etc. bang in the middle of the stage, perfect sound with an ORTF pair and a pair of dropped-from-the-roof omnis. For the show, he moved his chair about three feet away from the piano, and sat RIGHT UNDER the right omni. Talk about clipping!!! Good job the ORTF pair held up well, eh?!!

MohThoM

[ghellquist]

Long time ago I played in a band where the tuba player had a microphone connected to the mouthpiece. I never got to look at it, but I believe the mouthpiece had a small hole drilled and then the hole was plugged with a microphone. This then went to effects units and further to a largish amplifier (more or less a bass amplifier). Pretty impressive sounds came out of it.



Gunnar

[bove]

A commonly used setup in this situation would be a small clip on mic attached to the bell of the tuba, feeding the effects and the amplifier. Any microphone in front of the bell will do the trick. In an extreme close-mic situation, get the mic within a few inches of the bell edge for the "fattest" sound. Also try the back side of the bell, for a rounder sound.

Tubas vibrate all over, so you really have unlimited choices of where to place a microphone.

The pitch of a brass instrument is determined by the pitch of the players lips buzzing into the mouthpiece, so you could mic it there, as the previous poster described. The rest of the tuba is there simply to amplify the buzz, and color the sound in a nice way. I have seen tubas miced this way, for exactly the same reason (weird sounds) and it might work for you... the sound will definitely not be a characteristic "tuba sound" as compared to micing it in a more conventional way, but might work for this player/music.

[divingduck]

You should check out Oren Marshall - he's been developing the crazy tuba-fx improv thing for a few years now:

Introduction to the Story of Spedy Sponda; pt 1: In a Silent Room

or Google him.

Good luck. Have fun!