Mics for Trumpet

[Arkestry]

Originally Posted by rumleymusic

Apex has a few surprisingly good sounding ribbons. One for $99 I think. You can get that one modded at Oktavamod for a reasonable price and have a real giant killer.

A year or two ago, I picked up a pair of Apex 205's for about $85 a piece. I've had very good luck with these mics on trumpet (among several other things). Granted, I performed a minor modification to them by pulling out the inner mesh which opened up the sound nicely.

[Track 7]

Originally Posted by Arkestry

A year or two ago, I picked up a pair of Apex 205's for about $85 a piece. I've had very good luck with these mics on trumpet (among several other things). Granted, I performed a minor modification to them by pulling out the inner mesh which opened up the sound nicely.

+1 same here... and when your able the Michael Jolly mod will really bring this mic to the "sounds like a grand" ribbon mic.

[Fuzzy Logic]

royer 121 sounds great on trumpet.

[Remoteness]

yes, a R121 may sound nice on pet, but not in the OP price range.

Sounds like an SM58 or SM57 is exactly what you want.

[Benmrx]

Originally Posted by Mr Funk

I've not seen any 421's for $100.

The 421 I currently own was purchased second hand for exactly $100.

[videoteque]

Originally Posted by fifthcircle

yes. No worries there- Ribbons sound fantastic on trumpets. The air coming out of the instrument is of such minimal speed that you really don't need to worry about that.


--Ben

Thanks Ben!

[amanitas]

Fathead is definitely worth the bread IMO - not much more than 100 bucks. I'm a trumpet player too and I really like it. For a harder, brassier vibe I've been getting good results with a little blondie going into a chandler germanium. Not sure what Sahiaman is selling them for these days but I paid less than 100 a piece for a pair. SM 57 isn't terrible, not a fan of 421 so much myself. Beyerdynamic M88 or M160 are both really awesome - probably more than 100 but worth it.

[Han]

Talking about Beyer mics, the M88 is pretty hot sounding on trumpet, like the MD421 MK2 which is too hot IMHO for trumpet, but the Beyer M201 can do the job very well.

[John Eppstein]

Originally Posted by Mr Funk

I've not seen any 421's for $100.

Me neither. I'll buy all you've got at that price!

[John Eppstein]

Originally Posted by Benmrx

The 421 I currently own was purchased second hand for exactly $100.

You're lucky.

I paid $100 for my RCA 74.

[John Eppstein]

Originally Posted by Han

Talking about Beyer mics, the M88 is pretty hot sounding on trumpet, like the MD421 MK2 which is too hot IMHO for trumpet, but the Beyer M201 can do the job very well.

+10 on the 201!

[Corran]

Whatever you do stay away from the cheap large-diaphragm condensers, I hate most LDC's on trumpet and then the bright Chinese ones are going to be the worst thing ever!

I used a 57 when I was starting out, worked fine. I also used an AKG D880 dynamic that probably was the same as some other models but I don't know which ones, anyway it worked really well.

These days I usually use a cheap Royer 121 copy, and hey there is one on ebay, he was out for a long time: Stellar RM-3 Ribbon Microphone - eBay (item 130324771768 end time Sep-12-09 18:49:36 PDT) . They work really well but I did have to re-tension the ribbon, but it's easy as long as you have a steady hand. They sound really nice on trumpet. The only thing better was a vintage BM-3, the mic that Royer copied the design of. I highly suggest this mic and it's only $125.

[amanitas]

cosign on the Fatheads for trumpet. I've got some and they sound great. If you can get Sahiaman to build you a little blondie (I paid something like 80 a piece for mine), they sound great for a slightly harder trumpet sound that doesn't get horribly shrill like most condensers in that price range. I wouldn't have picked an SDC for trumpet, but after trying these (one straight into a chandler Germanium sounded awesome) I'm convinced its possible. Of course an SM57 or 58 will work fine too.

[MrCrowbar]

Had to record some trumpet a few days ago and some nice person from here suggested the SM58 aiming right into the bell and the small condenser (Rode NT3) town toward the bell at a 45° angle.

Sound was very nice and exactly what I was looking for. You can dial in the condenser mic signal for more high end or put a sample delay plugin on it and make it the room mic (condensers pick up much room sound).

[63hz]

second hand sm53, really great sounding horn mic, alot smoother than a 57 and no proximity effect

[Audiop]

Originally Posted by MrCrowbar

You can dial in the condenser mic signal for more high end or put a sample delay plugin on it and make it the room mic (condensers pick up much room sound).

A delay on one mic of two where both are at a similar distance from the source willl cause severe combfiltering.

Also it's the polar pattern and not the transducer principle that affects the pick up of ambient vs. direct sound.

Great you find something that pleases you though! :-)


/Peter

[nukmusic]

beta 57 or

a sm57 with a bit of eq.

[7rojo7]

Spend double and get a used Beyer M260n (cost me 260 euros new, I have 3), you'll never sell it. It has a built in non switchable HPF set at the right frequency (80Hz) to offset proximity effect and it's hyper cardioid so it's live friendly and it works in the studio too. You can really learn to work this mic, using distance and volume to get the right sound
Figure 8 ribbons can be tricky live and if I use one (I like a JV74b, I have 2) I'll use a clamp on for the monitor.
I used one in the studio for Claudio Riberio and he loved the sound, but the signal chain was Langevin AM16, no pad>UA175>MEQ5> live to 2, Panasonic 3700 DAT (ca. 1993)

[amanitas]

Also cosign the Beyer ribbons. They sound fantastic on trumpet - smooth without being too smooth (sometimes I find the Royer's can get a little too smooth for my tastes, which can be problematic if you want a lot of bite in your sound). And they aren't that far out of your price range either...