Recording Bansuri (indian flute) Sunday

[Chris Parsons]

This sunday I am recording Deepak Ram, a famous bansuri player. Have any of you worked with this instrument/person? Any mic/placement recomendations? I'm going to try a Lawson MP47 about 3 feet away. He will be playing live in the same room with a Japenese shamisen which can be a very loud instrument. I've recorded the shamisen several times and have gotten greaet tones however I've never worked with a bansuri. I will probablly have them faceing eachother in the room (which is about 20x24x14, fairly live). I don't really want isolation but just the ability to bring one or the other up in the mix. Any suggestions on how to get a good stereo recording of the bansuri if I decide to go that way?

thx
-Chris Parsons

[Chris Parsons]

bump

[audiothings]

i am in india and record bansuri every other week... i close mic out of necessity, i do not recommend it for you... 2-3' out and about 18" higher than the flute, pointing down towards the center of the flute, is what i would recommend. Nearer the mouth and you'll get a lot of wind noise. If its a great sounding bansuri you might want to consider something less colored than the L47, but the lawson should do fine.

if you are recording the duo live in a nice sounding room, i would suggest some two mic approach to record the 'duo' (ortf, nos, din, x/y, blumlein), to get a more natural sound... it will probably not be as bright/punchy as micing the individual instruments, but will have merits that outweigh the same.

all the best...

[Baithak]

Will you be able to walk around the Bansuri player (as he is seated right)? It was as an interesting learning experience to do this. I found that the best sound as from the side of the instrument and not in the front which is where most people mic it from. My suggestion is to put a high quality ribbon mic about 3-4 above and away from the player facing downward along the long axis of the Bansuri. Since the sound comes out of various holes, this is where you will get the most uniform response. I have used R-122 and SF-12 for stereo with success.

If you have to mic from the front, I would use a high quality dynamic MD441 e.g. about three feet out aimed at the middle of the bansuri rather than where the lips are. Even if the player moves about a bit, the center will not move as much and the blowing sounds will be minimized using a dynamic. A condensor will convert the breath sound into tizz.

Baithak

[Chris Parsons]

thanks for the comments. I think i'll have an x/y pair in the room to "try" and get a great-together sound. I'll also have a close-ish mic on each just in case.

[d_fu]

Originally Posted by Chris Parsons

This sunday I am recording Deepak Ram, a famous bansuri player. Have any of you worked with this instrument/person?

I know Deepak... Please say Hello from Daniel (form Germany...).
Is it just the two flutes or are there other instruments?

Daniel

[ISedlacek]

For bansuri I generally use a stereo pair of AB omnis (Schoeps MK2) placed about 0,5- 1m in front of the player (mostly me :-)), pointing slightly from up. Sounds always good. I personally don´t like flute and most of other instruments recorded on one mic only. To me it sounds a bit flat and one dimensional ... (if we are talking about solo instruments) ...
For a duo you mentioned, I would try three options: 1) to record all on one stereo pair 2) to use one main stereo pair and two separated mics for each instruments just if some extra tweaking needed 3) to put an acoustic¨screen between the players. Whichever works the best. Each option has some advantage and disadvantage ...

[radicalron]

I just Recorded Deepak Ram yesterday at My Studio. After careful deliberation I chose a Beyerdynamic MC-740 in Omni Mode. It beat out a Neumann U87 in a blindfold test. Mic Pre's tested were Millennia HV3D, GML, Atlas Juggernut and John Hardy M1. = The John Hardy won. But they all sounded very usable.
I had Deepak sitting on the floor with the Mic about 18" above him. I used no compression, as the tracks will be edited, and he was overdubbing on some Indian/Fusion Tracks I am producing. Basically i was trying to get the Bansuri tracks as pure as possible.