Which $1000 mic. for strings & wind ?

[rjay]

A couple of times over the next year I'll need to record a solo wind or string instrument, including hammered dulcimer, cello and uilleann pipes, going straight into my ultra-clean DMX-R100 preamp.

If you could choose only one mic under $1000, which would it be?

(Yes I know that's difficult but a budget is a budget ...)

[djui5]

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/QTC30/

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/TC20mp/

[anahata]

Schoeps MK 41 + CMC 6 (or CMC 5, not a lot of difference)

[rjay]

The Schoeps seems a lot closer to $2k rather than $1k ...

[borau]

A pair of beyer M130's, or a M/S pair of one M160 and one M130 fits your bill, and will work much better than any condenser solution for that price.
Ribbons work really great on strings and woodwinds, both on a individual basis and in ensembles imho.

Maybe look into Beyer MC930's if you're really keen on condensers.

[analogjeff]

we record strings all the time for film projects, and the suggestion of ribbons is, i think, a good one -- we always use a royer 121 plus something else (small or large diaphragm, depending on the situation), which would put you over the thousand -- the royer alone though is on target for your money -- but the royer usually benefits from a little extra air from another kind of mic, too -- the two beyers might be close -- my experiece with earthworks is that they're not very forgiving on the high frequencies of solo strings, and that's really important -- the right ribbons are sweet in that range -- sometimes you want to add some air with another kind of mic, but the ribbon, for us, is the core... another trick is to double and triple track then mix the extra tracks low and panned some, so you don't really hear em...

[analogjeff]

here's a thread about the beyers...

Beyer MC930 & M160 impressions

[rjay]

Just how fragile are ribbon mics ? If an enthusiastic guitarist hits the mic with the body of his acoustic, is that enough to damge the ribbon ?

[warhead]

Not necessarily. I've accidentally kicked ribbon mics over...all the way to the floor...no issue.

I'm not saying DO this, but they are not as fragile as you might think.

You should still treat them with special care.

War

[corn55]

Neumann KM86

Nuff said.

[Elie]

www.lineaudio.se
Don't stop at the low price, inquire a little, ask for a sound demo. Great mics!

[RCM - Ronan]

AT tube 4060

[Jamz]

that price range...AEA R84.

[mltamisin]

I'll second the Beyer M/S idea. Killer mics.....Oh wait, does the the DMX have enough gain for the ribbons on woodwind stuff? Could be a problem.

[mixerguy]

Audio Technica AT 4060

no question.

[fifthcircle]

Few suggestions-

The Mojave MA200 works very well on a large number of sources- see some of the sound files I posted over in the new products forum.

Also, you can usually find Schoeps used in the $1000 range... Can't beat a Schoeps for a lot of things.

--Ben

[Windshore]

One of the most important questions in this case is, what kind of room are you recording in? With the instruments you mentioned, you don't necessarily want to be right up on them with the mic. If you have a questionable sounding room and you're doing OD's a SDC is probably NOT the way to go. There are some good suggestions here, but stay away from something like the SDC earthworks. If you want to go really cheap check out the Shinybox Ribbons, http://www.shinybox.com/ShinyBox46.p...5a64531ccb7713 ... you can get a matched pair for that price.

Used 414 TLII's might be a good choice as well...
good luck!

[fifthcircle]

Wind-

I think you are confusing capsule size with polar pattern. In general, a SDC will have a cleaner pattern than a LDC- but that isn't always the case. The Earthworks is an omni and if you have a bad room, omnis are definitely problematic.

--Ben

[Windshore]

I guess I was considering whether he wanted to have room sound as a part of the overdub, but as he's overdubbing a solo instrument, I imagine he doesn't want room sound.

Do you think a SDC would sound good on something like Cello, which he mentions? I would never go there myself, regardless of polar pattern...

[Dot]

Depends on what other mics you already have. And that would be?

I'd get something that would give you a lot of mileage on a lot of applications. An AKG 414 would easily handle what you listed, and a lot more. Getting a multi-pattern mic will give you more possibilities than a single-pattern mic. If you get an omni-only or a bi-directional ribbon, and you find that it doesn't sound good in your room - you're screwed.

[rjay]

Thanks for all the opinions guys ...

1) OTHER MIC's: as I usually do instrumental electronic music I have very little in the way of mic's. All I have is an AKG contact mic for my hammered dulcimer

2) ROOM: the room is pretty much untreated so I'll want as little of the room sound as possible

[Bat Head Sound]

Originally Posted by djui5

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/QTC30/

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/TC20mp/

Good call