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I've had a few chats recently about the effect of mic positioning on the sounds of a recording, which got me thinking about it a bit more and so I had a bit of a play with different positions yesterday. I've recorded the same short piece 6 times, with a different mic position on each. Some of the differences are quite large, some are subtle but hopefully you can hear them (headphones might help). All recordings are presented dry (i.e. no reverb or eq processing), and recorded with the sax about 12-18 inches away from the mic. The mic is an Audio Technica AT-3035
1. Mic positioned in front of the sax, vertically positioned so that it's sitting halfway up the height of the sax, about level with the LH palm keys, pointing upwards at the mouthpiece: recording1
2. Same mic height, now pointing at the bell: recording2
3. Same mic height, now pointing straight ahead at the middle of the sax: recording3
4. Same mic height, again pointing straight ahead at the middle of the sax, but now positioned 90 degrees off to the side of the sax. Imagine it as the same as recording 3, but with the sax now turned away 90 degrees: recording4
5. Same mic height, again pointing straight ahead at the middle of the sax, but now actually behind the sax. Imagine it as the same as recording 3, but no I've got my back to it: recording5
6. Desk height (so somewhat below the bell, level with the bottom of the bow, pointing straight ahead at the bow (to simulate a handheld recorder placed on a desk): recording6
To me, recording 3 sounds the best balanced, followed by recording 4.
Recordings 1 & 2 sound brighter, with a bit too much bite for me, not enough body.
Recording 5 sounds as if I'm playing down a well (not surprising as I'm facing away from the mic, so the only sounds reaching the mic are reflections - echoes - off the walls of the room, furniture etc).
The biggest surprise to me was the similarly poor quality of having the mic lower than the sax in recording 6, as it might be if playing standing up while having the recorder sitting on a desk.
Not sure if this could translate to anyone else's set-up, there are probably loads of other variables I've missed, but I found it interesting. Might try two microphones next
1. Mic positioned in front of the sax, vertically positioned so that it's sitting halfway up the height of the sax, about level with the LH palm keys, pointing upwards at the mouthpiece: recording1
2. Same mic height, now pointing at the bell: recording2
3. Same mic height, now pointing straight ahead at the middle of the sax: recording3
4. Same mic height, again pointing straight ahead at the middle of the sax, but now positioned 90 degrees off to the side of the sax. Imagine it as the same as recording 3, but with the sax now turned away 90 degrees: recording4
5. Same mic height, again pointing straight ahead at the middle of the sax, but now actually behind the sax. Imagine it as the same as recording 3, but no I've got my back to it: recording5
6. Desk height (so somewhat below the bell, level with the bottom of the bow, pointing straight ahead at the bow (to simulate a handheld recorder placed on a desk): recording6
To me, recording 3 sounds the best balanced, followed by recording 4.
Recordings 1 & 2 sound brighter, with a bit too much bite for me, not enough body.
Recording 5 sounds as if I'm playing down a well (not surprising as I'm facing away from the mic, so the only sounds reaching the mic are reflections - echoes - off the walls of the room, furniture etc).
The biggest surprise to me was the similarly poor quality of having the mic lower than the sax in recording 6, as it might be if playing standing up while having the recorder sitting on a desk.
Not sure if this could translate to anyone else's set-up, there are probably loads of other variables I've missed, but I found it interesting. Might try two microphones next