Recording Small room recording

imtzombie

Member
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Hi, I practice my sax in a very small room and now want to start recording some of my notes / songs I play. The limitation I have is that the room is very small and hence I worry about reverbs and so on.

Hence, can you recommend any recording setup with my limitation? I have iMac so thinking whether to get Blue yeti and that's it? Or apogee one or Shure sm57 and some firewire?

Or whether a clip on mic is better for small rooms? If so, which one. Please help.
 
Don't use a clip-on unless you're looking for a harsh sound with lots of key noise. They're great for live work but hopeless for recording. The mic needs to be about a metre from the sax, slightly off to one side so it doesn't just pick up the sound from the bell. Experiment.
57s are ok but I'm sure there are better and cheaper alternatives for home recording.
Sorry can't help with iMacs. I know nothing about them.
 
Hi, I practice my sax in a very small room and now want to start recording some of my notes / songs I play. The limitation I have is that the room is very small and hence I worry about reverbs and so on.

Hence, can you recommend any recording setup with my limitation? I have iMac so thinking whether to get Blue yeti and that's it? Or apogee one or Shure sm57 and some firewire?

Or whether a clip on mic is better for small rooms? If so, which one. Please help.

Ideally a good dynamic (not a 57), but it depends on your budget.
 
thanks you all for the replies. my budget is around US$300-400 which includes mic, its shock mount and filter. I understand that I should not get the clip on, so how about between Blue Yeti, Shure? Also, does a filter in front of the mic help a lot?
 
a pop filter would only really be necessary when recording vocals close to the mic.
The Blue Yeti Pro seems to get a lot of good reviews, although most of the reviews for usb mics are in relation to spoken word podcasting or recording guitars. The Shure PG42USB is also well thought of and I think Rode make a usb mic that should be fairly good.
From what I've read, all usb mics tend to have a little bit of background noise due to digital interference from the usb interface. This shouldn't be a problem for a relatively loud instrument like a sax if you get a decent recording level.
If you can stretch to a firewire interface and separate mic that will be better and would mean you could upgrade the mic if you wanted to, but there's more stuff to set up than the "plug and play" usb mics.

Getting the best out of our recording equipment will mean a bit of trial and error to find the best position for the mic - I'd suggest putting it to your right a bit, pointing about half way up the instrument about 2-3 feet away - this allows a bit of room to move about a bit
Mics 'hear' sound differently than us humans, so don't be surprised if it doesn't sound the same as when you're playing it. You'll also find that it may pick up things that you've not noticed before - key rattles, breath noises, sounds from outside the room etc. I don't think iMacs have noisy cooling fans, so that shouldn't be a problem
You may want to fix any creaky floorboards in the room and put down some thick carpet or rugs and hang some thick drapes or blankets on the wall to help deaden the room a bit - a small empty room with bare plaster can sound a bit bright when recording
 
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Hey altissimo, thanks for the helpful reply. I thinking of getting the SM57 or Sennheiser 421 and a mixer interface. Any recommendations for the interface within US$150-200 range? This setup will also help me use my E-sax mute's line out and then into the iMac.
 
the 421 is a far better mic than the SM57 - I've only ever found SM57's useful for recording shouty vocalists who like to hold a mic close to their mouth. A Beyer Dynamic M201 is a good dynamic mic
Is there any particular reason why you're thinking about a dynamic mic rather than a condenser... or ribbon?
Focusrite make decent audio interfaces that get favourable comments on the audio forums, the Saffire Pro14 is over your budget by $50 as is the Presonus.
the only thing I can see in the sub $200 range is by Behringer - I'd really have to google some reviews of that one, there are mixed opinions of Behringer gear - it's cheap and seems to do the job, but isn't regarded as pro quality. Having said that I saw a pro engineer doing a classical piano recording with a mobile rig using a Behringer interface and he said it was great - he's been recording for 30 years, so I was surprised to see a cheap piece of gear in his rack, but he gets excellent results.
I'm not an expert on firewire interfaces, just going on what I've read,
 
MD421 all the way.
I am a big supprter of ribbons, but their figure8 pattern can be a headache in a small room.
I had great experience with 421 live on saxophones. Definitely a keeper, unlike a usb microphone.
As an interface, I use the focusrite scarlett. Does the job.
 
Good advice regarding the mics (although I must admit that speaking as a shouty vocalist with a SM57 I've used it to record the sax, and it sounded like a sax 🙂 Nowadays I use an Audio Technica condenser, or a NoHype Audio ribbon, and guess what...it still sounds like a sax).

Altissimo's advice about positioning etc is spot on. Regarding your room, try recording in the room as it is, then place some duvets/blankets/whatever around the room (at the same height as the mic/sax) and you'll hear a difference. Best recording studio I ever used (not with sax) had a live room that looked like a kid's fort made from blankets, duvets, cushions etc 🙂 It was a bit hippyish and messy, but the recorded sound was marvellous.
 
Condensers... I still have to find one that cold be my only microphone.
you just have to get used to the idea that human hearing and microphones are two very different things and to expect any microphone to behave the same way as your ear/brain is being optimistic.
Whatever mics you use, it's knowing how to use them that will get results... a nice sounding instrument in a nice sounding room helps a lot. A nasty instrument in a nasty room will always sound nasty no matter now expensive a mic you use - you'll just end up with a very expensive recording of nastiness...
A lot of classic jazz albums were recorded using condenser mics - Rudy Van Gelder's Neumann U47 close to the bell of Miles's trumpet being the most obvious example, or Jan Erik Kongshaug's use of Neumann M149's on ECM recordings.
There's always the option of using EQ to take the edge off or otherwise modify the sound, and a bit of compression works well on a sax... if you nag me enough I'll write something on the subject of EQ and compression
 
you just have to get used to the idea that human hearing and microphones are two very different things and to expect any microphone to behave the same way as your ear/brain is being optimistic.
Whatever mics you use, it's knowing how to use them that will get results... a nice sounding instrument in a nice sounding room helps a lot. A nasty instrument in a nasty room will always sound nasty no matter now expensive a mic you use - you'll just end up with a very expensive recording of nastiness...
A lot of classic jazz albums were recorded using condenser mics - Rudy Van Gelder's Neumann U47 close to the bell of Miles's trumpet being the most obvious example, or Jan Erik Kongshaug's use of Neumann M149's on ECM recordings.
There's always the option of using EQ to take the edge off or otherwise modify the sound, and a bit of compression works well on a sax... if you nag me enough I'll write something on the subject of EQ and compression
Specifically on saxophone, please. Even better about using condensers in a home rec situation. Pleeeaze
 
Yep, nag nag nag etc.

I also use eq and a touch of compression, but my use is very much trial and error (if it sounds good, it is). I've never been able to get my head around why I use compression: I understand the theory, but cannot for the life of me match that with the application.
 
the quick answer to why use compression is
A/ - it sounds good
and
B/. - it evens out the variations in level thus making the instrument sit in the mix better - think of it as an invisilbe hand on the fader turning the volume up a bit on the quieter bits and down a bit on the louder bits.
I'll get started on the article about EQ and compression - should be ready in about a week or so
 
Of course I never managed to use the thing successfully (= without messing up the saxophone sound), so I am looking forward to your article.
 
Hi, I practice my sax in a very small room and now want to start recording some of my notes / songs I play. The limitation I have is that the room is very small and hence I worry about reverbs and so on.

Hence, can you recommend any recording setup with my limitation? I have iMac so thinking whether to get Blue yeti and that's it? Or apogee one or Shure sm57 and some firewire?

Or whether a clip on mic is better for small rooms? If so, which one. Please help.

Here are some microphone reviews: http://www.neffmusic.com/blog/2014/09/saxophone-microphone-review-and-audio-shootout-part-2/
There is also a part 1 somewhere but this is a good starting point. The first mic I purchased was a Shure SM57. I bought it entirely on price and to be honest I never really liked the recordings I got with it.
 
Jafo50, the reviews on Neff website were fantastic. So I see he does not like the Shure SM57 but I guess it also as he is comparing to kuch more expensive ones and then you get what you pay for.

Last question - For a darker / warm sound, any recommendations in US$100-200 range?
 

Similar threads... or are they? Maybe not but they could be worth reading anyway 😀

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