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Hi there,

I have a question and need some advice for Micing two trumpets in the same studio room.

What is the best way to place the mics in front of the trumpet. The room is not that big, but i think if you play directly into the mic the sound will becom not that good i think. Or maybe somebody has a good link for this? I can't find not that much info about the placing if the mic.

Thnx

Regards,

Steve

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Boswell Thu, 02/15/2007 - 04:52

What do you want to end up with? A pair of tracks in stereo with the two players panned L and R of centre? Or a good mono track to fit in a mix with other instruments? What microphones have you got available?

If the two trumpets are the only instruments (i.e. you are recording a trumpet duet), then this is an occasion where I would experiment with a main pair in M-S, and a subsidiary ambient pair further back. Don't go too far off axis for the players relative to the centreline of the M cardioid.

It's also probable that the room may play a larger part in this than you might at first think.

Boswell Thu, 02/15/2007 - 07:49

I forgot to say that ribbon mics can give really good results on trumpets. A pair of ribbons in Blumlein (X-Y) or M-S Blumlein is worth a try if you have some nice figure-8 ribbons to hand.

M-S Blumlein is the same mounting arrangement as X-Y Blumlein but rotated 45 degrees so one mic directly faces the centre of the sound source and the other is at right angles to it. You use an M-S decoder to recover L-R signals as normal. Depending on the room, the rear M lobe may give you enough pickup to dispense with any further ambient mics, thereby avoiding any phasing and/or delay compensation issues.