Seems the first question is what kind of sound you are trying to achieve. If a 'natural' sound, consider where you normally hear this horn from in performance. Not the bell side, but usually from the player's front. If something else, then it is all up to artistic goals.

This decision comes first, before mic selection issues, I think.

Michael

yeah... I just experimented, put a large diaphragm on the bell, put a small diaphragm at about a 45 degree angle above and away from the bell, and one straight ahead, a few feet away, pointed at the lower part of the horn so as not to pick up too much key noise. Sounded all right. I just don't have anything other than those mics, which is sort of annoying, but it does sound all right, and the horn player was satisfied. Thanks, though.

did you pan the mics apart or mix them together? Check for mono compatibility?

Okay - so, as a musician, I'm a horn player first (French horn that is, but the IHS has deemed the correct term to be horn, not French horn...) and a recording engineer second. I won't go into my horn playing resume, but I have played with a few biggies (Washington Symphony most recently).

As a hornplayer, if a recording engineer were to stick a mic in my bell, I would likely take that mic and shove it promptly up his arse! (No offense, just my excessive hyperbole at play here... :D )

The horn sounds like shit from the bell side of things. We (hornists) rely on the fact that we face the wrong way for our sound to warm up. More specifically, we rely on a good 20 feet of distance in a big reverbarent room to help too.

The best way to mic a solo horn is to place the hornist on stage in a nice concert hall (never attempt in a recording studio - dead horn sound is just plain poop!) Place your large diaphragm mic about 6 feet out from the player and just above eye level. (Your hornist IS standing, right? If not, he may as well not make the CD as he shouldn't be auditioning for anything...sorry, hyperbole acting up again...)

Then, use your SDCs in the hall in ORTF to pick up the remaining sound with ambience.

Blend to taste and voila...
beautiful horn sound... :D

Good luck!

J.

As a hornplayer, if a recording engineer were to stick a mic in my bell, I would likely take that mic and shove it promptly up his arse! (No offense, just my excessive hyperbole at play here... )

They would have to get past your hand first...not that your hand is up your arse :) but as a horn player, you know what I am speaking of....