cascade fathead for flute?

[randrohe]

Any one have any experience working w/ these on this instrument? I have never used a ribbon before and was wondering if this is one of their strong points.
Thanks,
Rand

[JWL]

I'd probably avoid using a ribbon for 2 reasons.

First, the overtunes of the flute are very high frequencies, and I think a condenser would pick it up better. Might be cool though, who knows?

Second, breath/gusts of air can damage the fragile ribbon inside the mic. Might not be the safest thing for the mic.

[nordberg]

in a dense mix i'd say go for it. in a sparse one i'd stick with the condensers. i never put a mic near the flautist's mouth so the breath problem hasn't been an issue, but i put 'em on kick drums too so don't listen to me!

[ned]

i would suggest that you check out this post on that other board

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/823495-post18.html

i'm assuming that the coles 4040s are going to be in a different league than the fathead, but i don't think you should rule out ribbons if you want that "you are there" sound.

[Jay Reynolds]

In case for some reason you're not familiar already, you want to make sure you've got the mic in the flute's sweet spot. A big mistake (ribbon, LDC or otherwise) is to mic the flute like one would mic a vocalist, with the mic in front of the performer and the pickup pattern pointed at the performer's omboucher (mouth). Because of the way the air leaves the omboucher, this mic placement will get you a lot of air blowing right onto the diaphragm. Instead, place the mic above the performer and aim it down at the top of the mouthpiece. Think of it like a OH drum mic. Aside from getting rid of all that air, you?ll be able to safely use a ribbon on any flautist. Adjust height depending on how much you like the sound of your tracking space (higher up gives you more room sound).
Sorry if all this is old hat. If it is, hopefully some future TOMBer will find this useful when they search for ?flute? and ?mic?.

[randrohe]

Great info. Thanks for the replies.

[digitaldrummer]

I recorded some flute recently and used an AKG 414B-ULSII. I placed it about a foot over her head, pointing down and it turned out really nice.

Mike