LDDs on Horns?

fancyhat · Post by **fancyhat** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 2:03 pm

I'm getting ready to go into a session to track a small horn section for an ongoing project, and I want to take it in a different direction than I'm used to. I'm going for a rich, saturated sort of texture.
The idea floating around in my head is to use some sort of LDD, paired with something along the lines of a CAD E100. The SM7 has always been my go-to, but the studio I work at just picked up a Heil PR30 that's been whispering my name from the mic closet for a week now...

Just curious if anyone has used these (or other LDDs) on horns and if you were crazy about the results, or if you think I should just scrap the idea and go back to ribbons.

jgimbel · Post by **jgimbel** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 5:21 pm

I recorded alto saxophone for the first time a couple weeks ago. I did a bunch of research and found a lot of suggestions as far as mics and placement. LDDs are very common for this job, from what it seems. It also seems that an RE20 is somewhat of a standard in a lot of well-known sax recordings (though I couldn't tell you which ones).

When the sax player got here I put up a few mics - an SM7, an RE20, and an AT4050. They all sounded great. He was a great player, so it would have been hard to make him sound bad, but each of the results sounded usable to me. The RE20 sounded more mid-heavy - kind of rolled off on the high end and not booming on the low. The SM7 had more high end and therefore a little more cut, a little less smoothed. The 4050 sounded surprisingly similar to the SM7 (something I've never really had happen before on other sources), and in the end we used that. It sounded like the SM7 but a bit less compressed-sounding. The difference between the RE20 and the SM7 reminds me of the difference between an AT4047 and and AT4050 - the RE20 smoothed out the high end while the SM7 was more natural. The RE20 seemed the least natural, the AT4050 the most, and the SM7 somewhere in between but leaning more toward the 4050. I wouldn't have felt bad at all using either of the LDDs, and I figured they would be my first choice. It probably would be normally, but this was an intro for a talk show and the mix was very crisp and clean, so the 4050 fit.

If you're interested I can put up some clips of the sax from that session.

fancyhat · Post by **fancyhat** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 6:19 pm

I'm hoping I can convince the band to take the time to audition mics, as it would totally solve the problem of what to use up front, but they're pretty adamant about using every second they pay for to track...

And, sure! I'd love to hear clips from the session if it's not too much trouble!

radmike · Post by **radmike** » Fri Oct 07, 2011 7:29 pm

Yeah. I've had some awesome results on tenor sax with the 421 too. Real good.

losthighway · Post by **losthighway** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 10:12 am

Re20, Sm7, md421, all of that type of stuff sounds awesome on loud instruments made of brass. If you're doing a few things at once and are short an LDD, an SM57 with a sock over it can get good alto sax and trumpet sounds for sure.

jgimbel · Post by **jgimbel** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 4:53 pm

fancyhat wrote:And, sure! I'd love to hear clips from the session if it's not too much trouble!

No trouble, I'll get them up within the next few days!

drumsound · Post by **drumsound** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 5:11 pm

Should you have to record tuba, a 421 in the bell sounds really amazing.

mjau · Post by **mjau** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 8:22 pm

I've not done much horns, but I did like my Beyer m69 on trumpet.

fancyhat · Post by **fancyhat** » Tue Oct 11, 2011 6:55 pm

I ended up going with the Heil running through a UA 6176 and was quite pleased with the results. Thanks for all the input!

norsehorse · Post by **norsehorse** » Sat Oct 29, 2011 10:52 am

Here's a nice sample with the AT4033:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl4miufiBYo

NewAndImprov · Post by **NewAndImprov** » Sat Oct 29, 2011 6:02 pm

My SM7b is my go-to mic for trumpet or trombone. Never really used it on a sax, usually because I'm generally recording sax at the same time as trumpet or bone, as part of a section. I've seen a lot of RE20's used on horns as well.

EasyGo · Post by **EasyGo** » Sat Oct 29, 2011 7:02 pm

I recorded a tenor sax player and trombonist doing overdubs of horn lines for reggae tracks, and had good luck using a D112 on trombone and the aforementioned MD421 on tenor sax. The players were excellent and sounded great already, but the mics captured the richness of tone and handled the considerable SPLs and wind blast easily.

Now if I only had my own 421.

slowcentury · Post by **slowcentury** » Sat Oct 29, 2011 7:28 pm

I have a PR30, it tends to be my go to dynamic at the moment. (I dont really have a large selection). I used on some Clarinet in the past with some fantastic results.

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LDDs on Horns?

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