From the course: Audio Recording Techniques

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The key to miking any acoustic instrument

The key to miking any acoustic instrument

From the course: Audio Recording Techniques

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The key to miking any acoustic instrument

No matter what kind of acoustic string instrument, they all have the same qualities that make your miking approach basically the same. In this video, I'm going to show you the key to how a string instrument can be miked. All string instruments radiate sound omni-directionally, but that said, brilliance of tone comes from the top of the instrument. That's why it's always better if the mic is placed where it can see the top of the instrument. Whether you're miking a fiddle or solo violin, viola or cello, the approach is basically the same. Get the mic further back from the instrument than you think you should, because you need space to capture the sound that's projected from the instrument. Also remember that the closer the mic is, the more likely it will pick up things like bow noise and chair movement. String instruments also respond very well to condenser microphones, although some particularly screechy instruments can benefit greatly from a ribbon mic. To sum things up, all string…

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