violin micing techniques

[kyleknapp]

Anyone know anything about recording violin? I plan to do some this weekend, but don't have a clue.

This'll be mellow folksy stuff, and the player is not highly accomplished, so it'll be mostly long slow strokes, neither country/bluegrass fiddle nor classical style.

It's a regular acoustic violin, but it has a pickup, so I'll probably do a direct input, which leaves me up to 3 mic inputs with my current system. For mics, I have:
-Kel Audio HM-1
-MXL 990
-MXL 991
-Behringer C2 (matched pair)
-Sennheiser MD518
-EV N/D258
and I could probably borrow an SM57

Any suggestions which mics and placements might work best?

Thanks,

[brandondrury]

I just slapped a short article together. This should help.

http://www.recordingreview.com/artic...st-Violin.html

Brandon

[richiebee]

I always find that a SDC works better than a LDC on violin. I've never had a satisfactory sound for recording from a pick up - the violin resonates... you don't get that from a pickup. I usually place the stand behind the player with the mic over their head, a couple of feet up, and pointing at the f hole. If this is fiddle playing rather than sweet violin playing, I'd mic closer for a more direct sound. Point towards the strings/bowing area for a harsher sound, or away for a rounder sound.

Things to watch for...

Violinists tend to move around a lot. This can cause havoc for a consistent signal.
Violinists tend to sniff a lot. Make sure they don't, or if they can't stop, that you can minimize the sound of it by mic placement.
If they're wearing headphones, make sure you're not picking up excessive signal. Violins are fairly quiet instruments. The player will almost certainly only want one ear on with the cans so they can hear direct from the strings. Not a problem as long as the other ear on your cans are closed off.
Violinists tend to pluck their strings quietly to pitch notes. This is a nightmare! Just be aware.

R.

[brandondrury]

The player will almost certainly only want one ear on with the cans so they can hear direct from the strings. Not a problem as long as the other ear on your cans are closed off.

Note, if your headphone amp doesn't make concessions for this, you can pull out the 1/4" headphone jack just a tad and it will cut out one side. This may sound a tad jerry rigged, but it's not nearly as bad as having an uncovered headphone shoot right into a mic with lots of preamp gain.

Brandon

[kyleknapp]

Thanks so much, lots of good ideas. Since my first post I've found several online articles on the subject, with a variety of opinions. But most seem to have a "not too close" consensus (2 feet or more away). I'll experiment and post my results.

Originally Posted by richiebee

I've never had a satisfactory sound for recording from a pick up

This is as I would have assumed, the same is true with acoustic guitar, but since I have a DI, I'll probably record it. A couple of times I've not recorded DI for acoustic guitar and later wished I had - not because I'm fond of the DI sound, but because sometimes just a little bit of DI input blended in can "tighten" up a fuzzy bass note.

[guitar junkie]

what kind of room have you got?

I like to record violin/fiddle in a room mic setting.... stereo matched pair works well if the player is moving around too much...

It is just about like anything else you have to play with room sound, the limits of the musician until you get it right.

[fiddler]

Ineteresting thread for me, a professional violinist. I've spent hundreds of hours in recording studios, but am very ignorant about audio technology, which is why I'm here, picking up ideas so that I can dabble with home recording.
I appreciate the advantages of DI, but agree with Richiebee that you'll get a much better natural sound through a mic. Of course you'll have to take time to get all the parameters right, as Brandon and Richie suggest.
If your violinist is not studio-experienced, make sure you allow time to get the headphone set-up just right for him/her. It's very unsettling if it's not right - I find one ear completely free and the other only half covered is best. I only wish to hear enough monitored sound to hear the other tracks, so that I'm reacting to as near a normal acoustic sound as possible. So allow time to ensure that the headphone level is balanced with the natural sound once he/she starts playing along - it has to be quite high if adopting that no-ear/half-covered technique. Hope that makes sense. And best for the lead to be on the left side away from the bowing arm.
If you wish to hear a 3-part violin piece I recorded about a month ago in a wooden room 18ft x 10 ft x 7ft using an SM57 at about 5 feet, AudioBuddy, Cubase SX3, STA DSP24 Media7.1 soundcard - let me know. (There's a great sniff in between 2 phrases )

fiddler

[richiebee]

Here are a couple of demos I've done. Both recorded in the same room, with the same mic. Amazing how much variety you can get!!!

http://www.richiebee.ca/mp3s/demos/duo1.mp3 (great sniffing on this one!)
http://www.richiebee.ca/mp3s/demos/qtet1.mp3

[brandondrury]

This is a tremendous lesson in how the source is EVERYTHING! These are drastically different sounding recordings done with the exact same gear (I'm assuming pres and converters were the same). Both sound great, but totally different at the same time.

Richiebee, do you care if I use these in an upcoming article? I'll give you proper credit and a link to your site. I'll put them on my server, if need be. My new server (being setup right now) gives me about 20x the bandwidth I currently have.

Brandon

[fiddler]

How did it go kyleknapp?
fiddler