Recording quesitons...

[Wendy Willson]

Hello all. I need some help. Two questions... Is it possible to get an audition quality recording with an Ipad Mini-5 equipped with a quality microphone? If so, what is a really good/best microphone to record solo work on a Euphonium. I welcome alternate suggestions as well. Thanks!

[davewerden]

Funny you should ask! I just put up two videos that address this. The first shows some of the oddities you get when recording from a phone or tablet. The second shows my recently-found solution.

https://youtu.be/l9n566E_VuY

https://youtu.be/UOTfxW4ahXc

The Shure package is available here:
https://fave.co/3e3XKUm

[davewerden]

Here is what I use when I want the quality even higher. Nowadays I may use my phone's video because it is prettier, but I still use the good mic shown here:

http://www.dwerden.com/forum/entry.p...r-Good-Quality

[Dieter Debusschere]

Hi Wendy,

Further to Mr. Werden's advise, I use a budget-friendly 2-channel Presonus audiobox USB96 audio interface with a condenser microphone for both recording my euphonium as well as for taking my online lessons. The sound quality with this setup is so much better than using the standard built-in microphone. The box connects to a normal laptop and the installation is fairly easy and straightforward.

The quality of the microphone is like you say key in getting the sound right. Besides the condenser mic, I also tried a dynamic microphone but the condenser mic is really the better option of both (although it requires 48V phantom power which the audiobox provides). I understood that ribbon microphones are the best to record brass instruments, but they really cost a small fortune and are extremely fragile.

You probably already know that it is necessary to check the acoustics of the room that you are using to record your playing. A bedroom is usually not the best recording studio, but hanging plenty of empty egg cartons on the wall is a cheap solution to this problem :-).

It took me also quite some test recordings to find out where to hang/stand the microphone. I have it now say 1.5m away and above the bell, but I am sure that next week it will stand elsewhere again.

The Presonus audiobox came with free Studio One recording software, which is pretty advanced software but fun to play around with to make and edit for example multi-track recordings with only one euphonium. Nice to know also: the audiobox allows you to play along with YouTube songs, just connect an external speaker, amplifier or headphones to the box (I use my K3 amplifier for that sake).

Although Studio One has plenty of sound editing possibilities, the disadvantage of this setup is that you cannot synchronize video recordings and audio recordings together without additional (paid) software. Now besides Presonus I am sure that other brands also offer the same qualitative gear and software in the same price categories.

This simple setup is surely not comparable to a professional recording studio, but I must say that during all these lengthy quarantine periods I was very glad to have my personal Abbey Road studio at home!

I hope this helps?

Kind regards,

Dieter

[davewerden]

You probably already know that it is necessary to check the acoustics of the room that you are using to record your playing. A bedroom is usually not the best recording studio, but hanging plenty of empty egg cartons on the wall is a cheap solution to this problem :-).

Acoustics are a big problem in my basement. The acoustic treatment recommended in the quote would be helpful, but unwelcome by my spouse! The recordings can sound pretty good if I use a close mic, placed off the edge of the bell roughly in line with the outer curve of the bell. A foot or two away is good. That creates a close-up "studio" kind of sound. I then process it with the free tool Audacity to add some reverb (it has a ton of settings to play with). The net effect is good.

I still would way rather prefer to record in my own church's sanctuary, which has nice acoustics (some of my recent videos have been in a different church, which is not ideal). But one has to deal with the situation at hand.