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Thread: Euph recording

  1. #1

    Euph recording

    Hello to all,

    I've been trying to record myself playing my new Doubler. I'm wondering if anyone might have some advice for making these recordings. I originally just used my laptops recorder. Terrible sound quality! It's just a Flat sounding , with too many squeaks and squawks, performance. I'm thinking - I know that it's been a long time, but do I really sound that - Monoptone??? It doesn't sound that way to me as I play it. So I went out and purchased A.) a Sony IC UX570 voice recorder. Then I purchased B.) a "blue snowball" Mic thinking that the internal mic may not be cutting it, but that added no improvement.

    I DO practice in a small room with rather low overhead - a semi-finished basement room. I'm wondering if that may be adding to the problem??

    Another thing I tried is to use a digital camera I've got - a Sony 20 megapixel (not sure of the model) This probably added the best quality I've been able to manage, but still not what I was expecting to hear. I guess recording equipment could add up to $$$$. I probably won't go there .. the whole music hobby is becoming quite expensive for a retiree as myself.

    Maybe I'm just hearing a better tonal quality than what I'm actually producing- the old ears don't work as good as they used to either!!

    Joe

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Location
    Summerfield, Florida Sturgis, SD (summers)
    Posts
    1,863
    Hey Joe,

    I am a pretty decent euphonium player, and I pretty much know what I sound like. But, getting that sound recorded on tape (or digital memory) is not a completely easy task. I have tried numerous things with varying degrees of success. I have a Canon Camcorder that I bought on the recommendation of Dave who uses it a lot in his videos. I also bought a good mic to plug into the Camcorder. Those two things together have netted me the "ability" to make a decent recording.

    But, doing that in a low ceiling basement might not be the best place to record, acoustically speaking. In fact, it is probably a lousy place. Dave makes most of his recordings (well a lot of them) in a church. Much better place to record. Then you have to futz with the placement of the mic. And turn off the Camcorder internal mic and plug in the good mic. And mess around with the volume setting. I think Dave also runs the audio through a software program that adds a little reverb or presence to the sound, and maybe some other stuff.

    Go here: http://www.dwerden.com/forum/entry.p...y#.YJVgtcCSmM8

    This lists some of the gear that Dave uses/recommends for recording.

    I have always thought that a euphonium is a particularly difficult instrument to record and make it sound like it really sounds. And that is too bad, because nothing sounds as nice as a nice euphonium being played by a nice euphonium player. That's a lot of nice in one sentence!

    Don't give up. If your budget isn't completely shot, look at some of the stuff in Dave's list above. Good luck!!
    John Morgan
    The U.S. Army Band (Pershing's Own) 1971-1976
    Adams E3 Custom Series Euphonium, 1956 B&H Imperial Euphonium,
    1973 F. E. Olds & Son Studio Model T-31 Baritone
    Adams TB1 Tenor Trombone, Yamaha YBL-822G Bass Trombone
    Year Round Except Summer:
    Kingdom of the Sun (KOS) Concert Band, Ocala, FL (Euphonium)
    KOS Brass Quintet (Trombone, Euphonium)
    Summer Only:
    Rapid City Municipal Band, Rapid City, SD (Euphonium)
    Rapid City New Horizons Band (Euphonium)

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Hidden Valley, AZ
    Posts
    1,031
    Brass instruments really love ribbon mics.

    DG

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    SF Bay Area, CA, USA
    Posts
    102
    My son records under a 9' ceiling with a Zoom h2 recorder (usually direct to SD instead of pass-through usb).
    I would have guessed that a distanced setup would allow the sound to mature with a bit of help from the room because that's what my ear hears (actually the timbre really blooms when I'm standing about 20 feet away and just around the corner into another room), but oddly, the "truest" & best-sounding capture occurs with the front-2 mics activated and about 16" off the bell, in-line with the rim, and inclined about 20 degrees toward the bell center. We took a fair amount of time and numerous samples to come up with that, but it's been a good investment to nail down the right setup.
    Likewise with my daughter: lots of sampling, and the final setup has the mics surprisingly (to me) close to her trumpet bell.

  5. #5
    Hey everyone!
    Thanks for the advice...unfortunately, just what I expected to hear. I wonder why it is, that an instrument that makes such a beautiful sound would be so difficult to capture! At best, it seems to cost a fortune to be able to...and even then needs to be enhanced through technology. Well, John, you're right and I won't give up...but need to take a break on the spending for awhile. There are a couple of things I can try in the meantime - mic placement,etc. Then I think I'll just enjoy playing it for awhile. I notice an improvement in my playing anyway. My stamina is better...my articulation much better, and overall I seem to notice improvement. I've joined the Southeast Massachusetts Community Band and we're doing Zoom meetings for now...hopefully all will open up for, at least outside rehearsals and 3 concerts are scheduled for month of August. Looking forward to that very much.
    Thanks again,
    Joe

  6. The trombone forum had a discussion like this a while ago that I started.

    https://trombonechat.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=18513

    I linked 3 multitrack recordings that I made, and thought they sounded bad. Someone took one of them and processed it - with all of my performance and recording foibles - and it sounded pro. I think the improved edit has been removed, but there is a lot of info on that thread about how to record and how to process. Judging yourself against youtubers is a little unfair. There is a lot of processing that goes into those recordings, and the raw recordings they make probably sounds a lot like the raw recordings you and I make.

    Anyway, check out the thread, and see how far down the rabbit hole you want to go.

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