Re: clean harp

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Mike Curtis wrote:
<<
I have a cut from my CD, Moulin Rouge
http://www.ironmancurtis.com/moulin.mp3 , that was recorded in
studio (harp in rack - I'm also playing guitar on this track), using a
Neumann U87, about 15" in front of and above the harp. 
<<

I've listened to this track, and I'm surprised that it was recorded on a
Neumann U87, which is indeed one of the most highly regarded vocal mics
in the world.  It's not a bad sound per se, but it's not the smooth,
beautiful sound I associate with a high-end studio mic.  I would have
guessed that it was a Shure SM57 or some other dynamic vocal mic.  

As I recall, according to Mike the entire album that contained this cut
was recorded, mixed, and mastered in a couple of hours.  That doesn't
allow much time for the engineer to work on the sound.  I gather as well
that the engineer had to account for the guitar in the harp mic too,
given that the performances were done in real time.  

My first CD, "The Act of Being Free in One Act," was also recorded on a
high-end Neumann.  Several cuts from that CD -- including "Peppermint
Life", "Winter Sun at Nobska," and "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" can
be found at my website at http://www.hunterharp.com/mp3s.html.  I think
those cuts show a little more of what a Neumann sounds like in the hands
of a skilled engineer.  (By the way, that album, which consisted
entirely of solo harmonica pieces, was recorded and mixed in a total of
21 hours, or about 1.5 hours per piece.  I thought that was pretty fast
work.)  Jelly Roll Johnson's wonderful debut CD also demonstrates how
nice a Neumann can sound (in this case, a Neumann M49 mic with a
Telefunken mic preamp).  Samples of Jelly's stuff from this brilliant CD
can be heard at http://www.jellyrolljohnson.com/Pages/music.htm.

Electronic Musician magazine ran a piece on recording acoustic harmonica
not long ago; the piece featured extensive comments by Mike Stevens and
toots Thielemans, among others.  It's worth looking for at
www.electronicmusician.com.

Finally, for those who record their music to computer, there's an
absolutely wonderful piece of software by Antares called MicModeler. 
This software allows the engineer to specify the mic used to record an
input  signal and the distance from the mic to the source (e.g. a
harmonica), then specify a different mic and distance for the output
signal.  Antares supplies a couple of hundred different electronic mic
"signatures" for both input and output models.  The results may not
sound exactly like the original signal was recorded on a high-end
Neumann (or Royer, or Lawson, or. . . ), but they're certainly
nice-sounding stuff, and it's a lot cheaper ($200 new) than buying two
hundred high-end mics.