Re: [Harp-L] acoustic harp sound quality / when recording and mixing

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Randy Singer wrote:
<I do a lot of recording sessions. In the past, the engineers would go crazy <trying to find the right thousand dollar microphone to make the harmonica sound <great.
<
<Then i got an audix. Now, every session, I pull out the audix, cup it in my <hands and play and the sound is amazing every time.
<
<The audix is also the engineers best friend and many engineers have bought one <for the studio.

I presume Randy is talking about the Fireball or Fireball V mic here.  I agree that this is a terrific mic for recording harmonica--beautiful tone, and works well with a wide range of preamps, including inexpensive ones like the ART Tube MP.  And at a retail price of about $100, it's a very affordable recording mic.

One thing about the Fireball that's extremely useful for harmonica players who record in less-than-acoustically-perfect rooms, as opposed to the recording studios mentioned by Randy, is that if you can get a great sound from your mic by cupping it in your hands, the sound of the room has no effect on the recorded sound.  In other words, with a Fireball you can record anywhere that you can hear yourself, with very good results, even in environments that are noisy, echo-y, or otherwise unusable for a mic that's not isolated.    

I've recorded a number tracks on the road in hotel rooms, and it's very, very nice to know that no matter how crappy the room sounds, the harp tracks are going to sound very, very good.  If you need some dirt on the track, you can always add distortion to the signal later (or while you record) using an amp modeler, either hardware or software.

Regards, Richard Hunter





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