Clip -on - condenser Mic for the fiddle - Advice needed
Clip -on - condenser Mic for the fiddle - Advice needed
I am playing a pub gig tonight and trying the ATM35 clip on condenser microphone. This is the first time with this mic or anything like it. I have used a Baggs bridge before, but that is a different animal.
Any advice on mic placement? How about where you clip it on?
And any sound processing? I have the Baggs DI box, but did not figure on using it. The mic does come with its own "power pack". I was planning on plugging directly into the board.
Any other "lessons learned" from using a clip on condenser? And I am not overly concerned about a loud room or a loud band. I am playing with one other person, no drums. The room does get loud, but it is usually not too bad.
Re: Clip -on - condenser Mic for the fiddle - Advice needed
Hi J,
TJ puts the AT clip onto the chinrest, with the mic capsule above the f-hole and between the bridge and the f-hole. Since all fiddles are different you should experiment a bit with placement for your sound. Some folks like it higher off the top of the fiddle, even above the bridge, others like it down right on the f-hole. The little goose-neck can arch so that the mic capsule is out of the way of the bow.
We don't add any processing to the mic at all. In some rare cases (like with great huge wedge monitors or big side-fill speakers onstage) we EQ against feedback. Be careful when you hold the fiddle and aren't playing it. You can play a cello solo in monitor feedback. <GG> Yep, we plug straight into the mixer, too.
The only other lesson is that you are always "on" and can't use the mic for dynamics, so if you cuss at the other player or sneeze, it's there "in front of God'n everybody" ... <GG> For some folks this changes their playing, for others it's no matter at all.
Re: Clip -on - condenser Mic for the fiddle - Advice needed
Thanks Steve...I give it a try. I will try to check in tomorrow. It's a weekender, so I will be back at it tomorrow night. So bring on the advice everybody!
I started positioning the mic above the F-hole. I used to have it right at the bridge.
One of the nice things about this mic is the cardioid pattern; it's extremely directional and you can talk (at a low volume) with it under your chin without your words getting amplified, if you want. The wireless transmitter also has a mute switch, which is handy for other situations. Also with the flexible gooseneck mount I can re-orient it to pick up the fiddle and my voice together when I'm singing and playing.
On my fiddle, with the mic next to the bridge, I was frequently getting a lot of feedback on "D" and its first two harmonics. (Playing while standing next to an Uillean piper. Get a bunch of D drones going, and the feedback gets out of hand.) You have to make sure the mic clip has a good solid grip on your chinrest. I'm thinking the isolation mount that the ROAM mic uses might be better in this regard, so it doesn't pick up as much reverberation straight off the fiddle body.
Moving the mic over the F-hole has helped even out the response a little bit; while there used to be a huge response peak on D the A and E are a little more balanced now. Even so, I still use a Baggs para-acoustic DI to raise the mic receiver's output level and to eq/control feedback. I have the cheaper receiver though, I suspect if you get the UR1 receiver the output level will probably be high enough to begin with.
Re: Clip -on - condenser Mic for the fiddle - Advice needed
I had relative success with the mic after 4 gigs this weekend. Two gigs were in a quieter room and it worked fabulously. I experimented with placement and ended up clipping it on the chinrest and arcing the gooseneck over the tailpiece, placing the mic a little to the left of the right f-hole.
I tried placing the mic right above either f-hole, but it was muddy. My fiddle really rings out on the D note, especially on the open D string. Placing it at or near the left f-hole seemed to emphasize this.
The other gigs were in a much louder room, and I was playing with a fiddler using a Bagg's bridge. Friday night was a little dodgey but Saturday night was hard because there was a drummer playing as well. I had to hold the fiddle at a particular angle so that I would not get feedback.
One thing though, I think the standard ATM35 comes as a cardioid and that you can get other capsules that would make it a hypercardioid or a subcardioid (what's that?).
In any case, if I sit in with the drummer again, I will bring my Bagg's bridge fiddle and just plug in like the rest of them. On the ATM35...so far so good.
Clip -on - condenser Mic for the fiddle - Advice needed
Clip -on - condenser Mic for the fiddle - Advice needed
I am playing a pub gig tonight and trying the ATM35 clip on condenser microphone. This is the first time with this mic or anything like it. I have used a Baggs bridge before, but that is a different animal.
Any advice on mic placement? How about where you clip it on?
And any sound processing? I have the Baggs DI box, but did not figure on using it. The mic does come with its own "power pack". I was planning on plugging directly into the board.
Any other "lessons learned" from using a clip on condenser? And I am not overly concerned about a loud room or a loud band. I am playing with one other person, no drums. The room does get loud, but it is usually not too bad.
Thanks!
# Posted on April 15th 2005 by Jode
Re: Clip -on - condenser Mic for the fiddle - Advice needed
Hi J,
TJ puts the AT clip onto the chinrest, with the mic capsule above the f-hole and between the bridge and the f-hole. Since all fiddles are different you should experiment a bit with placement for your sound. Some folks like it higher off the top of the fiddle, even above the bridge, others like it down right on the f-hole. The little goose-neck can arch so that the mic capsule is out of the way of the bow.
We don't add any processing to the mic at all. In some rare cases (like with great huge wedge monitors or big side-fill speakers onstage) we EQ against feedback. Be careful when you hold the fiddle and aren't playing it. You can play a cello solo in monitor feedback. <GG> Yep, we plug straight into the mixer, too.
The only other lesson is that you are always "on" and can't use the mic for dynamics, so if you cuss at the other player or sneeze, it's there "in front of God'n everybody" ... <GG> For some folks this changes their playing, for others it's no matter at all.
I hope this helps!
# Posted on April 15th 2005 by stv culchie
Re: Clip -on - condenser Mic for the fiddle - Advice needed
Thanks Steve...I give it a try. I will try to check in tomorrow. It's a weekender, so I will be back at it tomorrow night. So bring on the advice everybody!
# Posted on April 15th 2005 by Jode
Re: Clip -on - condenser Mic for the fiddle - Advice needed
I use a Samson Airline - it's an AudioTechnica Pro-35X mic with a tiny wireless transmitter mounted, like this
http://www.456music.com/itemdetail.cfm?item_id=68777
After I saw this Roam2 picture
http://www.appliedmic.com/roam234.asp
I started positioning the mic above the F-hole. I used to have it right at the bridge.
One of the nice things about this mic is the cardioid pattern; it's extremely directional and you can talk (at a low volume) with it under your chin without your words getting amplified, if you want. The wireless transmitter also has a mute switch, which is handy for other situations. Also with the flexible gooseneck mount I can re-orient it to pick up the fiddle and my voice together when I'm singing and playing.
On my fiddle, with the mic next to the bridge, I was frequently getting a lot of feedback on "D" and its first two harmonics. (Playing while standing next to an Uillean piper. Get a bunch of D drones going, and the feedback gets out of hand.) You have to make sure the mic clip has a good solid grip on your chinrest. I'm thinking the isolation mount that the ROAM mic uses might be better in this regard, so it doesn't pick up as much reverberation straight off the fiddle body.
Moving the mic over the F-hole has helped even out the response a little bit; while there used to be a huge response peak on D the A and E are a little more balanced now. Even so, I still use a Baggs para-acoustic DI to raise the mic receiver's output level and to eq/control feedback. I have the cheaper receiver though, I suspect if you get the UR1 receiver the output level will probably be high enough to begin with.
# Posted on April 17th 2005 by HighlandSun
Re: Clip -on - condenser Mic for the fiddle - Advice needed
I had relative success with the mic after 4 gigs this weekend. Two gigs were in a quieter room and it worked fabulously. I experimented with placement and ended up clipping it on the chinrest and arcing the gooseneck over the tailpiece, placing the mic a little to the left of the right f-hole.
I tried placing the mic right above either f-hole, but it was muddy. My fiddle really rings out on the D note, especially on the open D string. Placing it at or near the left f-hole seemed to emphasize this.
The other gigs were in a much louder room, and I was playing with a fiddler using a Bagg's bridge. Friday night was a little dodgey but Saturday night was hard because there was a drummer playing as well. I had to hold the fiddle at a particular angle so that I would not get feedback.
One thing though, I think the standard ATM35 comes as a cardioid and that you can get other capsules that would make it a hypercardioid or a subcardioid (what's that?).
In any case, if I sit in with the drummer again, I will bring my Bagg's bridge fiddle and just plug in like the rest of them. On the ATM35...so far so good.
# Posted on April 18th 2005 by Jode