Microphones for horn sections?

[falado]

Hi all, I'm putting a little big band together. Got charts and players and star rehearsing this month. I'm getting a PA system, something in the medium range. My current plan is to have vocals, got a good vocalist and going to do Sinatra and Buble style stuff, got a good mic for that. I'm planning on having ambient mics, one mic per section, 2 trumpets (sometimes 3), 2 trombones, 3 saxes, alto, tenor, and bari, and a solo mic in each section.

What kind and brand mic do some of you suggest for this application? I'm getting mixed answers from the local music store. I have SM 57s, but I feel those are more suited for the solo mics. So, condenser? What brand and model? Would ribbon mics be better? This is for performances, not recording, but will do recording in the future. Is the ambient thing the way to go or should I attempt to mic individual instruments? Of course that would be added set up times and more expenses. When I was playing in Navy Show Bands we usually just set up one SM 57 per section and we somehow made that work. I do have a stand front for each player.

Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks, Dave
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[coolblues2]

Makes sense that it's a good idea to have a decent mic and PA system for the vocalist, by why do you need to mic a big band for a rehearsal ? Are you also trying to record the rehearsals through the PA system ?

[Don Herman rev2]

If you want to record the band at rehearsal I would not use section mics. Too much a PITA to setup and mix for too little benefit. It can also make it harder to tell balance among the sections (and members). I would stick an X-Y pair (easiest to set up) or even a single mic on a stand out front far enough to allow you to see what the audience hears so you can adjust balance and spot overall issues as well as any individual sections/players that stick out (good or bad).

I prefer large condensers for this sort of thing since they are generally more sensitive and you can get decent ones fairly inexpensively, though a nice flat response usually requires a more costly mic (AKG C414 has a "flat" version as do many others). For a rehearsal the LF rolloff shouldn't matter. I did a lot of recording with a pair of fairly cheap AKG C3000's and they were well-received. For some reason, not just price, Neumann and I have just never hit it off... I have little experience with MXL and all the new breed of inexpensive mics.

IMO, and I mean exactly that, just my opinion - Don
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"After silence, that which best expresses the inexpressible, is music" - Aldous Huxley

[bach_again]

Live sound is about compromise. 57s or 58s are fine. The bets 58 is a fair upgrade. Beyer M201 is a peach for tpt.
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[Don Herman rev2]

Shure 57's or 58's are meant to be used fairly close, not for sections. They are not high-sensitivity mics, a plus for their intended use when they can help exclude other sounds. They use the same capsule in a different case, and both have an upper midrange hump I don't care for on brass, but vocalists (and obviously you and others) do like. The 57/58 is a good solo mic for vocal or instruments (though I tend to EQ for the latter) but IME (perhaps not in yours') perform poorly as an area mic.

For me, I'd rather get the sound more realistically as heard by the audience, if that is the goal. If the goal is to record each section and/or individual then more individual mics makes sense. I'd more likely do that in a recording session. For rehearsal, I'd just hate to spend that much time setting up and taking down. Call me lazy...
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"After silence, that which best expresses the inexpressible, is music" - Aldous Huxley

[BeboppinFool]

Staying on the path that Don has blazed, there are inexpensive ribbon mics by MXL that will do the job for you.

See this link.

You could even use a pair of these with your H2 Zoom and get good "from the audience" sound for less than $300.00 total . . . well, today I don't know what the H2 Zoom goes for, but I have had one for years and it continues to serve me well.

In fact, I have three MXLs and would be willing to part with two of them for next-to-nothing now that I have picked up a nice Royer ribbon mic.

Let me know via PM if you're interested.
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[falado]

[falado]