Best Mic for Trumpet?

Kennyg2019 · Veteran Member Joined: 15 Jan 2022 Posts: 261 Location: NY

I'm looking for a good mic to connect to my iPhone.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Ken

P.S. I'm interested in the best mic. Current budget: $200 but I'm willing to save my pennies if necessary!

Shaft · Heavyweight Member Joined: 19 Sep 2006 Posts: 985

shure mv88+

Recommended to me by a Sweetwater sales person that I know. It hasn’t let me down yet for what it is. $224 at Best Buy right now for that kit.

Notlem · Veteran Member Joined: 20 Nov 2021 Posts: 127

Shaft · Heavyweight Member Joined: 19 Sep 2006 Posts: 985

The MV88+ came with two cables.
Lightning & USB

There are also the free motiv audio and motiv video apps.
EQ settings and other tweaks can be performed with them.

Depending on what kind of playing you are doing…
I can play with it a couple feet in front of me and its fine.

It is a condenser mic so its suited for
being able to handle some power thrown its way.

It can be placed farther out and pick it up well also depending on what is happening around you and how you have the pattern set.

There are optional settings for different environments.
Cardoid, LR, etc.

This is a good info page on it.

https://pubs.shure.com/guide/MV88PLUS/en-US

There are some Youtube vids demonstrating the pick up patterns demonstrating the difference with, for example, people talking and the background noise not being audible at all that one can find as well.

At the $200 mark I don’t know what else is out there
but I am very pleased with having this for trumpet and
other applications.

Chadwick · Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2022 7:49 pm Post subject:

Arturo's Shure mic might work at your $200 price point for teaching or easy/on-the-go personal practice. The Shure MV88 works for iPhone/iPad/USB-C devices, and the Shure MV88+ attaches to a video camcorder rig.

You can use professional-level microphones on mobile devices, but you'll either need a mic that doesn't require power or can be powered externally (e.g., through a Focusrite/DAW or physical battery). Take a listen to the recordings on this thread for some examples of pro mics close to your current price range.

The MV88’s Sound Pressure Level (SPL) limitations of 120db may or may not work for your application, and it probably isn’t the best microphone for the loudest playing or for mixed commercial work. You can hear the sound levels peaking at times in the loudest parts of Arturo’s clip, it sounds like a scratchy distortion.

FWIW: My first decent trumpet mic was in the $200-300 range from Rode, until I saved for a long while for a Neumann. I’ll quickly note here some (edit:very) pricey, high-end solo microphones often used by pro trumpet players that need high quality results:
* Royer R-121 Ribbon Microphone (Max SPL: 135db): Wayne Bergeron, Arturo Sandoval on at least one album; common studio mic for where you want to capture the richest sound.
* Neumann U 89i (Max SPL: 140db): Jon Faddis has used this one with a Grace m101 preamp. Colorful sound.
* Neumann TLM-170 Condenser Microphone (Max SPL: 154db): Louis Dowdeswell. Perfect microphone for recording high-range cutting lead playing without any major hype / frequency enhancements. Natural sounding microphone.

The gearspace.com forum is full of knowledgeable recording engineers and audiophiles that can point you in the right direction at any price point based on your specific needs. HTH, good luck on the recording!

trickg · Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2022 6:08 am Post subject:

Usually when someone says they are willing to save for something better, they mean something inside of maybe doubling their original budget. Everything you listed is not only well outside of that threshold, but also would have vastly diminished returns for someone planning on recording and mixing with an iPhone. I won't even pay for mics at that price point and I have a fairly solid home recording setup.

With that said, loud trumpet is about 110 db - the MV88 would theoretically work for that.
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Notlem · Veteran Member Joined: 20 Nov 2021 Posts: 127

Kennyg2019 · Veteran Member Joined: 15 Jan 2022 Posts: 261 Location: NY

Thanks guys…it looks like I should go for one of the two Shure mics 🤔…for sure!

Kennyg2019 · Veteran Member Joined: 15 Jan 2022 Posts: 261 Location: NY

Just received the Shure MV88+ and it's a winner...very natural sound!
Thanks guys!

Destructo · Veteran Member Joined: 18 Apr 2022 Posts: 174

Really cool that the MV88+ has a headphone monitor jack as well. I was looking for an easy, portable option like that for recording my practise and hearing what's coming out of the bell, so this is pretty awesome. Especially if you're saying the sound is quite natural!

I have a zoom, but for me, the zoom is only fine for trumpet if positioned a fair distance away or in a nice, resonant room. So if you're putting it at the back of a hall, no worries, but if you're in a small practise room, it doesn't seem to capture a good representation of the sound. Just sounds weird, kinda thin and tinny.

So this looks like a it'd be very handy to have. Can anyone confirm that the headphone jack is pass-through? So you're hearing the live mic, and not just there for playback purposes?