Recording - May 2015 - 24

Among the instruments one may encounter in the recording
studio, brass and woodwinds present a daunting array of
options and strategies, depending upon the style of music and
their context within the arrangement. Solos may call for a completely different textural approach than horn sections, for example. Additionally, each instrument requires its own unique
method of capture, as there is no single "set it and forget it"
setup that works well for everything.
Added to that are the pressures of time and fatigue. While
rhythm sessions with drums, bass, keys and guitars can often
stretch to 8 hours and beyond, horn players are often unable to
perform efficiently after a few hours due to the tenderness of
their "chops". Pushing past these limits can often result in
cracked notes, split lips and frayed nerves. There are often
changes to the horn charts that need to be made "on-the-fly", as
alternate notes are suggested by the players.

The good news is that horns are actually quite friendly with most
microphones, due to their timbres, frequency ranges and healthy
amounts of level. The trick is in getting things set up as quickly as
possible, to allow for those myriad issues that may need to be
addressed. Fast setup also leaves you proper time to consider EQ,
compression, and the sound of the instruments in the room.
Trumpet
Among the most dynamic of horns, the trumpets, cornets and
flugelhorns can reach sound pressure levels in excess of 140 dB
in their upper registers, which is louder than a jet engine! This
makes a dynamic mic like a Shure SM57 or an Electro-Voice
RE20 my first choice.
The sound from directly in front of the bell (see photo 1) can be
quite bright, due to its harmonic overtones and the actual sound of
air moving through it, so an off-axis placement is often preferred. I
find placing the mic slightly above the bell (about eye high and tilted
slightly downward) at a distance of 1-2 feet a good starting point,
as most players tend to point the bell down a bit already. If this is still
too bright, try moving the mic to the right or left by several inches.
Ribbon mics like the Royer R-121 or MXL R77 are also quite
effective when looking for a "silkier" tone, but be careful of their
figure-8 pickup pattern, especially if your room is not the greatest. A vocal condenser mic like a Neumann U 87 or AKG
C414B can often work well if the player is using a mute, as the
tone becomes softer in volume but more harmonically complex.
Trombone
With its blatty lows, full sounding low-midrange and urgent
upper-mids, the trombone is capable of SPLs even louder than its
trumpet cousins. The overtones are not as biting, though, so it's
equally at home in front of a large-diaphragm tube condenser
like the Telefunken Copperhead or Cathedral Pipes Notre Dame,
as well as our previously mentioned dynamic microphones.
These can be set up at a similar distance and less off-axis. Sound
can also be captured from slightly above the bell, or from a lower
position: about belt high, pointing upward, as shown in photo 2.
Also keep in mind the mechanics involved in playing this
instrument. The slide, when fully extended, can reach almost six
feet in front of the player, so you'll want to be sure to avoid placing mics, stands, walls or other performers in the way of it.

Then there's the matter of transposition, as not all of these
instruments produce their sound at the written pitch. For example,
trumpets and tenor saxophones are Bb instruments, meaning that
when they play a 'C' it's actually a Bb, so if you want them to
play at concert pitch, their charts must be transposed up a wholestep to 'D'. Alto sax, on the other hand, is an Eb instrument, so
those charts need to be pitched up a major sixth. If the arrangements are written out in concert pitch, there could be quite a bit
of time lost just placing them in the proper 'key' for the players.
"Head arrangements," wherein instruction is given to the players
by singing the parts to them as you go, can be an effective
workaround. However, they're dependent upon knowing exactly
what you want and your ability to communicate that clearly.
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RECORDING May 2015

Saxophones
As ubiquitous as they are in brass arrangements, these members of the woodwind family may also be the most misunderstood when it comes to capturing them in the studio. While brass
instruments generate their sound from the player "buzzing" their
lips into a cup-shaped mouthpiece, most woodwinds utilize a
flat "reed" that vibrates as air is blown across it. The resulting
harmonic waveforms are even more complex than brass, which
can make matching them with the right microphone trickier.
For instance, pairing them with a tube mic can result in an
over-excited, buzzy timbre, while some dynamic models may
not capture the upper harmonics accurately enough.
Additionally, the generated sound doesn't just come out of the
bell, but rather radiates outward from the entire instrument,
including the mouthpiece and tone holes. This is why it should
rarely be miked at the bell, except perhaps in a live situation.
For alto and tenor saxes, I find ribbon mics the most complementary choice by far, about a foot and a half away, pointed at
the body of the horn, midway between the bell and the mouthpiece (see photo 3). This picks up a well-balanced tone that
includes just a bit of the mouthpiece and the keys as well.
Baritone sax parts are often quite punchy by nature. A dynamic or condenser (solid state or tube), pointed a little more towards
the bell, often works well to help the bari 'cut through' with some
needed definition.
Soprano saxophone and clarinet are similarly sized and shaped.
Both can be miked with a ribbon or condenser from a slightly

Recording - May 2015

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