Hi,

Has anyone had any experience miking a concertina? What mike should I use (up
to uk£250) and would it be better to use two mikes: one for each end or one
better quality mike used somewhat centrally.

Any ideas, suggestions etc would be appreciated.

Regards,

Paul

If the concertina player doesn't move around too much, I will use a
pair of SM57 or MD421 or just about any other instrument mic, a bit
less tham 1m apart, both pointing toward the musician.

This setup has a problem with its stereo imaging. Picture this:

Inst.



/ \

A source toward the right will be louder in the left microphone, because it is
directional -- similar to an XY setup. However, it will arrive at the
right-hand microphone first. Thus the directional cues provided by intensity
and arrival-time will be in conflict, and you get muddle.

The great concertina virtuoso Alistair Anderson prefers a pair of KM-84s or
similar microphones, spaced about 10" apart, pointed straight ahead. You do get
a lot of movement in the stereo image if the player moves around, though.

I find an XY pair works well, but it's difficult to persuade the performer that
it will.

Peace,
Paul

In article writes:

Has anyone had any experience miking a concertina? What mike should I use (up
to uk£250) and would it be better to use two mikes: one for each end or one
better quality mike used somewhat centrally.

I've always had good results with a single mic placed centrally,
slightly above the bellows and pointed downward, about a foot away.
But what actually works depends on a lot of things. If the concertina
player is also singing, you might want to get both the voice and
instrument with a single mic. If he's playing in a band with a lot of
loud instruments, you might need the brightness that you get from
pointing mics (one on each end) directly at the ends. If the player
waves the instrument around a lot, you might want to get a good
distance away with the mic.

Also, realize that at least one end, if not both, of the instrument
moves. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but some players have
definite ideas about how to place mics on their instrument. I've seen
players who plant one end of the instrument firmly on a knee, and want
one microphone on a stand to pick up that end, then clip a tie-tack
microphone to the strap on the other end so the mic goes with where
the concertina goes.

Also, there are different types of concertina, but basically one type
plays melody on one end and chords or bass notes on the other, and the
other type has melody notes coming out of both ends. There are big
ones and small ones, high ones and low ones. Place mics accordingly
if you're not getting a balanced pickup in the middle.

I've had perfectly good results with an SM-57. Unless you don't own
any mics now, I wouldn't worry about getting a special one for this
recording. I like to use U87's because they tend to fatten up what's
normally a fairly thin and reedy (no pun intended) sound. But don't
let that lead you to picking up a large capsule Chinese mic since you
can't afford a U87.




--
I'm really Mike Rivers - )

Hi there. I grew up with my Mom being Lorraine Hayden, Chicago's 47th St Clubs
Concertina star.. About 14 concertinas, a fiddle electric bass and drumset
all told.
Most of the instruments had mics inside but they were horrible! For making the
albums, I liked a 57 at a distace of around six feet dead on center. This was a
while ago, tho, if they were till recording, I guess a 421 is a great bet. It
seems like the frequencies are like a harmonica, with a bit more bass.
Good Luck
Jer SUNdog Audio
Chicago

For what it's worth: I recently recorded a live theater performance that involved
one of the dancers playing a concertina. I didn't do the micing myself, I just
took a split from the FOH engineer. He did it with a pair of wireless lavs, one
taped to each end of the instrument. As you probably already know, sound comes
from both ends -- they said half the notes come from one end and half from the
other.

Philisophically, I would think there's no way around the idea that you need to
mic it so that it sounds like one instrument. I would think this would involve a
*slight* stereo image, but not a wide one. I summed mine pretty much to mono, and
had not problems, but I think that's because with the mic capsules taped so close
to the sound source there was no chance of phase cancellation.

Perhaps an XY or OTRF is a good place to start. If you choose to space wide, obey
the one-to-three rule.