Lt. Bob's archives #1

[WhiskeyJack]

I am so sorry i have slept on this for so long. Cool jam dude i remember tihs one fro ma ways back as well. Great share man. Post more!

I have a question. How do you record your sax? I'll never ever record one myself but i am just genuinely curious how you capture it is all.

[Lt. Bob]

I am so sorry i have slept on this for so long. Cool jam dude i remember tihs one fro ma ways back as well. Great share man. Post more!

I have a question. How do you record your sax? I'll never ever record one myself but i am just genuinely curious how you capture it is all.

I usually use a dynamic and for me, I'm an EV man ..... I use an N/D767a ..... I have 8 of them. They're my favorite live mic and a while back everyone was blowing them out for 50 bucks so I bought a life time supply!

I have condensers but to my taste I prefer the dynamics on sax .... kinda like they're usually preferred for guitar amps. They seem to compress it a bit.
Live I'll have a 9-12db 'cut' in the highs but for recording I'll cut the highs a bit less .... maybe 3-6db.
I use a metal mthpce. which isn't that common on alto, with #4 reeds and a very open lay .... 11* on one mthpce and 13* on the other.
That'll get an from sax players.
So I have a very bright, aggressive, loud sound and always need to cut the highs. With a condenser they get a little exhausting if I don't.

And probably back when I did this I would have used my DBX Mini-Pre .... just a cheapo 'tube' pre-amp.

Now I have an ART Pro-Channel channel strip.

[WhiskeyJack]

I am so sorry i have slept on this for so long. Cool jam dude i remember tihs one fro ma ways back as well. Great share man. Post more!

I have a question. How do you record your sax? I'll never ever record one myself but i am just genuinely curious how you capture it is all.

I usually use a dynamic and for me, I'm an EV man ..... I use an N/D767a ..... I have 8 of them. They're my favorite live mic and a while back everyone was blowing them out for 50 bucks so I bought a life time supply!

I have condensers but to my taste I prefer the dynamics on sax .... kinda like they're usually preferred for guitar amps. They seem to compress it a bit.
Live I'll have a 9-12db 'cut' in the highs but for recording I'll cut the highs a bit less .... maybe 3-6db.
I use a metal mthpce. which isn't that common on alto, with #4 reeds and a very open lay .... 11* on one mthpce and 13* on the other.
That'll get an from sax players.
So I have a very bright, aggressive, loud sound and always need to cut the highs. With a condenser they get a little exhausting if I don't.

And probably back when I did this I would have used my DBX Mini-Pre .... just a cheapo 'tube' pre-amp.

Now I have an ART Pro-Channel channel strip.

Ok cool. that was sort of confirms what I was thinking. I've never listened to much if any sax based music but when i was listening to yours i noticed some of those pats where it's just wailing i was like , man that would be difficult to get with a condenser style mic.

So would you treat it the same as like a vocalist with a wide range and like back on and off of the mic a little as things get louder and more aggressive? Like does a sax player have a mic technique?

[Lt. Bob]

Ok cool. that was sort of confirms what I was thinking. I've never listened to much if any sax based music but when i was listening to yours i noticed some of those pats where it's just wailing i was like , man that would be difficult to get with a condenser style mic.

So would you treat it the same as like a vocalist with a wide range and like back on and off of the mic a little as things get louder and more aggressive? Like does a sax player have a mic technique?

yeah you do some ..... thing is, a sax produces sound from all over it's body.
People assume you mic the bell but the only notes that primarily come from the bell are the low notes.
So when you stick a mic in the bell you end up making those notes louder than others.
For live that's fine but for recording I tend to stand back a foot or two and aim the mic about midway up the sax.

[JD01]

Ok cool. that was sort of confirms what I was thinking. I've never listened to much if any sax based music but when i was listening to yours i noticed some of those pats where it's just wailing i was like , man that would be difficult to get with a condenser style mic.

So would you treat it the same as like a vocalist with a wide range and like back on and off of the mic a little as things get louder and more aggressive? Like does a sax player have a mic technique?

yeah you do some ..... thing is, a sax produces sound from all over it's body.
People assume you mic the bell but the only notes that primarily come from the bell are the low notes.
So when you stick a mic in the bell you end up making those notes louder than others.
For live that's fine but for recording I tend to stand back a foot or two and aim the mic about midway up the sax.

Like an acoustic with a sound hole

[Lt. Bob]

yeah you do some ..... thing is, a sax produces sound from all over it's body.
People assume you mic the bell but the only notes that primarily come from the bell are the low notes.
So when you stick a mic in the bell you end up making those notes louder than others.
For live that's fine but for recording I tend to stand back a foot or two and aim the mic about midway up the sax.

Like an acoustic with a sound hole

yes .... or even more so.

Even live you have to watch out for super loud low C or B or Bb and I'll usually move the bell to the side for those notes.