Double Bass Arco capture mics

[DoubleBassBass]

I have been invited to collaborate with a musician friend to add some classical DB bowing on his new album. He pretty much DI's everything and uses Logic Pro X as his DAW. We are working remotely and so I need to get my DB mic'd up to record arco acoustically and then e-mail what will be an 'audio' track for him to work his magic with.

I have been reading up on here about mics but was wondering whether the large cardiod type of mics work equally well arco as they do pizz? I have Logic Pro X with a two input Focusrite interface. Thoughts on the Rode NT3 and MXL 2003a or should I be looking at something entirely different for Arco capture? Also again specifically for arco what are peoples words of wisdom in terms of microphone placement?

 

[Eric Hochberg]

Placement depends on how much "room" you want in the sound. You'll have to experiment
with different locations in your room to sort that out. I generally ask for 5 feet or so in front of the bass, if possible, in a studio
environment so as to loose some of the harshness of close micing. But, the sound your friend is
going for could be anything. You should probably send in a few test tracks at different distances
to find out what he likes.

 

[robgrow]

Eric is right. The real sound of the DB develops at some distance from the instrument. How much room sound you want in the recording also depends on how the arco DB will be used in the mix -- it can be in your face, very ambient or anything in between, depending on what you need for the overall recording. And of course it depends on what kind of room you are recording in. You may want more ambiance in a great sounding room, possibly less in a less-than-great sonic space.

Microphones can be anything. If it's an important recording with a budget, you might want to consider renting a truly great mic, like a vintage Neumann M-49, which can have an amazing warm musical sound. Along the same lines, if it's a important recording and you want the very best sound possible, you also might want to consider renting a top-shelf mic preamp. If it's a more modest recording project, most of the recent crop of large-capsule condenser mics should be OK. In every case, it's not so much the tools, but how you use them.

Good luck!

 

[DoubleBassBass]

Many thanks. I am curious at the Neumann TLM 103 and the TLM 193 - anyone had any experience of either mic? From what I understand the 193 has a slightly warmer tone?