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Double Bass Mic or contact mic... (for practice). I cannot choose!

ErikvanD

ErikvanD

Guest
Oct 25, 2013
182
37
Moerdijk, The Netherlands
staggeub.wordpress.com
#1
Hi all,

In order to be able to record my bass playing in tools like SmartMusic and Garageband, I'm looking for a microphone for my bass. That should sound a lot better than the internal mic on my laptop or tablet...

In the last weeks I've been going back and forth between the Invalid Link Removed or the Invalid Link Removed, both very similar and the Invalid Link Removed contact mic. So far I've read all I could find online about these mics and I simply cannot choose! The t.bone and the AKG both get good reviews, it's a bit harder to find info about the Prodipe. Obviously the AKG sits at a higher price point.

I will be using the mic mainly for practicing (in a well isolated soundbooth). As of now I do not intend to use it for gigs as I mainly focus on orchestral work. I would like to be able to use the mic with my MacBook, Ipad and Windows tablet but I guess that has mainly to do with the audio interface and less with the mic. The bass is a fully carved German roundback. I mainly play arco.

Any idea on what would be the better choice for me?

Thanks!

Cheers,
Erik
 
#2
I've used the AKG C411 a lot and I think a standard mic rather than a contact mic would be more satisfying for your purposes, especially arco. The C411 would have advantages in a live situation but does not capture the same sort of detail that a mic does.
As an alternative to a dedicated bass mic, almost any microphone with a slim enough profile can be shock-mounted between your bridge legs with elastic hair ties, with the connector end of the mic held between the A and D string afterlengths. I do this with an AKG Perception 150 small diaphragm condensor, but some people like the Shure SM57 or some of the Sennheiser side-address dynamic mics.
 
#3
It depends on how much acoustical bleeding from the outside you are willing to accept in your recording. Standard mics have a much better high frequency content (often called "air") that is clearly audible as natural but pick up a lot more ambient noise than contact mics.

But even with microphones there are very different ones emphasizing or deemphasizing the high end (or any other frequency range) or not. Also the position of the microphone can emphasize a certain frequency range (i.e. the bass frequencies when closely miked) and depending on your EQ available, you might not be able to neutralize them.

To decide if an air-driven microphone works, you can use your tablet mic close to the bass and listen to the ambient noise. If it is acceptable for you, better get an air-driven mic than a contact mic. There is still the question of a bass-mounted or a stand-mounted mic. Bass-mounted mics work best for players that move the bass around while playing or want to get amplified (which only works in rare cases or special combinations of gear and placement). If you sit while playing, a stand-mounted mic might work better and you have a lot more options to get a good mic.

If you play at home with a lot of ambient noise, I guess that even the sound booth (if it's not a completely closed one like a larger telephone cell) won't keep the noise away. In that case a contact mic on the top might get less noise but also less upper frequency content. Probably even less good sound (less to almost no "air") but more bass (since the tablet mics are mostly tuned to speech). If you want to go that route, you might want to get an Ehrlund EAP (a bit expensive but best) or the Japanese MSP, which is a lot cheaper, sounds a little bit less good than the Ehrlund and needs a pre-amp for recording. But you need to import the MSP by yourself and have to go through the customs process which might be hard if you haven't done that before. I think with customs, VAT etc. you need to pay 120 to 130 Euro for the MSP. But keep any magnetic data storage away from your bass, since they use extremely strong magnets for mounting the pickup.
For the MSP there is a nice example of bowing here on Talkbass. But placement of the pickup has a large influence of sound for the contact mic, read the Ehrlund threads to get an idea, so finding a good position might take a lot of time.
Finally, direct comparison of an air-driven mic and a top-mounted contact mic is like night and day. But you need to know in what kind of situation you are if if the nice natural sound won't get compromised by too much noise that you might blend out in the usual perception of your surrounding.

So you might want to experiment with a tablet mic in different distances to the bass and listen to the sound change and the amount of ambient noise first and think about what you would prefer, better sound with some ambient noise or limited HiFi-sound with almost no ambient noise. If you have a headset, you might use the mic on the headset for easier placement close to the bass.
Only you can decide what is better and you might need to try it yourself.

For a good sound you not only need a good mic but also a good audio interface that adds to the cost of a mic. As always it's also a matter of money...
 
#4
Thanks guys for the replies! They are very much appreciated as I have no experience with mics etc whatsoever...

My practice room is a professional sound booth situated in my garage. The only place I know of in my neighborhood that has "total silence". "Total" is of course relative but there really is not much ambient noise. The problem I have with my tablets mic (besides the overall poor sound quality), is that it also records the backing track I'm playing over. Which is totally logical of course. I guess all open air mics will do that in some way so I guess a headphone for the backing is the only way here. A contact mike (or normal pickup) would not have that issue I guess.

The purpose of the recordings is just for self evaluation. So not picking up all high frequencies would not be a showstopper at this time. I have read the Ehrlund posts because I thought those would be valuable input if I were to buy an AKG as it is a similar kind of mic (besides quality of course).

I'll experiment with my tablet's mic. Or maybe a headset if I can borrow one at work.
 
#5
Since this is just for home recording and practice evaluation, I wouldn't suggest getting all that fancy. I feel like the suggestion of something like an Ehrlund is ignoring your question. You don't need to drop that kind of dough for what you are doing. There are plenty of low cost, decent solutions for this. I often record for the same reason.

There are some USB direct condenser mics (that do not require separate phantom power) that would probably work well since you are going directly into a Mac. No need to strap anything to your bass.

If you have some kind of buffer/preamp between the mic and your laptop, then even an SM57 would get the job done. You can pick those up cheap on the used market.
 
#6
Eric, you are right that any air-driven mic would record your backing track if it is played over a speaker.

Headphones can help, but the open ones still bleed the backing track outside and a closed one needs your bass mixed into the headphones too. The problem with headphones is that you cannot use them for a longer time (about 20 minutes) and it feels unnatural and might disturb your playing. But you can check that yourself with a headset that has a mic for your tablet.

If you dislike the headphones, you either want a contact mic (finding a good placement for a good sound can take a lot of time) or a pickup (for arco go as far away from the strings as possible). For a pickup the shadow SH-965NFX using only one foil under the bass bar bridge foot (sounds better than with both foils) would be a good solution, since you get an impedance buffer that makes the signal more robust for recording, so you need no preamp. For a contact mic the MSP is rather cheap and good, but needs a high impedance preamp or an impedance buffer for recording.

But first try the headphones and decide if this is something you can work with for a longer time, since this influences your decision the most.
 

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