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Double Bass Microphone Stage for Upright Bass
- Thread starter bilboup
- Start date
If you want to go louder than a mic allows but closer to a mic sound I second the use of a contact mic.
I would recommend one that is based on an electret mic capsule like the Ischell or the AKG C411, since you get a bit more high frequency content than with piezo based contact mics like MSP or Ehrlund EAP. Placement is more difficult than with an air mic, but feedback resistance is a lot better. If you even get feedback or bleed from other instruments with these and you already optimized instrument and cab placement and orientation, then you only can use a bridge mounted piezo or a magnetic pickup.
Consider an air mic for FOH and a contact mic for your amp.
I would recommend one that is based on an electret mic capsule like the Ischell or the AKG C411, since you get a bit more high frequency content than with piezo based contact mics like MSP or Ehrlund EAP. Placement is more difficult than with an air mic, but feedback resistance is a lot better. If you even get feedback or bleed from other instruments with these and you already optimized instrument and cab placement and orientation, then you only can use a bridge mounted piezo or a magnetic pickup.
Consider an air mic for FOH and a contact mic for your amp.
I'll have to double check, but I think the gooseneck is maybe just barely long enough to reach over the f-hole. I've found it's best to just leave mine between the bride feet near the top. I experimented with a few different locations and tried moving it around for louder or softer gigs, but that's just too much to fool with on a gig. Between the bridge feet sounds great both arco and pizz, there's just some bass boost from the proximity effect. I've had mine for almost two years and used it on maybe 80 gigs or so, and I have been very impressed. I can't really see spending 5x more on the DPA now. The mounting mechanism works great.
I had the same concerns about the Nadine as others. Also, I find it very useful to be able to fine tune the mic placement with the gooseneck and mounting clip. I know I already said that I always keep it between the bridge feet, but I do occasionally find it useful to rotate it, point it slightly up or down a bit, or move it slightly off center.
I was in my studio a couple days ago and saw this foam "tube" that I used with a Rode NT1 stuffed in it and it was wedged between the bridge feet. The mic capsule was quite close to the bass top. As I recall, I liked the sound and can't remember why I didn't keep using it. I guess the point is, I'm going to try it again and see if it's as good as I recall. It would be nice to get some volume out of it!
I use the Remic "red" too and it works really fine... for my ears and my instruments... in not sooo loud environments... if it's starting to become "louder, I add the Ehrlund and the combination is for me one of the best solutions...if it is getting realy loud, you should check the "green" remic
Another really fine (and for my opinion totally underrated) with excellent separation is the Sennheiser MKH 8050
Have you also thought about a suitable preamp with phantom power, you'll need for most of the mentioned mics?
I would not recommend this type of placement. What you’re going to get
putting a microphone in that configuration is a booming indistinct
sound. Just my take of course.
I use a Schoeps CMC1L with an MK41 capsule. Not the cheapest solution, but one that actually works! See picture below for mic placement:
Well, I'm certainly no expert on amplifying double basses for loud circumstances, but I do know that there exists a simple solution: it's got "Fender" on the headstock. Seriously, if you start getting into rock band volumes, I think it's a fool's errand trying to get a huge wooden box specially designed to resonate at all pitches not to resonate.
... And it also works without FoH support, into a powered speaker (a Schertler Side on a pole) via a mic preamp (in my case a Grace Felix). But of course this is with my bass, my playing style, etc., so YMMV. I have played with this combination in big bands, trios, quartets (including loud ones!). Sometimes, when it gets really loud, I dial in my Schertler Stat-B pickup as well, but I always rely mostly on my mic signal.
Right as usual Ric. There's a world of difference with my Xlson mic between placing it over the f hole and moving it just an inch toward the bridge.
I was once asking John Goldsby about how he do his sound, in my opinion the best there could be, in some of WDR performances. This is what I got from him, I hope it's okay to spread this info:
I always tell bassists that you have to get a pointed, precise sound out of the bass in order for the sound to cut through an ensemble. In this WDR video, I'm playing a relatively new bass, made by Björn Stoll with Thomastik Spirocore strings. They recorded the bass only with a microphone (Schoeps MK41), although I'm using the Glockenklang amp as a monitor in the studio so the rest of the band can hear the bass.
It was on a big stage, and there was a round studio mute around the mic to lessen the bleed. Until I get money for Shoeps, I'm happy with my Ehrlund EAP.
I always tell bassists that you have to get a pointed, precise sound out of the bass in order for the sound to cut through an ensemble. In this WDR video, I'm playing a relatively new bass, made by Björn Stoll with Thomastik Spirocore strings. They recorded the bass only with a microphone (Schoeps MK41), although I'm using the Glockenklang amp as a monitor in the studio so the rest of the band can hear the bass.
It was on a big stage, and there was a round studio mute around the mic to lessen the bleed. Until I get money for Shoeps, I'm happy with my Ehrlund EAP.
I am pretty sure he has a pick-up going to the amp. He also has great people working on the sound! If you are not traveling with your own sound man, it can be really hard to get a great sound with just a mic on stage. Doing live sound is a really hard job that very few people do well.
I too would love a Schoeps but that is only one part of a long, awesome and expensive signal chain.
My experience playing with loud blues bands has been that the route to adding some fullness and feedback resistance is to use both a piezo transducer like a Fishman Full Circle and an electromagnetic pickup like the Biesele version I use. I process them separately and then blend the signals to the power amp. Very fat and effective on a loud stage.
i recently saw an interview with Nick Blacka, bassist of gogo penguin.
He uses an Audix om7, an ipercadiod dynamic microfone for vocals.
Effectively it is not a microphone specifically for double bass, but he says that on big stages, it does the trick.
What do you guys think?
Thanks again for the advice
He uses an Audix om7, an ipercadiod dynamic microfone for vocals.
Effectively it is not a microphone specifically for double bass, but he says that on big stages, it does the trick.
What do you guys think?
Thanks again for the advice
I don't know, but I love his sound and his playing! They are one of the most fascinating and fun, genre blending bands around right now.
We've been using the dynamic Audix OM2 and OM5 mics for years. They are good sturdy and inexpensive general-use stage mics that come pretty close to duplicating the functionality of the SM58 and they do a decent job for acoustic instruments as well. The OM5 is a hotter vocal mic than the OM2, it looks like the OM6 is too but I haven't tried them. My double bass is fully setup with mounted piezos and a mounted mic, but I carry an OM2 with my double bass amp kit just in case we're surprised and need something for voices or other acoustic instruments.
More pricey, but also providing more dynamic range in a stage voice mic is the Sennheiser e935. We carry two of these when we have to provide mics for our two female vocalists.
I've got a strong preference for dynamic mics -- I've stopped purchasing and using LDC and SDC mics for anything other than actual in-studio work, and more than likely when we're in the studio they have much nicer condenser mics than I can afford anyway. I've got some condensers sitting around in my mic case that we haven't used for decades. They're wonderful and pretty amazing for how well they pick up every sound a person could want, but they also pick up every unwanted sound wherever they are. And they require varying doses of phantom power which I've grown tired of worrying about, especially when dynamic mics do such a good job.
That said, a loud electronic band situation is always going to be tough for purely acoustic instruments; in roots music this includes not just double bass, but also acoustic guitar, mandolin, fiddle, etc. Dobro and banjo might be able to cut through in softer passages, but they're limited too when playing next to fully amped electric instruments... The many options have been well described here, and they almost always involve choices between feedback and electronic tone.
@jj.833
Yes he has said uses a pickup for the amp.
Full message here: Mic'ing an upright ... pickup not in yet ...
This is from the same thread I referenced in post #2 of the other recent thread with the same title
Microphone Stage for Upright Bass | TalkBass.com.
@Chris Fitzgerald would you like to merge the two threads?
Yes he has said uses a pickup for the amp.
Full message here: Mic'ing an upright ... pickup not in yet ...
This is from the same thread I referenced in post #2 of the other recent thread with the same title
Microphone Stage for Upright Bass | TalkBass.com. @Chris Fitzgerald would you like to merge the two threads?
I saw Gogo Penguin in 2019ish. Great show, and good sound in an 850-seat venue. Nick's sound was heavy on the pickup all night, and the loudest thing on that stage - by far - was Nick's amp while he was using effects. I specifically remember a drunk girl two rows behind us talking at conversational levels, and being almost as loud as the FOH mix.
Audix makes some good mics, though. Have you tried a D4?
