3 ms·

I agree with what you're saying, and it applies well to most instruments, but it's worth noting that certain instruments work very badly with some recording dev

I agree with what you're saying, and it applies well to most instruments, but it's worth noting that certain instruments work very badly with some recording devices, like the violin. If you make violin recordings on most laptops and phones (with default quality settings) they will sound horrible.

titzer 6y ago
Can you explain why this is case for violin in particular?
- analog31 6y ago
  The two aforementioned music students play violin and cello, and I play double bass. There are a couple issues that I've noticed. The first, especially pertinent to the bass, is that the sound doesn't come from any single place, so you have to find a sweet spot for the mic, that captures a representative tone quality, and that doesn't collide with the bow, etc. With the violin, that place is probably above the fiddle, so you have to find a way to dangle your phone, or put a mic on a stand. Especially since you're probably standing to play, for reasons of good posture. And you want the mic to be close, basically to drown out the effects of typically bad room acoustics unless you're lucky to have a nice recording room. Plus, noise from HVAC and other sources. And... mainstream recording apps for primarily voice use have built in compression and possibly other artifacts that you have to figure out how to turn off. And... if you want audio and video, it further constrains your options. You often need your teacher to see you play, to comment on posture and technique issues. Once it's all working, then the mic in a cell phone and its audio input hardware are actually surprisingly decent. The tiny little condenser mic elements are fairly high fidelity, and an audio codec is pretty much a slam dunk nowadays.
  - titzer 6y ago
    I have some knowledge of mic'ing acoustic guitars and there are some similar issues. In particular, with an acoustic guitar, most of the sound comes from the soundboard, which is also the case for a violin and cello. With the bigger instruments I can definitely see the issue is that the soundboard and whole body are enormous. For acoustic guitars, the typical advise is to use a condenser mic and aim it at the 12th fret (avoiding most of the fret noise and not getting too boomy from the bass of the body/soundboard), about 12 inches away using a mic stand. I think condenser mics are pretty much the best option here as well. Personally I don't like the sound of a close-mic'd acoustic guitar. Unlike cello and violin, there can be a lot of fret noise and wound strings can be quite squeaky. Classical guitars have different, quieter wound strings under less tension, and nylon for unwound. This is also to reduce fret noise and squeakiness, but personally I prefer the full sound of steel strings. I've been working a lot on getting my fretting technique more clean to eliminate all of that mess and sound more professional, but to be honest I actually prefer to hear my own guitar live in a quiet, resonant room and not through a recording. Bathrooms with tile are great, if a little small! Of course that sounds like complete garbage if you try to record it. But it is absolutely heavenly live :-) For the doublebass I can imagine you'd be best off with a mic stand at a couple feet away and seeing if you can get a mic that has a very narrow response angle (almost a directed mic). Cheers and happy recording.

titzer 6y ago

Can you explain why this is case for violin in particular?

analog31 6y ago
The two aforementioned music students play violin and cello, and I play double bass. There are a couple issues that I've noticed. The first, especially pertinent to the bass, is that the sound doesn't come from any single place, so you have to find a sweet spot for the mic, that captures a representative tone quality, and that doesn't collide with the bow, etc. With the violin, that place is probably above the fiddle, so you have to find a way to dangle your phone, or put a mic on a stand. Especially since you're probably standing to play, for reasons of good posture. And you want the mic to be close, basically to drown out the effects of typically bad room acoustics unless you're lucky to have a nice recording room. Plus, noise from HVAC and other sources. And... mainstream recording apps for primarily voice use have built in compression and possibly other artifacts that you have to figure out how to turn off. And... if you want audio and video, it further constrains your options. You often need your teacher to see you play, to comment on posture and technique issues. Once it's all working, then the mic in a cell phone and its audio input hardware are actually surprisingly decent. The tiny little condenser mic elements are fairly high fidelity, and an audio codec is pretty much a slam dunk nowadays.
- titzer 6y ago
  I have some knowledge of mic'ing acoustic guitars and there are some similar issues. In particular, with an acoustic guitar, most of the sound comes from the soundboard, which is also the case for a violin and cello. With the bigger instruments I can definitely see the issue is that the soundboard and whole body are enormous. For acoustic guitars, the typical advise is to use a condenser mic and aim it at the 12th fret (avoiding most of the fret noise and not getting too boomy from the bass of the body/soundboard), about 12 inches away using a mic stand. I think condenser mics are pretty much the best option here as well. Personally I don't like the sound of a close-mic'd acoustic guitar. Unlike cello and violin, there can be a lot of fret noise and wound strings can be quite squeaky. Classical guitars have different, quieter wound strings under less tension, and nylon for unwound. This is also to reduce fret noise and squeakiness, but personally I prefer the full sound of steel strings. I've been working a lot on getting my fretting technique more clean to eliminate all of that mess and sound more professional, but to be honest I actually prefer to hear my own guitar live in a quiet, resonant room and not through a recording. Bathrooms with tile are great, if a little small! Of course that sounds like complete garbage if you try to record it. But it is absolutely heavenly live :-) For the doublebass I can imagine you'd be best off with a mic stand at a couple feet away and seeing if you can get a mic that has a very narrow response angle (almost a directed mic). Cheers and happy recording.