Suggestions for Saxophone Mics

Would anyone like to suggest mics for recording saxophones. I think two would be ideal. What are some options that come to mind. Thanks. frankielouis

First of all: What saxophone? Saxes range from soparino to soprano to alto to tenor to bari to bass. That's a HUGE range and yes they are handled differently. The frequency spread of saxes is very very similar to that of human voices and handling them as such is a good start. You can start off with an SM-57 and go all the way up to u-87 Ribbons and dynamic mics are very common. Personally I like to use a MD-421 on my tenor (a standard for 40+ years) For the altos and sops you might want to go with a vocal LDC. Remember that the sound comes from the ENTIRE horn not just the bell and mic placement and distance is everything; don't just jam the mic down the bell. I like to start out a foot or two up and out pointed at the center of the horn. Sometimes rotating the mic around to the right side of the player helps get rid of key clacks but you are going to have to experiment with any player. Its also very common to put a second LDC about 6ft away and blend the two mics. On sopranos its common to mic the bell AND the side of the horn. ..came back to add: Been having incredible luck with mid/side mic'ing lately. If you get a chance to experiment, try it... (can you tell I'm a sax player yet?)

Ribbon Microphones are fantastic on brass! very natural and if your on a budget there are plenty of cheep Chinese made Ribbons floating around check out my blog for info. I have a few for sale really cheap but am in Australia, but I'm sure you can find many places to pickup these mics cheaply where ever you are. hope this helps :) check out the audio examples ! All tracks were recorded with no fx or eq only limiting has been used on the master bus just to boost the levels. Email

Audio Technica 4047 sounds excellent on Bari, and Tenor...for a real treat, add a blumlien pair of fathead ribbons and record the whole section at once.