Recording a banjo

I wouldn't bother pointing at the neck on a banjo.

A banjo's tone will really react with a room and you'll hear lots of room if you mic from mid range.

If you mic up close you'll get less room but lose the sense of air. And you'll probably want a top of the line mic and preamps because a banjo has such and aggressive sound.

With the gear you are using I'd say that you challenge will be to try to work at mid range with the mic more or less pointed near the center of the skin.

The trick is you will need to work hard to find the best place in the room for you to play as well as the best place to put the mic after you've found the best place in the room to play.

If you have a very large room or are out on the porch everything will sound much different.

Just experiment with mic placement... the very best thing would be for you to be able to audition someone else's playing as you move around the room and listen etc.

Good luck,
mike

Thanks, Good Ideas.

I'll keep plugging away, I need to practice playing for the mic anyway, pick noise and such.

5string


Well i am new here, I've had some experience working with sound recording when I was younger.
Demo's, Live sound, movies, videos. Now I am a retired truck driver and playing around with recording on my computer.

I am working on recording a banjo track (dry) to send to a friend in England to add to his song for a upcoming CD.
All I have at the moment is a AKG D80 and a ART preamp, Sonar 8 producer. I've sorted out the latency settings on my older computer and it seems to be stable enough and the levels seem good for what I have to work with.

I have the mic set up about 1.5 feet away and pointed at the middle of the neck. Well it sounds like crap. I've heard that means you have the banjo right

Any suggestions on mic placement for a banjo?

Great forum you have here. Looking forward to my new recording venture.

Glenn

In front may not be the best place. Try it with the mic behind or up above the player. Above will give you closer to what the player is hearing.

5string


I tried the over the shoulder setup and think that will work for me. Not too much pick noise and a more defined response to my hand position between the bridge and neck positions. Thanks.

I've done that with guitar also, it's closer to "what-you-hear-is-what-you-get" then other positions.  The sound and dynamics tend to come out closer to what the player intended. Look out for breath and nose noises from the human if it's a good mic...

True not much bass there, I think, well none. I used the preamp and mic with the PA. They are the only things left of it.
Checking out ebay for a condenser, maybe I could skip the preamp.

Thanks, for that.

      The pre I have will supply the power. The room is not bad, the walls are all covered up with shelves, tall book case, workbench, a long closet with no doors filled with jackets and instrument cases. Carpet on the floor, the ceiling is the only flat space I have to deal with, and it's sort of low. The D80 did sound OK the first time out. I can make it work. I'll still be on the mic hunt.