Recording clawhammer banjo

[Tom Wolverton]

Forgive me for asking a banjo-related question. I record open-back clawhammer banjo from time to time and usually find the tone too bright. I like a nice mellow tubby sound. Sometimes I'll use 2 mics. One in front and one in the back. Somes, the back mic will be an old Shure SM10 lapel mic jamed inside the pot of the banjo. Anyone ever do it this way? Any suggestions for a good mic to put inside the pot?

[John Macy]

A ribbon mic works well on a banjo. Some of the cheaper ribbons like the Cascade mics are a bit on the dark side, which works well with brighter instruments such as the banjo

[Tom Wolverton]

Thanks, John. I'll check it out. Does the Cascade need a powerful preamp like some ribbon mics need?

[John Macy]

What kind of pres do you have?

[Tom Wolverton]

Just my Avid MBox Pro for mics and a Sarno V8 for direct steel signal.

[John Macy]

I keep a pair of these around for boosting low level ribbons into a mic pre with not enough gain--they work great and run off the phantom power...

http://www.zenproaudio.com/triton-audio-fethead.aspx

Notice you have the Sarno V8--I love mine!

[Tom Wolverton]

Thanks John. That FetHed is an interesting device.

[Gary Shepherd]

Personally, I'd record a banjo with a small diaphragm condenser like and AKG C1000s.

[Tom Wolverton]

i've got a C1000 and a Rode NT5. I'll give it a try.

[John Macy]

I've recorded a lot of banjo players over the years and most ask for ribbons or dynamic mics...in addition to the ribbons, I have had great success with Sennheiser 421's and EV RE20's...amazingly enough, a SM57 or SM7b work quite well...all of these tame the high frequencies very nicely...

[James Quillian]

Forgive me for asking a banjo-related question. I record open-back clawhammer banjo from time to time and usually find the tone too bright. I like a nice mellow tubby sound. Sometimes I'll use 2 mics. One in front and one in the back. Somes, the back mic will be an old Shure SM10 lapel mic jamed inside the pot of the banjo. Anyone ever do it this way? Any suggestions for a good mic to put inside the pot?

For banjo, I use an sm81. IMO, the key is to put plenty of distance between the strings and the mic. Not 10 ft. or anything but far enough to get all of the ambience from the acoustics of the instrument.

I wouldn't expect a lot of good to come from putting a mic inside the resonator. I would try taking the resonator off, expecially if it is clawhammer style.

The banjo is an absolutely unforgiving instrument when recording. I stay away from large diaphram condensors for that reason.

I would try just one small condensor mic 2-3 feet from the 12th fret. Then add a tiny amount of electronic compression. It might help to eq to boost the mid range before adding compression. Treat the eq and compression as an experiment because it might make the track sound worse.

[Tom Wolverton]

Thanks James. I'll try a small condenser mic about a foot away from the rim/neck joint.