The best microphones for recording trombones

[tbdana]

Hi all. I'm going to buy a mic so I can start doing convenient recordings at home, rather than having to rent studio time for every little thing I feel like recording. But I want it to sound the very best it can, so I'm focusing on finding the best mic and interface I can for the trombone.

In the studio I've been recording with the good ol' reliable Neumann U87, which is an industry standard general use mic. And it sounds fine, or at least I think it does. If you've heard any of the tunes I've posted, that's the mic I used on it.

But I'm not sure the Neumann U87 is the best mic for the trombone. I'm wondering if you know what might be better.

I'm looking for something that captures all the nuances, including breathiness and subtle inflections on very soft playing, while sounding warm and atmospheric.

I'm hearing that ribbon mics are good for trombone.

Any wisdom out there?

[NotSkilledHere]

As a sort of tech enthusiast but not someone who has specifically mic'd instruments, i could not tell you specifically which one. ribbon mics are indeed in general the best option for instruments.

would you be open to having multiple mics? having the main mic as well as a couple of room mics will help capture more of the actual feel of the horns and you from a distance that the "point blank" mic may not capture. you can mix these in post to get the right feel.

[tbdana]

would you be open to having multiple mics? having the main mic as well as a couple of room mics will help capture more of the actual feel of the horns and you from a distance that the "point blank" mic may not capture. you can mix these in post to get the right feel.

I'd love multiple mics, but there are a couple problems with that.

First, whatever mic I get is sure to cost thousands of dollars. I can't afford multiple. Second, my room sound isn't something I want to capture. It's a low-ceiling, rectangular box that has been sound treated as a home theater, which means that it's not exactly dead-sounding, but much more dead than a good room in a recording studio. It's treated for playback, not recording.

So, one mic to rule them all, one mic to find them, one mic to bring them all and in the darkness bind them." Or something like that.

[NotSkilledHere]

understandable. I figured more than one of the neumann or similar tier of mics would be too much. for you, it truly makes sense to just have 1 mic. some equipment stores will allow you to kind of trial a mic for a day or so, so maybe that might be an option for you to find the best mic for bones and specifically for you and your room.

[bitbckt]

I’m partial to the Royer R-121. I also like the Coles 4038 for trombone.

[harrisonreed]

Your post reads like a troll post, even though I know it's not .

The U87 is already one of the best possible mics you could possibly buy. It has a slight HF (high frequency) boost built in that makes it the #1 favorite for vocalists. Many instrumentalists use this mic up close (maybe 1m away for brass, .5m or less for a sax) for that "vocal" effect. For jazz music, especially how jazzers typically like to close mic themselves, I highly doubt that you can beat the U87. The selectable patterns are also really nice, but I imagine you would just leave it on cardioid. You only need the one mic for yourself, so just stick with this one.

Everyone keeps taking about ribbon mics here but I'm not sure how many people are actual sound engineers, especially for instrumental music. Indeed, ribbon mics are used frequently by recording engineers doing brass on pop tracks, and they can work fine. For my two cents, they tend to heavily darken the sound and mellow it out. This might be great for rock or ska or pop albums featuring trombonists blasting their 2Bs, but it will not be the most accurate representation of your sound. I personally would not use a ribbon mic in any situation where you want to feature the real sound of the trombone. If you want to sound dark and mellow, so be it. Newer ribbons don't have the same risk of blowing up the ribbon by close miking, but older ribbons are wicked fragile.

If you want the most accurate depiction of the sound of the trombone, you should look into the KM 184 or even better the 183 (cardioid vs Omni), but you will need two, and you will need to mic from far away. It will pick up every little sound, subtlety, and click with incredible fidelity. Great for classical, probably terrible for jazz.

The U89 is the improved version of the U87. It has a completely flat frequency response so it won't boost the HF and give you that breathy quality. It is as suited to distant miking in a pair (see KM184) as it is to close miking (what you're probably already used to) so it might be the way to go. It also will (like the U87) reject super HF valve clicks and scratches owing to its larger diaphragm. I think the album "Solitary Trombone" and "Lindberg Unaccompanied" were recorded using 4 U89s ... A spaced pair and two hall outriggers all in omni. Again, you probably would just want to use one mic up close for jazz, in cardioid. It has lots of patterns, too.

The AKG 414 stuff is good but won't beat the Neumann mics.

Line Audio does make KM184 and 183 killers (the CM4 and OM1) which are insanely inexpensive and 95% as good, but again, probably not what you want for jazz. These might not be bad to pick up for classical recording though. I know a few people who have built $500 Decca trees (usually these cost $90K and require mics that are no longer made) with the OM1's and the results are actually comical how close they get to the real thing.

Long story short, I doubt you will ever beat the U87 unless you are looking for the mic to do something particular to your sound.

[claf]

All the recomendations here are good, but I'm partial for ribbon mics for trumpet/trombones.
The most obvious one is the Royer r121 but you can also go for a Beyerdynamic M88 as a verry good cheaper option.
I've never tried the Barkley Infinity but I have read a lot of good things about it. If I had to buy a mic tomorrow for recording, I would buy one.

Edit: I read the comment from harrison regarding the effects of a ribbon mic. He is 100% right. But I really like the kind of sound it gives to the recording (plus my personal trumpet sound really benefits from it).

I'm not a recording engineer (not at the pro level anyway), just an enthusiast.

[JLivi]

Ribbon mics for sure! I don't know specific models since I don't feel the need to buy one myself, but the one I have the most experience on in the studio is Royer R-121. I'm sure there are plenty of other great ones as well. I've also enjoyed using the Sennheiser MD 421 (dynamic), but I mostly record on ribbons per the engineers recommendation.

For my needs at home, I've been rocking a large condenser mic and it seems to work well for me. I have an Audio Technics AT4050. But I also think if you're recording at home you should always have a couple of Shure SM57's or 58's. They're so cheap, and you can usually get a mic stand, XLR and Sm57 for $110 at guitar center (online).

The AKG 414 stuff is good but won't beat the Neumann mics.

And the budget friendly AKG C214 is pretty good too!

[AndrewMeronek]

I'm curious about this too.

What about the audio interface? That can have an impact on the sound, too. I've been recommended the FocusRite Scarlett USB audio interfaces for home use, but I'm curious about what people here think.

[claf]

The FocusRite is good for a "simple" mic, but it's probably not good enough for a "high-end" mic such as a U87.

[JLivi]

What about the audio interface? That can have an impact on the sound, too. I've been recommended the FocusRite Scarlett USB audio interfaces for home use, but I'm curious about what people here think.

The FocusRite is good for a "simple" mic, but it's probably not good enough for a "high-end" mic such as a U87.

I'm not sure about an interface that works with high end mics, and to be honest that's something I have never considered. But my first audio interface was a Focusrite 2i4. For the price I paid, it really was good, but I ended up outgrowing it and needed one more line input. Something like the 4i4 would've been better for me.

During covid, when I was teaching 25-30 lessons on zoom every week my focusrite eventually crapped out and one thing I never liked about it was that it was always on when the computer was on. So I ended up picking up a Motu 4x4 and it's been awesome. It has everything I need (2 XLR, 2 line and 1 MIDI input)

Again, I don't know much about quality with microphones, but it's served me well the last few years. Some friends of mine own a little bit higher end AI, and they seem to like the Apollo Twin, but I have no experience with it.

[harrisonreed]

The Focusrite Scarlett line is okay. This video's audio was recorded using two AKG C414 XLS mics and an old Focusrite 2i2. Recommend listening with headphones! :



So it is fine. Newer pre-amps with 32-bit float and the ability to record direct to SD in the field (sans laptop) AND also work as audio interfaces are probably a better option. The Zoom F6 comes to mind. But even those aren't really low noise. The RME stuff is what the classical tonmeisters are using. But really, anything these days that supports XLR and 32-bit (note, you don't have to actually record 32 bit -- that feature is just nice to have for recording sessions where you need to just set up and go) will probably be indistinguishable for the audience.

[NotSkilledHere]

the older focusrite scarletts are definitely not up to par imo. the newer ones are better and should work, but if you want to make the most out of a top shelf mic like the U87/89, you SHOULD invest in a higher end interface. However, the problem comes at overcomplicating things.

If you are comfortable and know how to make use of the features of the higher end interfaces, i think you should go for it so you get the most out of the mic. However, if you arent familiar or comfortable with all the twisty knobs and fancy words and extra manipulation options that come on higher end interfaces, just go with a focusrite scarlet

I will give the same advice i give to people in the looking to audiophile community who start lookin at all those crazy amps and dacs and headphones. If the selling pitch starts to go into oh how much of a difference does this little transistor make or how much SINAD (signal to noise and distortion) above 96db and they start going crazy with terminology and niche words that aint nobody understand but someone engineering a Dolby sound room...run away.

this isnt just info for you or people that know this stuff, but for people who might read this thread in the future too.

the less big and niche and fancy words they need to prove a device to you, the better. your environment already not a perfectly built state of the art recording studio that cost generational wealth to fund, you dont need to be overly concerned with the crazy niche terms. You dont need all these cables that cost hundreds and thousands that people tell you have this and that feature. I would not look further than a Mogami Gold cable at the high end. it's true that all these cables that are higher priced do have some improvement, but it's so marginal you could almost call them rounding errors. more of a feat of engineering than useful cable. Mogami Gold is plenty good enough and already pushing it for cables.

Just look for the features you need. See if you can get CLEAN gain or if you need to use like a cloudlifter or clean gain booster for your mic (the U87 does not, but it does require the 48V phantom power). does the phantom power deliver CLEANLY. just test with your ears for these things in this case. if you can't hear a difference with your musically trained ears (im assuming everyone's ears here are decently capable of detecting nuances as is necessary having been trained as a musician), then it doesnt matter.