A buddy of mine is looking to buy a mic for his trumpet to use on live gigs. The guy's a killer player who spends a lot of time in the stratosphere. I used a 57 on him last night because it's all the club had and I figured it would at least be usable. I could have cut granite with the sound. Anyone have a reccomendation for a better sounding (i.e. darker) mic for this application? Oh, and he also wants to be able to occasionally plug it into a transformer and then some guitar pedals, so a dynamic is probablly the way to go. I thought about the beyer m88, but am not sure if the ribbon could take serious trumpet levels in a live situation. What do you guys think?

Jason

Beyerdynamic M160 or M260. Ribbon mics, won't break the bank.

Scott

Those are the models I was thinking of, not the m88. Do you think they'd be okay with scorching trumpet?

Jason

The Beyer M160 is good. I also had very good results with a Sennheiser MD441 for trumpet.

My fav trumpet mic has always been the Sennheiser 409, however they were discontinued sevaral years ago. But they were reissued as the e609, and now again as the silver series e609, which is amazingly close to the original, and (here's the best part) only $99.

I've used them with some killer players, and they all loved it. they also are gret on electric guitar and toms, but they shine on trumpet, getting a full body sound with righ highs, without being shrill or overly bright, and require minimal eqing.

recently I did recording and shows with the Uptown Horns, and their trumpet player inquired specificially about the e609, and it has become his mic of choice.

Royer 121 or 122's work great on trumpet.

I've used a 409 on Maynard Ferguson and it didn't get crunched. I'd be concerned about using a ribbon, I think he's blow it out.

There is another one for live gigs. The LCM77 from SD-Systems.
http://www.sdsystems.com/

I would have to second a ribbon mic. The royer 121 sounds quite excellent on them. I have the Beyer also, but have never tried the Beyer on trumpet. I am willing to bet it sounds good as well.

IMO,

I don't think I'd be stoked about placing a spendy ribbon mic onstage at a live venue: call me crazy, but I'd rather sacrifice a bit of tone using a good (bulletproof) dynamic (RE-20/421/M88) instead of a (quite fragile) studio mic, but that's just me - I'd consider a Beyer M260/160/500NC etc., but that's about my limit...(maybe 'cos I can't afford the stress, nor the repair bills )

YMMV,

You'd think you could hear a screamin' high trumpet just fine acoustically in most clubs! Generally it hurts when you mic those up... I play trumpet and generally try to get as far from any live mics as is convenient before letting rip. Bleed is usually more than ample...

Live sound is a different animmal than studio or recording. For some remote recording I've been doing with my band I've been bringing two ribbons that split the FOH and recording rig for the Tenor sax and trumpet player. I've been using the AEA R-84 on sax and the 121 on trumpet. Sounds gorgeous both live and on stage. BUT the only reason I bring those out is because I'm recording. They are somewhat fragile and it makes me nervous. They're not what I'd recommend for a general live stage mic. I'd go with something more like the 421 or the EV RE20.

another vote for the md409. i used one just because i didn't have a more familiar choice on a live gospel recording a couple of years ago, and it sounded great, both on the recording and in the house. couldn't be overdriven either.

Another vote for the MD441, great rejection also.

SM7

What about a 421? ...or for condenser, the BLUE Baby Bottle?

Yeah, brass and saxes.... I like things like the Sennheiser 421, EV RE-20, or any other basically warm mic.

Ribbons work too, but they are much less common.

Bill

I have seen some live guys using ksm27 on horns and getting really good results....probably wouldn't be my first thought for studio work though.

I'm a trumpet player myself and I use the Audix ADX20i. For live work I love it because it has a high spl and a great presence in the high frequencies that really pull you above things (every trumpet player likes that Idea). I have used it for recording as well but it has a little bit too much high presence for the recording end of things (for me). It sounds great on the bottom half of a snare in the studio though. It also doesn't break the bank which is cool. And it's a clip on so it doesn't limit mobility quite as much. I was getting a lot of valve noise out of it however and ended up cliping it to my stand.