At some point, many of you will want to record your flute music. This section provides practical steps for doing just that. The information is drawn from my own experience as a sound engineer and numerous discussions with other sound engineers who've worked a great deal with classical and folk music.

Sound Engineer

If you count a sound engineer among your friends, then making recordings can be much simplier. There are two important considerations. First, make sure the "sound guy" is really trained and/or experienced. Hanging out at music stores, talking the sound guys at concerts and occasionally helping out at church or school does not a sound engineer make. Second, make sure they have worked with more than just rock bands. Otherwise, it will be very frustrating for all.

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General Information

First, let me dispel a myth. You may envision standing in some canyon, recording both your flute and the wonderful echoes. It's just not gonna happen. And most pro players will tell you the same thing. Sure, there are some, like Paul Winter, who have done canyon recording, but they have used thousands of dollars worth of equipment, make multiple track recordings and spend hundreds of hours in post-production processing to achieve that "natural" sound. Instead, you will use one of any number of electronic effects processors to achieve the echo, delay or reverb sound you want. In terms of recording equipment, the most important considerations are getting gear you can work with and what you can afford. At great deal has changed in the technology since I first wrote this section and in some ways it's actually easier.

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Home Recording

If you want to produce CD quality recordings, you're going to need more than a cassette recorder and cheap microphone, but you also do not need to get the most expensive units on the market either. I'm going to approach this from the standpoint that none of us are rich and that we want to spend most of our money on flutes, recordings, concerts, and other events. The quality of sound cards built into computers today have improved significantly over the past five years and you can get fairly decent recordings by just using a high quality computer mic with your computer as is. You might want to add a good two-track (stereo) audio program. I'd recommend Sound Forge's Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/), which is free or Goldwave (http://www.goldwave.com/), which is shareware, but well worth registering (I've used it for years). Putting together a recording system is not all that hard if you get a package. The one I'd recommend is Lexicon. They are a trusted name in professional sound. They actually offer three different packages. All include a mixer with USB interface, a version of Steinway's Cubist (audio aoftware) and a reverb plug-in (their specialty). The Alpha package ($100) includes one mic input, two line inputs and a hi-z input (such as a guitar). The Lambda package ($150) includes two mic inputs (plus phantom power for condensor mics), two line inputs and a hi-z input. The Omega package ($200) includes two mic inputs (with phantom power), four line inputs, one hi-z input and MIDI capability. Plus it has the standard Lexicon reverb plug-in, which is far better than the one comes with the other two packages. All you have to add to this package are microphones, which are discussed below.

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Field Recording

This is one area where technology appears to have taken a step back. For a time, you had just two consumer choices in portable equipment to make recordings wherever you wanted, like out in nature. One was the cassette recorder, which was always a poor choice and a portable DAT, which cost $1500+. Then both Korg and Tascam offerred portable digital multi-track recorders (PXR4 and Pocketstudio 5, respectively), but these have since been discontinued. There is now only one unit available: the M-Audio MicroTrack 24/96 2-Channel Mobile Digital Recorder. I'm not familiar with it, but the literature states it's a two-track (stereo) recorder and uses CompactFlash or microdrives for storage of the music files, which are either in the mp3 or wav format. It has two built-in mic preamps with phantom power for using condensor mics. It also states that a microphone is included. It connects to the computer via a USB port. It's available from Musician's Friend for $300. It sounds like a pretty good deal.

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Microphones

To keep this simple, I'm not going to get into a detailed dicussion of the various mic types. I'll only focus on what is really necessary. First is the sound pickup pattern. For our purposes, cardioid is the best suited and all of the recommended mics are of this pattern. Second is whether the mic is powered or not, powered meaning greater sensitivity to sound pickup and third is the size, which for our purposes, either small diaphragm or large diaphragm is suitable. Now, the recommendations. Of all the non-powered mics, also referred to as dynamic mics, the most widely used and the industry standard, are the Shure SM57 and SM58. You can find these used for about $100. If you need something less costly, try the Shure SM48-LC ($50). You can also look for used mics. Powered mics, also called condenser mics, need what is known as phantom power, either from an on-board battery or via the mic cable from the mixer. Recommendations for small diapragm mics include the AKG C1000S Condenser Mic ($200) or the AKG Perception 150 ($130). For large diaphragms, I recommend the Rode NT1 ($229)(which I use) or the AKG Perception 200 ($160).

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Mic Placement

Another important item is the mic placement for optimum recording. As you probably already know, most of the sound comes from the sound hole just in front of the block. Some sound, including harmonics, come from the end of the flute. Thus, especially when using only one mic, you'll want to place it near the block sound hole. Place it about six inches to a foot in front of and above the mouthpiece. And move the mic along an arc perpendicular to the flute until you find the "sweet spot" where it sounds the best. I should probably mention something about phasing. This has to do with sound cancellation and is most noticeable as drop-outs in mono versions of stereo recordings. Improper mic placement is the cause and if you follow the guidelines presented here, then phasing won't be a problem. If you want to use a pair of mics, there are three different posibilities. First, if you don't have use of an effects processor, you can get some extra reverb by recording in room with little on the walls and no rugs on the floor. Set up one mic as usual near and facing the flute, at an angle to one of the walls. Set up the second mic pointed in the opposite direction as the first, several feet away (the further the better). Record each mic onto its own track and use the volume control to blend the two tracks. Another option you can use, for a stereo recording, is the X-Y mic configuration. Using two similar (hopefully identical) mics, placed at a 90 degree angle to each other, one above the other and about 6" apart. They can be placed on either side of the flute and will give you a very accurate stereo image. The third option, also for a stereo recording, is the V configuration. Place a mic on either side of the flute, above and about 45 degrees off center of the flute, which will mean the mics are about 90 degrees apart from each other. As to the distance, there is what is know as "The Three to One Rule." This rule states that for every unit of distance away from the sound source, your mics should be at least three units apart. For instance, if your mics are six inches away from the source then they should be eighteen inches apart. If they're one foot from the flute, they should be three feet apart. This will keep from having phase problems. I use a single large diaphragm mic, so in essence, I'm getting a mono recording of the flute, however, while I'm playing and recording, I'm running the signal through a reverb unit and recording that onto separate tracks. Thus by blending the two on separate channels, I achieve somewhat of a stereo recording. I've presented a lot of info here, but hopefully it's helpful. Email me with any questions.

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