Clip on mic

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by spottydog10

Hi Doug,
I have mics here all ready to go, takes 5 mins to set up.
The issue is you always have some type of messing around getting the sound just right even though the room is treated and I know the mics and guitars well. This doesn't sound like a great deal of hassle but when you are doing everything yourself this puts a spoke in the creativity aspect. I also close mic in the main to get the sound I want and the slightest movement will make some type of difference.

Maybe I'll just bite the bullet and get the DPA mic as it seems to be the best sounding. I'm a bit wary about the quality of the other clip-ons.
Cheers.

I think I'm not quite understanding. If you end up messing around to dial in your sound, then I'd think you care about the sound you get, and would be completely unhappy with any pickup or internal mic. They might shave 4 minutes of your 5 away, but won't sound as good as it would if you just sat down at the mics, no tweaking, just hit record. I guess I get the idea that if you don't have the option to make it sound good, you'll just not worry about it.

One thing to be aware of with mics like the DPA, is that they can pick up lots of noises from the guitar. It's attached to the guitar, and even with the shock mount, it tends to get more rustling of clothes and so on. The attachment isn't all that stable either, with a very thin (and fairly short) wire that comes off your guitar at an awkward place, so there's more to fuss with there than you might think. It's a nice sounding mic for live use if you need to have the mic move around with you on stage. But I'd not use it for recording. Besides some noise and ergonomic issues, you don't have enough flexibility in mic placement (tho again, I guess not having options could be a feature, as long as you can convince yourself not to care). But maybe it's what you are looking for. If you buy one, I'd just make sure you could return it if it isn't.

[Doug Young]

Just another idea for you, a friend has his mics mounted near his desk on those articulating arms you see in broadcast booths. When he wants to record, he just reaches for them and pulls them toward him. They're already in position, so the only options he has for tweaking the sound are shuffling around in his chair. He figured out where to place them once, and now he doesnt have to tweak anymore. He recorded a CD with those, sounds nice, and is certainly faster, even than me having to walk 5 steps across the room to sit down at my mics!

[spottydog10]

Thanks Doug
Here is a snippet of the RE blend mic only raw but going through an IR from the Kemper. It sounds very natural (to me anyway)
It's not as good as a U 67 but it's certainly pretty good when you apply eq and compression. I'm not doing any solo Acoustic guitar work usually it's chords and rhythm work.
The mic on an arm thing is only going to get me back to a fixed mic and I find that a mic attached to the guitar in some form is the solution for me, it's just which one.
Cheers,
Mike

https://soundcloud.com/mike-spot/acsnippett

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by spottydog10

Thanks Doug
Here is a snippet of the RE blend mic only raw but going through an IR from the Kemper. It sounds very natural (to me anyway)
It's not as good as a U 67 but it's certainly pretty good when you apply eq and compression. I'm not doing any solo Acoustic guitar work usually it's chords and rhythm work.
The mic on an arm thing is only going to get me back to a fixed mic and I find that a mic attached to the guitar in some form is the solution for me, it's just which one.
Cheers,
Mike

https://soundcloud.com/mike-spot/acsnippett

OK, sounds to me like you know what you want! The Rare Earth works for you, so I'd go with that again, you must have just gotten a dud.

Or go with an attachable mic. There aren't that many choices. Personally, I use either a DPA 4061 or an Audix L5O inside the guitar, but that's for live, just to add some air to a pickup - they sound boxy by themselves. The miniflex is an option, too, tho again, it will sound like a mic inside a guitar, which you may be fine with. On the outside, there are things like the iRig mics, the AT Pro 35, the DPA 4099, K&K Meridian, etc. I'd say in terms of sound quality, you get what you pay for with these, but since the mic in the REB works for you, you may find any of them to be competitive.

Oh, one other to add to that list, you might consider the iSolo. Neat little gizmo, just attaches to your guitar with sort of a static cling, so unlike some of the others, won't put little dents in your guitar. And it's wireless, so you just slap the little mic thing on the guitar, push a button to connect, and you're set. Doesn't have the flimsy wires to deal with like many of the clip-ons. Does need to be recharged periodically to work.

[varmonter]

I saw the punch bros using these once and they sounded great. AT35.
might be the audio technica mic doug was referingbtoo
above.
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...4aAls2EALw_wcB

[dogdog49]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

OK, sounds to me like you know what you want! The Rare Earth works for you, so I'd go with that again, you must have just gotten a dud.

Or go with an attachable mic. There aren't that many choices. Personally, I use either a DPA 4061 or an Audix L5O inside the guitar, but that's for live, just to add some air to a pickup - they sound boxy by themselves. The miniflex is an option, too, tho again, it will sound like a mic inside a guitar, which you may be fine with. On the outside, there are things like the iRig mics, the AT Pro 35, the DPA 4099, K&K Meridian, etc. I'd say in terms of sound quality, you get what you pay for with these, but since the mic in the REB works for you, you may find any of them to be competitive.

Oh, one other to add to that list, you might consider the iSolo. Neat little gizmo, just attaches to your guitar with sort of a static cling, so unlike some of the others, won't put little dents in your guitar. And it's wireless, so you just slap the little mic thing on the guitar, push a button to connect, and you're set. Doesn't have the flimsy wires to deal with like many of the clip-ons. Does need to be recharged periodically to work.

Hi Doug. What's your opinion of the sound of the iSolo compared to some of the others you mentioned - and does the mic capsule go inside or outside or the guitar?

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by dogdog49

Hi Doug. What's your opinion of the sound of the iSolo compared to some of the others you mentioned - and does the mic capsule go inside or outside or the guitar?

The iSolo can go outside or inside the guitar, or across the soundhole, if I recall. I reviewed it a long time ago, probably more details here than I can remember now:

http://acousticguitar.com/gear-revie...obility-video/

And it seems someone did a more recent review/demo, too (and there seem to be some feature updates since I saw it):

http://acousticguitar.com/gear-revie...-isolo-choice/

The coolest things about the iSolo are the lack of wires, and the ease of mounting, with no damage to your guitar, but the tradeoff is recharging and dealing with a wireless connection.

I have a hard time having a firm opinion on any of these attachable mics. They're all interesting, all potentially useful, but to me, the various mounting mechanisms, thin wires, bluetooth, recharging, etc, all make these way more finicky and time-consuming than just sitting in front of a mic, for recording. But I get it that you just don't want that, so maybe you'll be willing to deal with what I see as extra hassle. The DPA 4099 is almost certainly the best sounding of the bunch, but I recall thinking the iSolo sounded pretty good.

Another option for you might just be a regular pickup. With ToneDexter, you can get an acceptable sound (won't fool anyone that it's a mic, but it's not bad), and you already have the Kemper, so presumably can model a sound from any pickup with that?

[spottydog10]

Hi Doug
The DPA on your website mic tests sounds great.
The choices appear to be either £500 for the DPA or £100 for the lower end of the market and not a lot in between, unless I've missed some?
I've checked out the AT 35 and 70 pro, the mini flex 2 (pretty good) I solo (good but a bit hefty price wise but close enough for temptation)
Oh, and the I Rig acoustic is also got decent tone, I'm just worried that it's a bit gimmicky.
Anything I've missed that you would recommend for consideration?
Thanks, Mike

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by spottydog10

Hi Doug
The DPA on your website mic tests sounds great.
The choices appear to be either £500 for the DPA or £100 for the lower end of the market and not a lot in between, unless I've missed some?
I've checked out the AT 35 and 70 pro, the mini flex 2 (pretty good) I solo (good but a bit hefty price wise but close enough for temptation)
Oh, and the I Rig acoustic is also got decent tone, I'm just worried that it's a bit gimmicky.
Anything I've missed that you would recommend for consideration?
Thanks, Mike

I didn't remember I had a 4099 clip up. It does sound good, it's basically just a $500 condenser mic on a clip, so it sounds like a good condenser mic. The issues have to do with the ergonomics of it, which you may or may not care about. The clip tends to not stay put, for example, and can leave dents in your top. If you check out James Taylor's One Man Band DVD, he's using one, and has it duct-taped to his Olson, so that's one solution. The thin wire coming out of an odd place is also more than a little awkward. Someone here designed an alternate clamp setup with a jack near the neck or something, if I recall. You might find that post from a few years ago with a search.

[RGWelch]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

I didn't remember I had a 4099 clip up. It does sound good, it's basically just a $500 condenser mic on a clip, so it sounds like a good condenser mic. The issues have to do with the ergonomics of it, which you may or may not care about. The clip tends to not stay put, for example, and can leave dents in your top. If you check out James Taylor's One Man Band DVD, he's using one, and has it duct-taped to his Olson, so that's one solution. The thin wire coming out of an odd place is also more than a little awkward. Someone here designed an alternate clamp setup with a jack near the neck or something, if I recall. You might find that post from a few years ago with a search.

I'm wondering if the K&K Meridian is better clip on system than the DPA? The price is a little better, so I would guess it's not a good a mic, but otherwise seems similar to the DPA.

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by RGWelch

I'm wondering if the K&K Meridian is better clip on system than the DPA? The price is a little better, so I would guess it's not a good a mic, but otherwise seems similar to the DPA.

It's been a long time since I saw a Meridian, but if it's still the same as when it came out, the mount is very crude - looks like 2 angle braces from the hardware store with velcro on them - but works very well. As I recall, seemed to hold better, less likely to dent your guitar. All in all, pretty clever. The mic is not as responsive as the 4099. I think it's basically their "silver bullet" mic with an attachment.

[spottydog10]

Doug, Have you heard of this one?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjzdjO0LowA

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by spottydog10

Doug, Have you heard of this one?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjzdjO0LowA

I have not come across that. Seems to be some kind of soundhole plug with a mic built in? A few things that raise questions for me in this demo are 1) the presence of a mic in front of the guitar. I notice this a lot in pickup demos, people have mics there for the voice, and that also picks up the guitar. Even the tiniest amount of bleed can make the system sound way better than without it. 2) I'd be really bothered by the wire running across the top of the guitar (just me, tho...), and 3) it appears the system depends on a special box of some kind? A bit like the iSolo in that regard. But not clear.

Here's another one for you, I just got in spam-mail today :-) Seems that Ken has a new variant of the 2Mic:

https://www.stringsbymail.com/pages/...hasers-56.html

[spottydog10]

Thanks for that Doug, I'm not gigging in the near future (I hope!) so wont qualify for the discount.

Here's a more detailed test, see what you think,
Mike

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdRPevziJO8

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by spottydog10

Thanks for that Doug, I'm not gigging in the near future (I hope!) so wont qualify for the discount.

Here's a more detailed test, see what you think,
Mike

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdRPevziJO8

interesting. In this video, it certainly sounds better than the builtin pickup (but so did your Kemper-processed track), but nothing that would get me excited.I think you could match or beat that with an undersaddle and ToneDexter. But it all depends on what you like.