Harps

[Matt]

I do sound for a local christian group in my area, and they travel round the area's churches performing etc, indoors and outdoors. We have quite good equipment, (allen and heath mixwizard WZ16:2DX, calsbro 1k per channel amp, some calsbro speakers and some calsbro powered monitors, sm58s etc...), and a task that I have been set with, a new member has entered the mainly acoustic type based group, this member playing a Harp. now today I came to mic'ing this up and I wasnt sure how to do it, so I just put an oldish audio tecnica shotgun mic near the small strings pointing downwards towards the lower strings, (basing it on my knowledge of higher frequencies have a shorter wavelength correct?). Although it produced a reasonable sound when needed quite loud for its solo part, I found that during the rest of the performance it wasnt picking much up at all, all I could hear was the rest of the band, probably from the monitors.

 

Now that I have given a bit of background, I was wondering if anyone could give me further advice on mic'ing it up in the future to provide a better sound, and a better position so the player doesnt kick the bloomin thing all the time.

 

cheers.

 

Matt.

[Big_ gray]

Is it a small harp or one of the big ones? if it's a big one I've always found that a mic placed near what I would call the sound box of the harp works quite well, but if its a small one you might be best looking at getting a small pick up of the type used on doublebasses etc

[Matt]

its a reasonably sized one, the person who plays it is about 5'9 and it looks quite big compaerd to her when she is playing, if that gives you any idea... cheers for the tip though. the soundbox is the thing on the bottom right, or the base of the unit, where the other end of the strings are attached.

[Jivemaster]

http://shure.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/shure.cf...fcGFnZT0x&p_li=

 

Sorry bout that its the address of shure's advice !!!

I like the midnight blues 4000 for acoustic strings. I've heard of contact pickups in use on harps put keeping to pedal noise down then becomes a problem.

 

[Shure Harp Mic Advice

[paulears]

if it's a full size with pedals, then two cardioids work quite well one on the higher strings on the left (from the behind the player, looking forward viewpoint). this one can be around 30cm ish from the strings, roughly at the shoulder height of the harpist. the other can be lower down on the players right, firing slightly up to cover the lower register. the higher strings are considerably quieter. watch out for missing felts in the pedals, when they flip one off, they can thump like hell! Although its an amazing sound when they gliss, avoid radical left/right panning - it doesn't sound real at all (but it is an amazing effect)

paul

[Matt]

cheers that is some really good advice there, I think I might try that. on a seperate note, what would you recommend as a good effect for an acoustic guitar (using an outboard effects unit)?

 

I found that for the solo piece (backed up by the acoustic guitar a bit) was fine panned to the right, seeing as it was stage left... and the acoustic guitar was kinda central and maybe a bit of vocals, I thought it sounded good, but as I said, what would be a nice effect to put on the guitar to complement the harp, or would just leaving it natural be a good idea?

[paulears]

gentle chorus - thickens it up nicely, but don't go over the top as it sounds too artificial (oh yes) and a little reverb