Internal microphone for a mandolin?

[jurasicus]

I can't seem to find any threads regarding this question, so I'll start a new one. Please, refer me to an older one if there is one.

I'm interesting in micing a mandolin internally. And I mean micing, not installing a pickup. Internal mics seem to work quite well on guitars, but I don't really see any options on putting an internal mic into a mandolin. Is there some special reason for that? On the surface it sort of seems like a convenient idea.

[mandroid]

https://secure.schertler.com/en_US/s...ckups/resocoil this is a contact microphone.

In the past Paul Hostetter mentioned a reaming and threading the end block- button

and that allowing a battery and miniature microphone to be screwed in that opening..

A condenser mic needs power, and hence the battery and mic combo ..

Another past mention was a Shure Dynamic Lavalier mic, that may form the basis for another Internal Mic,

And of course once you wrap a mini-mic with acoustically transparent foam
you can insert it thru an F hole

and bob's-your-uncle, then..

[mandroid]

Or are you wanting a referral to a commercial product already made, For you,

rather than adapt pieces made for other purposes?




Question of the day: Think Public Schools should include Shop, Art and Music classes, again ?

[Beanzy]

I adapted a Sony ECM77 to mount internally using a mini XLR for connection; but I never bothered using it as it worked just as well clipped to my jumper, miking the rear of the mandolin for small hall and street stages. That meant it worked for mandolin & fiddle + vocals with no mucking about.
This is what it looked like... since re-purposed for another instrument.


For my preferences anything where the normal lavallier doesn't work, it's up to the sound man what mikes they use & if they aren't paying for one the gig's wasting my time so I woyldn't be there anyway.

[foldedpath]

I have never heard an internal mic on a guitar that sounded good, unless it was also combined with a soundboard or bridge pickup. It gets very "woofy" and unnatural sounding inside the body cavity, where you're hearing a combination of air mass resonance and internal reflections. The mandolin body is so small, and usually with no option to add an internal preamp/blender, that the combined mic + pickup system isn't very practical in my opinion.

There are several good options for using an external clip-on mic that can be easily attached when needed, and then removed without altering the instrument. I use the DPA 4099, which sounds great and has a good mounting system. If you're going for a microphone instead of a pickup, I think this is your best option.

[Nevin]

Take this with a grain of salt but to me the sound of a mandolin is what comes out of the body. In my limited experience, interrnal mics don't sound even close to what the instrument sounds like acousticly. It isn't a sound I like. Before I modified any but the cheapest mandolin, I would improvise something and see how it sounded.

[Mandoplumb]

Take this with a grain of salt but to me the sound of a mandolin is what comes out of the body. In my limited experience, interrnal mics don't sound even close to what the instrument sounds like acousticly. It isn't a sound I like. Before I modified any but the cheapest mandolin, I would improvise something and see how it sounded.

Just to add my $.02 worth. They can't sound natural,in or outside the mandolin if mounted to it, if you lay your ear right against an instrument it will not sound like you are accustomed to hearing it. To me that is what is natural. You may like the contact mike sound but it's going to be different.

[almeriastrings]

They can sound extremely natural if mounted externally, in my opinion. A great many hyper-critical classical musicians use DPA 4099's and ATM350's, and you can achieve a very balanced sound indeed. Certainly as good as is possible with any other microphone. I use both on a wide range of instruments, and results are superb. It is a question of positioning them correctly and very gentle use of EQ. Internal mics, on the other hand face a number of difficulties - body resonances among them, and increased susceptibility to handling noise. They usually require heavy duty EQ and I have not heard one yet that I'd say approaches what can be achieved with a DPA4099/ATM350.

[Charlieshafer]

As to what Folded and Almeria said, they just don't sound good. We have only had two musicians show up with them, and it was impossible to get them to sound right. We went with mics on stands to get everything sounding right, abandoning the internal mics. The clip-ons suggested above are the way to go.

[mandobassman]

While I agree that it often does not sound good mounted inside the mandolin, I actually did just that many years ago. I was playing bass in a top 40 Country band and on occasion, switched over to mandolin for a couple of tunes. I had a pickup on the mandolin (pickup choices weren't what they are now) and I hated the sound. My solution was to buy a $30 Radio Shack tie clip mic and I mounted it inside the f hole. I had the output jack mounted to the bottom rim of the mandolin and ran the cord straight to the mixing board using the boards phantom power. It actually sounded quite good. One possible reason that particular mic sounded good was that it had a pretty limited frequency range. Bass end cut off pretty high so it didn't have any of the boomy low end that you would normally get with a better quality mic. I was amazed at how good it sounded. I actually use that same mic on my bass today and have for about four years now. It is by far the best my bass has ever sounded and it is consistently good.

[pops1]

I have used that same radio shack tie clip mic in several instruments in the past. it was incredible on a hammered dulcimer and worked well on a guitar. Probably the best $30 I have ever spent. Think I put it in someones guitar way back when and lost it. Haven't been able to buy those in a few decades, they were a very well kept secret.

[McIrish]

Scott Avett used that same mic for years inside his banjo. I did the same thing for a couple years but switched to a Fishman banjo pickup to get better feedback resistance. That cheap little mic works remarkably well inside an instrument. I never tried it on mandolin. For the stage level I have to get, K&K pickups are the only thing I can use. (loud drummer)

[almeriastrings]

The little RS mic was (if I recall correctly) an omnidirectional electret, as such it was much more immune to 'proximity' effect than a directional mic, but at the same time, much more susceptible to feedback from monitors, etc. Used up close with a loud instrument such mics can work well, though if right inside the body cavity of a guitar or mandolin there are a still going to be some unwanted resonances that are also picked up. You can get decent results with omni's clipped just outside the soundhole, however, provided you can live with the lowered feedback threshold this involves.