Recording a Brass Section - Mic Setup & Mixing

In this video, I demonstrate how a brass section was recorded for the song "Hot Wax". This is part of the "Dead At The Desk" concept album. I take you through a detailed description of what mics were used and where, and you are able to listen to the individual tracks as we talk through them in the control room.

There are many different approaches to recording a brass section. Some just "spot mike" the individual instruments, whilst others have a more holistic approach - using just one or two microphones as a stereo pair. In this video I use both.

In this video there was a 5 piece brass section consisting of two trumpets, a trombone, a baritone sax and an alto sax. Each trumpet was recorded with a Neumann U87. The trombone used a Rode K2, the baritone had a Sennheiser MD421 and the alto sax had a Audio Technica AE2500.

In addition to the close mics which were approx 50cm away from each instrument, I used a pair of Neumann KM183 microphones as room mics. These were placed about 3 metres away.

The whole session was recorded at Q studios, Sydney. These are the studios of the Australian Institute of Music.

There are actually 2 videos. This one should be viewed second, as the first one gives you a basic idea of the song and the context, plus some great footage of the musicians. This video is more of a "how to" to give you some technical aspects.