I’ve been recording my practice sessions just to get used to the recorder being on. Y’know, in preparation for posting something to be critiqued. But it seems that my inhaling is picked up as well as the flute. It’s not that I can’t play with volume. I’ve tried many different ways – a pro AT condenser mic with a Portastudio, iRiver MP3 recorder with internal mic or external powered Sony mic. Mic butted right up to the flute, mic away, nothing seems to enhance the sound of the flute beyond my inhaling.
I’m not sure I can debug your particular setup, but I have recorded myself with decent results with a minidisc recorder and small stereo electret mics from Sound Professionals. They sell these mics at www.minidisco.com. I’ve clipped the mics to my music stand, and then stand in my usual spot. It does pick up my breathing, but the flute comes through really well. Pick a room that’s pretty dead, not echoey.
I use a Audio Technica AT3035 condensor microphone running through a Mackie mixer, Alesis quad effects unit for compression, EQ, and reverb. Record and tweak the raw data on a PC equipped with an M/Audio Audiophile 2496 board using SoundForge. A little compression goes a long way with flute and whistle, also place the microphone so the breath doesn’t go directly towards the mike. I don’t think there is anything wrong with hearing breathing on recordings.
I agree with Michael that it’s not necessarily wrong to hear some breathing on a flute recording. Only when it turns to wheezing and gasping it can become a bit annoying to listen to
For recording practice sessions I am very happy with the minidisc. I haven’t noticed much breath on those. You do get a lot of room sound though.
At the moment I am learning to use my new PC recording setup:
An M-Audio 1010LT soundcard, ADK/Generis GC-1e microphone with popfilter, though a Beringer Tube pre-amp. Recording into Nuendo, and lots of plugins to tweak with
The soundquality is top-notch on this!
Now I just need to practice using it (and make sure my playing’s worth the effort )
I use an Oktava MK 219 condenser mic through a studiomaster mixer into either a SB Live card using Logic Audio or Pro-Tools on my desktop, or directly into my laptop using Audacity.
Mic placement is probably one of the most important (and most often overlooked) parts of the process. You will need to experiment with the placement, and each time you move it you will need to tweak the levels accordingly. I am a signal path fanatic, I’m afraid. Always make sure you have the maximum level going into your recording without clipping.
I have found the most reliable to be the mic directly in front of you, at about the level of the bridge of your nose, and with your nose almost touching. Being above you it avoids blasting air into the mic and should lessen the breath noise. But as has been said above, the breath is so much a part of flute playing that there is no harm in hearing it.
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