Hi!
I’m looking for a microphone to amp my wooden flute.
What about Sennheiser E835 mic (vs. Shure SM58)?
Help!
Thanks!
Depends on what you want to do. I use Senheiser SM400. Shure 58 is a great vocal mike, but only so-so for instruments. But Shure still has the advantage in very loud situations.
For flute performance, IMNSHO, a small condernser microphone on a gooseneck clip is the best way. Something like this:
Yamaha
Barcus Berry
Silver Bullet
All available from www.fluteworld.com
I’ve used both SM-58s and SM-57s, among others, and have never been fully satisfied. The solution: a Radio Shack lavalier mic, which is only $25.
http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog_name=CTLG&category_name=CTLG_007_008_003_001&product_id=33-3013
I attach mine to the headjoint with a velcro cable tie. You’ll have to get the appropriate connectors and adaptors to get from the mini connector to whatever you’re using (I use a 1/4 inch connector and guitar cable to plug in), but that’s easy to tape to the little belt clip/battery unit.
Thanks friends.
Yes, I have a AKG lavalier, but it makes me a lot of feedback troubles when I play live with another instruments, like accordion, bodhrán and pipes. It’s a good mic to play at studio but I have poor results in noisy stages.
Furthermore lavalier “eats” a lot of wind from my blowing (ffffffffff 
). Maybe I must put the mic in other position…
Looking for another players, I find most of them uses Shure SM58 to play flute on stage. But I see that Sennheiser E835 have similar caracteristics with less price.
What do you think?
I know you’re looking for a comparison with the Sennheiser, which I can’t provide since I’ve never used one, but just to offer another suggestion: I’ve used the Shure Beta 58a in noisy stage situations, and it’s a great flute mic:
http://www.shure.com/microphones/models/beta58a.asp
You’ll probably never have feedback problems with this mic, it can take a lot of gain, and it isolates your sound well from the other instruments on stage. It’s also very rugged…other people on stage have occasionally knocked over my stand and sent the mic crashing to the floor, and it still works as good as new.
Shure’s site shows the list price as $300, but you can find it for a lot less (I think I paid around $150 for mine).
Vocal mics tend to work well for flutes on stage; the SM 57 is designed more for instruments and I don’t like the way a flute sounds through it. The SM58 or the Beta 58a would be much better for this purpose.
Here it comes
The Flute-Pro List Of Stage Mic Requeriments:
Shure SM 58: Matt Molloy (F), John McSherry (W), Paddy Moloney (W), Damien Stenson-Teada (F,W), Cathal McConnell-Boys Of The Lough (F,W), Brian Finnegan & Sarah Allen-Flook (F,W), Liam Kely-Dervish (F,W)
Shure SM81: Paddy Moloney (W)
Shure Beta 58a: Ian Anderson-Jethro Tull (F,W)
Beyer M500: Cathal McConnell (F,W)
Beyer 201: Cathal McConnell (F,W)
F (Flute), W (Whistle)
…to be continued
The AKG C1000S is also an excellent mic. You can these pretty cheap on Ebay. Using a larger than normal windscreen can help with noise. Also a mic that can change from cardiod to Hyper-cardiod, which the C1000 will do. For recording, you’re better off with a large diaphragm condenser. I have a Behringer B-2 pro that’s great and not too expensive.
Hey 
You’ve probably seen this site, but on the off chance you haven’t, you may find something useful here:
http://www.jethrotull.com/musicians/iananderson/equipment.html#amplified
Yep. Everything he says there is true.
The most important part is the one about compensating for the proximity effecty by cutting low frequencies instead of boosting the highs.
Thank you all
I’m looking now for AKG C1000. Seems to be a good mic both for live performances and home recordings and there’s good prices on Ebay, it’s true!
This mic is also used by several jazz flute players.
I believe this is the same mic (C1000) that Tommy Peoples carries everywhere with him, and insists the house use it when he is on stage.
djm
My friend who used to work for Green Linnet, then later an arts center where Lunasa played said that at the time they were using the C1000 mics for shows as well.
I don’t like AKGs, but most people do. They’re a good microphone for the price. I think they sound a little too clean.
Too clean? That’s a good thing I’d think.
Yes, matter of taste. The best thing, if you can do it, is to try a bunch of microphones with your flute, and see which one you like best, keeping in mind you also want something with a cardiod (but not hyper-cardioid, mind you!) pattern and lots of of-axis rejection, and sturdy enough you don’t have to worry about breaking it.
Ahh, I was wondering if perhaps we had two different ideas of what “clean” meant. Was it for recording or live stuff that you were using the AKG and didn’t like it? Some mics don’t work as well for recording. I found the AKG to not work as well for recording fiddle as it did for some other instruments. It works ok for flute, but the Behringer is great for all. The AKG is a good live mic, but I don’t like having to stay in a fixed position, so I’d want a clip-on type mic. I’m using a great mic for my fiddle right now that clips into the C bout and goes over the bass-side f-hole. Ciaran Tourish and Miread howeveryouspellhername are using the same one in Altan now.
Why not hyper cardioid?
It sounds like “better than cardioid”, but in exchange for better off-axis reduction, you get an additional lobe behind the microphone (that is, it has worse rejection of sounds directly behind the microphone), just where you normally would have a monitor speaker.
It sounds like most of the hubbub is not about the mics which clip on the flute. How do some of the ones you listed above sound, glauber? Do they pick up a lot of wind noise?
And does anyone know what Fluteworld’s site is referring to in this statement about the Yamaha Pickup Mic?
"Yamaha personal studio system needed. "
I’m looking for something pretty cheap, but may go for one of the c1000’s on ebay if the right opportunity comes along. We’ll be playing in a pretty loud session envionment soon, and it sounds like the cheapo’s from Radio Shack won’t cut it.
thanks all. and happy christmas.
The one i have is the Yamaha Personal Studio (PS/7). I think it’s discontinued, but you still find it sometimes. They used to have it in fluteworld, but it looks like they’re gone…
I position the mike so it’s not directly in the air path, so it doesn’t catch any wind noise. The cable hanging from the flute is a small nuisanse, but other than that, it works very well. IT cost me about $100.