Recording Whistle

Whistle
1

Hi everyone!

I was apart of this forum a couple of years ago, things got really busy, and now I’m back!

Anyway, my question concerns recording whistle. As we know, it gets louder as we play higher notes. My assumption would be that I just need mic it then run it through a compressor. Is that the secret to a nice smooth whistle recording or is there more to it?? In the past, I’ve just varied my mic distance depending on how much air I was blowing (sounds silly, I know).

I have some big sessions coming up and would like to get this squared away. Thanks!

picardy

2

If you have something like Adobe Audition or Cool Edit, try this:

  1. Mic the whistle from a safe distance. Attaching the mic to the whistle about halfway between the windway and the top hole should accomplish this.

  2. Record your playing.

  3. Play the recording back. Chances are it will sound relatively weak.

  4. “Normalize” the entire waveform. This will make it louder and create more balance between octaves, but noise will also increase.

  5. Apply the hiss eliminator. You will be left with the whistle and a low rumble.

  6. Apply a bandpass FFT in such a way as to eliminate the low rumble.

Hopefully, this will help.

3

I have had good luck recording whistle on the computer in the following way:

I use Audacity; I used to use Gold Wave, but really, almost any sound recording program should work pretty well.

I set the mic gain to about 75%, and set the mic on top of a (dry) sponge on my computer desk. The sponge is to help eliminate hum from my computer. I have also used soft cloth or a couch pillow to good effect for this.

Then I set in front of the desk with the mic turned towards me. I face obliquely away at about a 45-degree angle so that I’m not playing directly at the mic.

If I’m playing a softer whistle (Burke, Hoover), I set quite close to the desk. If I’m playing a louder whistle (Susato, Syn) I back up a bit. If I’m playing my loudest whistle–the Cronnolly–, or a fife, I back up a lot and face away from the mic.

I don’t have to do any cleanup processing with the recordings I make this way.

A lot depends on finding a mic that works well for you, and lots of trial and error.

This is what works for me. I can’t swear it’ll work as well for you but it may at least serve as a starting point.

Good luck with your recording!

–James

4

I don’t use compression on the whistle; I haven’t felt the need to. I select only whistles that are well-balanced across the range. I use a good quality condensor mic, I stand back far enough for the signal to be coming from different parts of the whistle. I set the level just below the clipping point. Recording digitally, at the mixing stage, I’d use a tiny amount of room echo, not to give it a discernably echoy sound but just to restore a bit of analogue warmth. Make it sound like it would in an intimate room with good accoustics. Otherwise I wouldn’t process the sound at all except to achieve good separation. That means just choosing a ‘clock’ position in the mix that is appropriate and fiddling a bit with Eq if there is a clash with other instruments in a certain frequency range. In a lot of band settings, the low mids can get very muddy but it doesn’t take much to clean them up. That could be a problem with tenor whistles but it is unlikely to affect higher pitched instruments.

I really aim for a very natural, intimate, warm, room sound which, on digital equipment, has to be restored. IMO, less is definitely more.

5

I would say use compression only it the tune jumps up an octave or something like that i.e Brian Boru’s March has a part in it where it goes from a low A to a high A I had to compress that particular tune but never anything else. :smiley:

6

Altering your distance on louder notes is not only not weird, it’s necessary. It’s what singers do in performance and it is what good wind players do, too. You need to learn to play the microphone just as you are playing the whistle.

7

Very true.
It’s something you develop a feel for after a while,which I was I have never used a whistle mic.

Slan,
D.

8

I use mainly Burkes, Sindts, Overtones, and occasionally Clarkes and Generations. I think the problem is the quality of mic I’m using. At home, I use a VERY cheap mic. I only record here to get an idea down-just a demo. Live, I usually use an SM57 which produces pretty good results. In our studio, we use much nicer condenser mic’s, but I’ve never recorded whistle for an album-just guitars and mandolins. I also agree with the echo addition. I almost always add a touch of reverb.

Thanks for the ideas!

picardy

9

That’s your problem I’d say picardy. The very features that make SM57s great on stage are a bit of a disadvantage in the studio. But cheapos will be much harder to get good results from.

I, too, use mainly Burkes, Sindts and Overtons in the studio, mainly Overtons. I also use Clarkes and Generations occasionally and a well-balanced Copeland low D. With judicious mic technique as Jesse and Dubhlinn suggested you should be fine with those.