Mic setup

Hi Tim, Roland White Forum moderator here. I can’t tell all the mic techniques that Casey and Hanneke use. I can say that I know Casey uses a combination of professional equipment to get his Studio Quality sound. Once he sees your post he will certainly chime in and he knows what Hanneke uses as well. Unless you plan on doing a lot of shows I don’t recommend getting a professional set up. A good mic for all around excellent Acoustic sound support is the Shure SM57. They aren’t real expensive and work in most small music productions with a Mic stand set up. You might want to experiment with it before you perform to make sure you know haw close to the mic to play and to get a good sound check from the PA system. Thanks for posting, check back in and let us know how it works.

Hi there, Tim, and thanks for the question. I have a setup which includes a custom built condensor microphone suspended over the f-hole (built by Joe Mills in Nashville) as well as a L.R. Baggs peizo pickup mounted in the bridge. Essentially, I can mix and independently eq the signals using a Rane AP13 preamp, depending on the application. For gigs with a bunch of stage noise, I rely exclusively on the bridge pickup – for solo gigs and low stage volume, you can use a close mounted condensor mic with less chance of feedback and a more natural sound. Hanneke, too, uses a clip on condensor mic. In the studio, I use a combo of the above as well as a Shure SM-81…but this is more of a studio application than a live application.

Roland is right, however. If you’re doing small or infrequent gigs, it’s tough to beat the old sm-57. Start there, and if you’re looking to upgrade, there are certainly some higher end options. I would recommend using a preamp if you do go with a close mounted mic on the fiddle. You’ll have more control and will be probably happier with the end result.

Hope that helps, sir!