Would anyone know what is the best mike for a dobro. The dobro doesn't have a pickup. The mike she has now needs to be changed. We use a Mackie mixer for all vocals and acoustic instruments. I have to crank the gain to 3/4 to get a half decent volume, but really the dobro needs to be a little louder. I'm not sure what mike she has now.

A dynamic microphone like the Shure SM57 will do a great job miking a dobro. It is sturdy and reliable. If you want to maximize the sound quality I'd recommend a condenser , e.g. the Neumann KM185 - expensive but great for recording and live. I own it and it is worth every penny. Resos rule! Ralph www.blissnblue.com

Thank you very much for the info. I will pass it on to our dobro player.

Best bet is to get a pickup. You (and your dobro player) will be glad you did. I recommend McIntyre (http://www.acousticon.com/mcintyre.htm) These sorts of pickups are much easier to install on spider-bridge dobros than on other instruments.

To get the best of both world I'll recommend combining a pickup and mic signal. The pickup provides the punch and volume needed and the mic (even when just a little mic signal is added) givs the iry and natural vibe, and, of course, the percussive sounds coming out of a resonator guitar.

quote:

givs the iry and natural vibe

what nonsense .. wanted to say: "gives the airy and natural vibe" ...

Thank you rikart and Reso_Ralph for your advice. I will talk to my dobro player and we'll see what happens next. I checked the mike she's using now and it's a Shure SM57. I have to crank up the gain to about 3/4 (3 o'clock) to get decent volume. Come to think of it, that was the case with the "old" PA as well.

Hi there !

Taking a sideways look at the problem, have you had the Dobro checked out ?
Resonator guitars were designed to be much louder than wooden acoustic guitars and as such, you should have much less trouble getting a decent signal to whatever mic you are using than if you were mic'ing up a regular wooden acoustic.

If the Dobro is not particularly loud, then I'd have the Dobro checked over BY someone well versed in how resonator guitars should be set up. Don't use any guitar repairer/luthier who hasn't worked on one before but thinks they can't be that much different from a regular acoustic (they might destroy it - no joke !!).

Does she play bare-fingered ?
Finger+thumb-picks really improve volume and projection (however, they do take a long time to get used to).

Condensor mics, as Reso-Raloh suggests, are a good way forward though.

Hope that helps and doesn't make things more confusing !!

She uses picks, thumb and finger, and I have no idea if her dobro has been checked, ever. I never thought of asking her, but I certainly will. She's on holidays right now, so it will have to wait two weeks. Thanks very much for your suggestions. I'm sure glad I brought up this subject and received so many reactions.

Hi Stephanie,

I just found this archived version of Bob Brozman's tips for micing Dobro for live performance:

TIPS & TECHNIQUES
For Sound Reinforcement of
National Reso-Phonic Guitars

This originally appeared on the National Guitars website.

And yet another idea about dobro-sound-reinforcement: The right way of amplification is also strongly determined by the playing position: sitting or standing? When standing a pickup is the easiest way. When sitting a mic is a good way of amplification for it is easy to hold the exact position to the microphone which is a crucial point, even small variations in the position and distance between mic and guitar can have a heavy influence on your sound. To get best of both worlds (mic + pickup) one can combine both methods: A pickup (magnetic or piezo) gives the necessary volume, cutting through the mix, the mic adds the acoustic tone. And when choosing a wireless mic system (as I did) you can play this way while standing.

Thanks ST for finding that article. Very interesting reading. I have mentioned to my dobro player to maybe put a pickup in it, but she doesn't like that idea at all, so we'll have to stick to miking it. She sits down when playing the dobro by the way.

Well, I found a solution to the volume problem. I use a 16 channel Mackie mixer and instead of using 1 mic channel for the dobro, I split the signal with an Y adapter into two channels on the mixer. One is panned hard left and one is panned hard right. Now the dobro comes through both L1's. To check the difference I stood in the middle of the room and while she played the dobro I had someone mute one of the two dobro channels and then unmute that channel after a minute or so. The difference was very noticeable. The dobro didn't become twice as loud, but the presence improved twofold. Also, I was able to turn down the gain on the mixer a bit, which is what I wanted because it was always very close to feedback. I don't think this set-up will damage the system in any way, however, if there is a reason why not to do this, I hope someone will let me know.

Hi Stephanie,

quote:

if there is a reason why not to do this, I hope someone will let me know.

If it sounds good to you then do it.

quote:

Originally posted by Stephanie Bertholee:
...I don't think this set-up will damage the system in any way, ...

Have no concerns at all about damage.

Continue to let your ears be your guide ... just be sure to walk around the room when you are comparing 1 vs. 2 -- with the same sound from two different L1's you can sometimes get in the situation where it sounds wonderful at some locations in the room and terrible (well, at least not very good) at other locations in the room. That is called the "dual mono" affect ... you can read more about it in the L1 Wiki here.

Could it be there's a difference between running dual mono with two channels panned centre and running dual mono with one channel panned hard left and one hard right? I'm not a techie but it seems to me that panning one hard left and one hard right "eliminates" a right and left side of a signal so you don't have a "doubling up or exact overlapping". I know this is not very technical in terminology, but maybe you understand what I'm trying to say.

I meant to say "Could there be a difference between running dual mono with one channel panned centre and running dual mono with one channel hard left and one hard right?

Hi Stephanie,

If I remember correctly, you are usually playing in the same room for your recurring open stage events. This suggests that once you get your sound set up, things will be relatively stable (but for the variations that your guest artists bring to the stage).

Here are the symptoms of Multiple Source Interference (Phase Cancellation Issues)

1. Hot and cold spots in the audience area
   
2. Tonal coloration
   
3. Poor speech intelligibility
   
4. Lack of music clarity
   
5. Poor gain-before-feedback
   
6. Poor imaging
   

If you can walk the room and NOT hear any of these issues, then you are fine.

I don't think the panning issue matters much when using a Mackie board. If they still do it the way they used to, the Mackie is doing something to ensure that the overall level heard for a single input was the same regardless of the position of the pan control. You may find that things sound better or worse depending on the panning, but I don't think we have nearly enough information to start predicting what you might hear.

You are in the best position to try things and listen. If things sound good to you, then enjoy the music.

Thanks for your response ST. Yes we usually are in the same place every friday. I will double check the 6 points you mentioned. I guess Mackie has changed their boards a little because I have 6 channels panned hard left and 6 panned hard right and although there's a tiny bit of bleed going on, the left and right are nicely separated. You know, this channel splitting that I do for the dobro, does not work for vocals at all. I tried it, but ditched it almost immediately. I was probably hearing Multiple Source Interference without knowing that term.

Hi Stephanie,

I was trying to think about this.

quote:

Originally posted by Stephanie:
Could it be there's a difference between running dual mono with two channels panned centre and running dual mono with one channel panned hard left and one hard right? I'm not a techie but it seems to me that panning one hard left and one hard right "eliminates" a right and left side of a signal so you don't have a "doubling up or exact overlapping". I know this is not very technical in terminology, but maybe you understand what I'm trying to say.

when I said,

quote:

Originally posted by ST:
I don't think the panning issue matters much when using a Mackie board. If they still do it the way they used to, the Mackie is doing something to ensure that the overall level heard for a single input was the same regardless of the position of the pan control. You may find that things sound better or worse depending on the panning, but I don't think we have nearly enough information to start predicting what you might hear.

What I was trying to say (admittedly not well) is that Mackie is/was doing something inside so that you would not have to change the gain as a result of changing the panning. From that, I was guessing that it could make predicting what would or wouldn't happen with respect to Multiple Source Interference very difficult.

Works for dobro but not for vocals...

quote:

Originally posted by Stephanie:
You know, this channel splitting that I do for the dobro, does not work for vocals at all. I tried it, but ditched it almost immediately. I was probably hearing Multiple Source Interference without knowing that term.

And yes, that's a great point: that what is working for the dobro did not work well for the vocals. Some might have guessed, some might have seen it coming. But you heard it, and that's what matters.