Setting up a microphone with an sx700

[I-me-mine]

Hello,

I've just got a microphone (Behringer BA 85 "Super Cardioid dynamic microphone") for my sx700. My intention is to use it to record half of a recorder duet -as in the woodwind instrument- and play along to it. I've set the gain, but have ran into some problems.

Firstly, I can't seem to save my microphone setting to a registration. I've made the two profiles I want to swap between in the mic settings window. It's ticked in the registration list and I've checked that it's  not ticked in the parameter lock settings.

Secondly, I want the sx700 to record the microphone without playing it through the speakers as it's recording. Some of the notes on recorder are quite shrill and I want to avoid feedback. I can't see a way to do this short of turning the keyboards speakers off completely.

I've never used a microphone before so any general tips on how to record an instrument would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[Sam Wacker]

Hello,

I've just got a microphone (Behringer BA 85 "Super Cardioid dynamic microphone") for my sx700. My intention is to use it to record half of a recorder duet -as in the woodwind instrument- and play along to it. I've set the gain, but have ran into some problems......



...... Secondly, I want the sx700 to record the microphone without playing it through the speakers as it's recording. Some of the notes on recorder are quite shrill and I want to avoid feedback. I can't see a way to do this short of turning the keyboards speakers off completely.

I've never used a microphone before so any general tips on how to record an instrument would be appreciated.

Thanks.

The Behringer mic you have bought is a visual and lightweight copy of the Shure SM58 beta (even down to the blue band) at a tenth of the price of the Shure. Looking at the tech specs you'll need to work hard to compensate for a low output by increasing the Gain. This in itself could introduce noise in the signal path and create feedback if you are too close to your speakers. I assume you are using a mic-stand rather than have someone hold the mic? Be aware that this mic will pick up a lot of handheld noise.

The  popular descant or soprano recorder is very commonly found in schools. For some of us it was our first introduction to a musical instrument.  It's a mix between a flute and a whistle in terms of where the sound waves are produced. I've only had to close-mic a flute and an acoustic guitar and not a recorder so if I was trying to make an audio recording of the recorder I was playing I would use headphones for starters. Your mic will pick-up ambient noise if you use the any keyboard or other speakers.

Next you will need to experiment with room placing of your mic and stand. This may well be determined by the room and the length of your mic cable! Some karaoke mics have a 3-metre cable.  Be flexible, move the keyboard if necessary. Try facing a blank wall with your stand about 30cms away from the wall.  The heart-shaped  pick-up pattern of the mic could be an advantage here. Unlike recording a flute where the mic is horizontally opposite the player's mouth your mic could be placed in front of you and above about 15cm away.

Finally, the recorder can produce very shrill tones- "Don't blow so hard" as the ever-patient Miss Watkins used to say in my primary school. So, you need to cut some of the higher frequencies using the keyboard mic options. Try adding a tiny bit of reverb too.

[I-me-mine]

Thanks for the advise,

Headphones is a great idea. Not sure why it didn't occur to me in the first place! Still no luck getting the keyboard to save any mic settings to a registration though.

[Sam Wacker]

Still no luck getting the keyboard to save any mic settings to a registration though.

Although there are obvious similarities between Yamaha keyboards, there may be different ways of doing things with different models.
I don't know the sx700. Are you trying to save just the mic settings to a registration? Or are you trying to save the mic settings with a Style?

On the Genos 2 we can save up to 10 different mic settings independent of a Style, which seems very generous.  These should be saved and given User names. At most I would use 2 - "straight through" for the Talk setting with no effects and "Voice doubled" using the in-built harmony function. Incidentally, this effect was first developed in the 1960s by Abbey Road Studios for John Lennon's voice by EMI engineer Geoff Emerick. My former female singer's mic went through a Voice Live unit and external mixer with stomp box pedals to turn her effects on or off, independent of me.  A separate mic for any floor singers had a single stomp box pedal.

Any mic settings can be saved to a Registration when using a Style.

[I-me-mine]

I was hoping to have a registration bank for when I'm recording.

For example:
reg.1 mic ON, with reverb; reg.2 mic ON, no reverb; reg.3 mic OFF.

It seems as though mic settings are global. Despite being listed when you press the memory button. I'm starting to wonder if saving mic settings is only on genos and mic settings being in the memory list is just oversight because the sx keyboards use the same OS.