Any suggestions?

For recording as opposed to PA considerations, I hope.

:-)

One with a built in pre-amp which goes from 0 to -10!

Stuart

I reminded of Ian Cleland, soundman of renown, who replied to a festival organisers demand for the pipes to be turned down in the mix, by handing him Ian's swiss army knife saying, "Do it yourself, the pipes are not mic'ed up".

On suggestion I have heard is that one should place the microphone somewhere in the next county.

Personally I prefer listening to pipes recorded from a "full room" mic than any sort of close mic. All the warmth and reverb of a decent hall adds to it -- with a close mic, the sound seems to be a bit dead.

However, it needs to be a relatively quiet crowd...

One of the worst experiences I ever had was in a small village hall on one of the islands. A potentially good concert was ruined by the 'sound' (or should that be 'unsound') man, who almost blasted everyone to kingdom come. The band comprised excellent players throughout, but we could only hear the piper ... the microphone was practically up his chanter! After weighing up the pros and cons of the situation, about a quarter of the audience decided it was more bearable outside the hall - where we had a richt guid hooley with the midges!

Well thank you Niall! Anyone else got 'any' ideas for the best mics for bagpipes?

Simon,

I think people are going to need more detail before they can make any particular recommendation. The main things I think would be important are:

* Is it for recording or sound reinforcement?
* Recording studio or live venue?
* Solo or ensemble (and further pipe band or mixed band)?

The requirements for each will be very different.

A mic for ensemble live sound reinforcement will have to compromise sound quality for sound pressure -- you're going to need to close-mic the pipes to reduce feedback and sound-bleed, and anything that can handle the extreme volume of the pipe close-up can't be particularly sensitive.

If it's a live solo performance, you can hang a more sensitive mic from the rafters, a solid distance from the player.

In a studio, you hire a mic so expensive that only full-time studios buy them. (Oh, and wannabe rockstar executive Porsche-driving types.)

Seems like a good swap, to me!

JM

It think I'm talking about the microphones that you see on stage attached to the chanter. Don't know what they're called or who makes them. Any ideas?

I was wondering about the effect of waving noise-cancelling headphones at the chanter. :-)

This sort of thing, then:
http://www.hebdensoundgroup.co.uk/accusound/productsinstrument_bagpipes_selection.php?sort=bagpipe

No idea how good it is, but looking at how much the same company charge for their harmonica mics, they're not exactly at the low end of the market....