Instrument family

Brass

Trumpet, horn, trombone, tuba and their relatives. Brass is loud close to the bell, so a mic's maximum SPL matters as much as its response.

Members: French horn, Trombone, Trumpet, Tuba.

Sources: 2 (0 independent)

Recommended mics

Mics sources recommend

3 setups from 2 sources, 0 of them independent of any mic maker. Few independent sources so far, so the mics are listed without counts. Listed alphabetically: there is no ranking.

On stage

Clip-on

DPA 4099 CORE+ maker's advice
Shure PGA98H-XLR maker's advice

The 3 setups behind this: placement and quotes

Clip-on DPA 4099 CORE+
clip-on for brass
4099 for instrument-mounted live use gives more isolation and gain before feedback than the omni (paraphrase).¹
Clip-on DPA 4099 CORE+
clip-on for brass
The 4099 gives much more isolation and higher gain before feedback than the omni (paraphrase).¹
Clip-on Shure PGA98H-XLR
clip-on, brass
A condenser optimised for brass, with horn clamp and in-line preamp (paraphrase).²

Where the sound comes from

bell: faces along the bell axis (backwards on the horn); very directional^3,2

The highs beam straight out along the bell axis; off axis sounds darker.^3,2

Sources

DPA Mic University: How to mic a trumpet and trombonemanufacturer · dpamicrophones.com
Shure: How to Choose the Best Mics for Brass, Wind, and String Instrumentsmanufacturer · shure.com
Sound On Sound: Q. How do I record brass in the home studio?Paul White and Hugh Robjohns · magazine · 2008-03 · soundonsound.com