Instrument
Great Highland bagpipe
The Scottish bagpipe: a mouth-blown bag feeding one double-reed chanter and three single-reed drones (two tenors, one bass). Played standing, outdoors or in halls, solo or in a pipe band.1
Also called bagpipes.
- Range
- A#2–A#5
- Peaks up close
- up to 116 dB SPL
- Sources
- 5 (5 independent)
Mics sources recommend
7 setups from 5 sources, 5 of them independent of any mic maker. Each mic shows how many sources name it for that role, and how many of those are independent. Listed alphabetically: there is no ranking.
Studio
Close
- MXL 9901 independent source
- flat (boundary) condenser or mini mic, 8-12 in from the chanter fingers; mic over the drones1 independent source
Distant
- MXL 6031 independent source
- single mic 10-15 ft away indoors1 independent source
Main pair or array
- Shure SM811 independent source
The 5 setups behind this: placement and quotes
- Close MXL 990chanter, at D-hole height, a few feet away
One condenser (MXL 990) pointed at the chanter, level with the D hole, from a few feet away, run through an ART tube pre-amp.
2 - Distant 2 × MXL 603pair, ~4 ft behind the piper, ear level
2 condenser mics (MXL 603s) in a 120 degree configuration, at ear level, about 4 feet behind me.
2 - Distant single mic 10-15 ft away indoorsdistance, single mic
Indoors in our studio, we would normally use 1 mic about 10-15 feet away as the room had very little echo.
3 - Close flat (boundary) condenser or mini mic, 8-12 in from the chanter fingers; mic over the dronesclose, chanter + drones
Mike the chanter about 8 to 12 inches from the fingers with a flat condenser or mini mic; mike the drone pipes overhead.
4 - Main pair or array 2 × Shure SM81hall, ORTF pair in the room
I set up an ORTF pair of SM81s in the hall; I used SM81s because my KM 84s went into overload, even with the pads engaged.
5
Studio and stage
Distant
- Neumann U 871 independent source
The 1 setup behind this: placement and quotes
- Distant 2 × Neumann U 87distance pair, outdoors
We used to use a pair of U87s as a spaced pair about 10 feet from the pipes and 30 feet apart.
3
On stage
Close
- cardioid dynamic pointed at the middle of the pipes, about 8 in away1 independent source
The 1 setup behind this: placement and quotes
- Close cardioid dynamic pointed at the middle of the pipes, about 8 in awayclose, live dance
Sax, clarinet, bagpipes, accordion, concertina: point a mic at their middle from about 8 inches away and they should sound ok.
6
Advised against
- Main pair or array 2 × Neumann KM 84hall, ORTF pair
My KM 84s went into overload, even with the pads engaged, recording ten Scottish pipers in a chapel.
5
Range
A#2 to A#57115 Hz – 920 Hz
115 Hz (bass drone) to 920 Hz (high A), our conversion; pipes tune A to about 470-480 Hz
The sound
The piper blows into a bag, which keeps air flowing past the reeds; all four reeds sit inside the instrument, so there is no articulation or dynamic control, and grace-note embellishments separate notes.1
Where the sound goes
Two sources. The chanter is directional: the piper's body shields the rear, so it is about 12 dB louder in front than behind at 1 m. The drones sit above and behind and radiate about equally all round. Stamler found ten pipers and four bass drummers in a stone chapel "louder than the Who".8,5
Recording it
Recording, studio: an engineer on a video forum says close miking is a mistake: in a studio he used one mic 10-15 ft away (little room echo), and outdoors a spaced pair of U 87s about 10 ft from the pipes and 30 ft apart; "with bagpipes, 10 feet is close micing". Bartlett's opposite approach is a flat condenser or mini mic 8-12 in from the chanter fingers and a mic over the drones. A piper's home set-up: one MXL 990 condenser at chanter height from a few feet, plus two MXL 603 at 120 degrees at ear level about 4 ft behind. Search-result text suggests ribbons close to the chanter and one behind the piper 18-24 in from the drones (source thread not opened).
Recording, hall: Stamler recorded ten pipers and four bass drummers in a stone chapel with an ORTF pair of SM81s; his KM 84s overloaded even with pads engaged.3,4,2,5
On stage
Kaufman says to point a cardioid at the middle of the pipes from about 8 in; no stage-specific source found.6
Problems to watch
Very high SPL (overload of small condensers), reverberant indoor sound ("never meant to be heard indoors"), two source directions.8,5,3
About the range
The chanter plays nine notes (low G, low A, B, C, D, E, F, high G, high A), from a whole tone below the tonic to an octave above; the drones are tuned to the tonic A. Modern pipes tune to about 470-480 Hz, close to Bb4. Dr Patrick Potter gives the fundamentals as 115 Hz (bass drone) to 920 Hz (high A); that is about A#2 to A#5 (my conversion). Energy extends to about 8 kHz.1,7
How loud
Sound pressure level measurements as published. Different kinds of figure (a playing level, a peak, a dose at the player's ear) can't be compared with each other, and neither can figures at different distances.
| Playing level | |
|---|---|
| 85–90 dB | within several feet; solo piper7 |
| 95–102 dB | within several feet; six pipers7 |
| 95 dB | at 1 m; chanter, in front of the piper8 |
| 83 dB | at 1 m; chanter, behind the piper8 |
| 100 dB | player's left ear, about 0.6 m9 |
| 110 dB or more | around the circle of a full band during a performance; pipe band with its drum corps7 |
| 112 dB(A) | piper's left ear, in an anechoic chamber; one piper (the author) playing his Highland pipes10 |
| 100 dB or more | at 1 m; one piper's Highland pipes, measured by a band's sound engineer secondary11 |
| Peaks | |
| 111 dB | outdoors, location not stated; Army tests of a piper playing one tune at several locations secondary12,13 |
| 116 dB | indoors, location not stated; same Army tests, pipes played indoors secondary12,13 |
Potter: peak fundamental energy about 93 dB; levels in the several feet around a solo piper are 85-90 dB SPL, six pipers 95-102 dB, and more with the drum corps. Alex Carruthers (Piping Times, 1979): the chanter is about 95 dB at 1 m in front of the piper and 83 dB at 1 m behind. A forum piper's meter read about 100 dB at the left ear at about 2 ft (informal, converted by a poster to about 95 dB at 1 m, no weighting stated).7,8,9
Sources
- Wikipedia, Great Highland bagpipe
- Chiff & Fipple forum: professionally recording pipes, solo and duet (2012)
- DVinfo.net forum: Bag Pipes (mic advice thread)
- ProSoundWeb: A Guide to Microphone Techniques for Studio Recording, page 5
- Recording Magazine: Tough-To-Record Instruments From A to Z
- Jeff Kaufman: Contra Dance Sound, Mic Placement
- Dr Patrick L. Potter, Hearing Loss Secondary to Sound Exposure, Pipes|Drums
- Alex R. Carruthers, The acoustical environment of the highland bagpipe out of doors, part 2 (Piping Times, 1979, via bagpipe.news)
- Chiff & Fipple, Loudness of Concert pitch pipes in Decibels?
- Bagpipe Society, Chanter: It's not all hot air
- The Session: Actual decibel levels of Irish instruments (forum thread)
- Army.ca forum: Army's bagpipers and drummers must play safe and use earplugs (quotes The Scotsman and The Times, 24 Jul 2006)
- Bagpipe News: We don't realise how important our hearing is until we start to lose it (reprint of Piping Times, May 2008)