Mic Archive

Instrument

Sarod

Fretless plucked lute with a goat-skin head and metal fingerboard, 17 to 25 strings in total including sympathetic strings (Wikipedia). Short entry: little recording literature.

Sources
7 (7 independent)

Recommended mics

Mics sources recommend

13 setups from 7 sources, 7 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.

On stage

Close

Contact

  • Schertler contact pickup (model not named)1 independent source
The 2 setups behind this: placement and quotes
  • Close Sennheiser MD 421
    close (placement not stated), for jam sessions and house concerts
    Used on sitars - sarods - etc etc - cello - violins ... I've personally used this mic on indian stringed instuments since the early 80's1
  • Contact Schertler contact pickup (model not named)
    contact, stuck on the body in different places depending on venue and amplification (sarod player Angelo Esmanhotto)
    I use the contact microphone called Shertler ... Depending on where I play and the type of amplification I put the mic in different places1

Studio

Main pair or array

  • Coles 4038 (tree)1 independent source
  • custom-modified Neumann tube and solid-state mics, Schoeps tube1 independent source

Close

Room

The 10 setups behind this: placement and quotes
  • Main pair or array custom-modified Neumann tube and solid-state mics, Schoeps tube
    main (placement not stated), live concert recording of sarod and tabla
    We have used custom modified Neumann microphones (tube and solid state, Schoeps tube), a custom-built John Hardy mike pre-amp2
  • Close 2 × DPA 4041 (variant of the DPA 4041-SP)
    close, about 30 cm in front of the sarod; with a second 4041 30 cm above the tabla the two also work as a widely spaced AB pair
    one placed approx. 30cm above the tabla, the other approx. 30cm in front of the sarod ... served as a pair of spot microphones and a widely spaced AB pair3
  • Room 2 × DPA 4023 (ORTF pair)
    room, ORTF pair raised high between the performers and the audience, aimed directly at the floor
    A matched pair of DPA 4023 compact cardioids was used in an ORTF configuration ... raised high and aimed directly at the floor3
  • Close Schoeps MK 4
    close, about 16 inches off the body
    Swapping to a Schoeps MK4 about 16 inches off the body ... gave us the blend we were after4
  • Room 2 × Schoeps MK 21 (ORTF pair)
    pair, ORTF at a distance, for the airy halo in the room
    pairing it with an ORTF MK21 array at a distance4
  • Room DPA 4006 (quad height array) (earlier version of the DPA 4006A)
    room, four height mics lifted a few feet and aimed toward the ceiling
    lifted them a few feet and aimed them toward the ceiling (paraphrase), which opened the sound up4
  • Main pair or array Coles 4038 (tree)
    room, ribbon tree for a darker, heavier room image in the rear channels
    (paraphrase) a Coles 4038 tree added a darker, heavier room image in the rears4
  • Close Telefunken Elektroakoustik C-12
    close, on the goat-skin head
    C-12 on the goat-skin head, in a dry booth (paraphrase).5
  • Close 2 × Sanken C100K (CO-100K)
    one pair: sympathetic strings inside the body and bridge tail
    Engineer praised the Sanken omnis for reaching "way into the upper harmonic range" with sparkle without hype.5
  • Close Schoeps MS pair
    pair, MS on one stand up close between sarod and tabla players, sarod slightly on axis to the negative lobe of the side capsule
    my Schoeps MS pair on top ... up close between the two musicians ... the sarod slightly more on axis to the negative side of the S (or Side) capsule6

Studio and stage

Close

The 1 setup behind this: placement and quotes
  • Close Shure SM81 or Shure SM57
    close, 8 in at 30 degrees
    Compared SM57 and SM81 at 8 in, 30 degrees; SM81 neutral and more natural, SM57 coloured by 2 kHz boost (paraphrase). ... SM57 loses bass below about 200 Hz and boosts near 2 kHz on sarod; SM81 preferred (paraphrase).7

Advised against

Range

three octaves (Maihar design)8

Where the sound goes

The goat-skin head, the sympathetic strings inside the body and the bridge tail are separate sources. The Manifold engineer used a different mic for each.

Recording it

Manifold Recording (engineer Ian) used a dry booth, a Telefunken C-12 on the head, and a pair of Sanken C100K (CO-100K) omnis for sympathetic strings and bridge tail; the player called it the best sarod recording he had heard. The Naware paper (SM57 against SM81, both 8 in away at 30 degrees) found the SM57 loses bass below about 200 Hz and boosts near 2 kHz, so it colours the tone; the SM81 is flatter and more sensitive. That is one study, with one player, and the recordings were not processed.

About the range

Tuned to B (standard) or C (Maihar style) (Wikipedia). The larger Maihar design has "a range of three octaves" (Wikipedia). Absolute lowest and highest notes: no source.

Sources

  1. Indian Music Forums (Chandrakantha): Best sitar mic? (thread, Dec 2018 - Dec 2019)forum · forum.chandrakantha.com
  2. Moment Records liner notes (1991), via Discogs: Amjad Ali Khan & Zakir Hussain, Sarod (live at Dinkelspiel Auditorium, Stanford, Apr 1990; engineer Arshad Syed)engineer · discogs.com
  3. Fast and Wide (GE-OS Project, Greg Simmons team, Dec 2010): GE-OS Day 2, Music Nepal Studios, Kathmanduengineer · fast-and-wide.com
  4. Justin Gray Sound blog (Dec 2025): Immersive Sarod Recording (Aditya Verma)engineer · justingraysound.com
  5. Manifold Recording blog: Acoustic Magic (part 2), recording a sarodengineer · blog.miraverse.com
  6. Sound Related / Sydney Sound Recordist (Joseph Dutaillis, Jun 2011): A Day in Studio A - Sarod, Tabla, and... an iPhone?engineer · soundrelated.com
  7. Vivek Naware, Naad-Nartan Journal 12(1), Jan 2024: SM 57 and SM 81 for recording and sound reinforcement of Sarodeducational · naadnartan.in
  8. Wikipedia: Sarodreference · en.wikipedia.org