Easy Recording Setup and Tips for Saxophone 

Man, hearing the same mic in two different rooms was VERY illuminating. Great info, Jay. Hope you and your family are staying safe and happy!

Thanks 🙏 for being so generous with sharing your experiences, equipment, and know how!!! Every Sax player should be subscribed to your channel! 😀🚀

Honestly the results don't seem to differ much. I've been playing on a AKG sax Mike for 20 years and still works great. You're thoughts and experience are very helpful

I recommend to Better Sax to all my sax students. Watch and learn. Thanks man.

The apogee might be the way for me, I think, but I also play the flute, and violin/ viola. Thanks for your tutorial. Dan

The Shure MV5 looks like something out of the front door of Jabba the Hutt's palace! Another informative video, Jay. Thanks.

Thanks for this video. I was lost as to what mic to get before. Based on this I finally bought a mic and I love it so far.

The transcribed lick is from your lesson with Bruce Williams!!

You are such a great inspiration towards me, and playing my sax. You are also a great player!

Interesting that what you say you like about the expensive Mic is exactly what I was hearing out of the cheap one! I thought the less expensive Shure was the best sound by far. But that's why there's Fords and Chevys. Or maybe my ears are just old - like the rest of me.

Everytime you play, you make me want to catch up and become better😪❤️ really inspiring

What perfect timing of your video! As a conservatoire student stuck at home I have been struggling to make good quality recordings to send to my teachers.

I just tried using my H1 and results turned out great! Sound is so much better than than with any built-in mic I've tried and manual level setting does wonders!

I like how you say, if it all sound the same to you then just use your onboard mic. The thing is that if we are listening to this through our phone or computer speakers, chances are they do sound quite the same. Excellent sound needs excellent speakers to show the difference. I have the Apogee 1st generation and love it. I also use it plugged directly into my MacBook.

Jay, I gave up on online lessons and recording myself to critically listen due to recording issues. I haven't considered taking online lessons since. The recordings didn't sound like me tonally and the sax easily overwhelmed the input. I was using a highly rated microphone (Rode-NTUSB) that plugged right into my computer's USB jack. I spent a fair amount of time on the selection. There wasn't much adjustment that could be made and it didn't matter how far from the mic I stood. I could overwhelm it from another room, lol. It was suggested I needed to use an interface program like Audacity but i was spending more time trying to figure it all out than practicing. That's my experience.

Jay, this lesson on recording and microphones was really helpful. Thanks so much for sharing. Could you post another video describing the sound editing software you use. I use Audacity, which I think is very good (and it's free). But I use only the most basic features. Thanks again. Eric

would like to see more videos describing your audio interface, pedals and plugins for recording software

Hey Jay, I just wanted to say thank you for the emails with all of the helpful hints/tips/materials, I really appreciate it. I wasn't sure if I can respond to those emails so I wanted to say thank you here. Also love the videos, especially ones covering the baritone sax since that's my favorite horn

The RODE XY for Apple phones and tablets is terrific. Approx 150$. If you buy an inexpensive Lightning extension cable (10-15$) you can place it on a beam like the Apogee+. Feels a lot more high-tech and cleverly designed than the Shure counterpart.

My god this is driving me nuts!! I definitely recognize that piece and I’m 99% sure it’s Charlie Parker, but I just cannot remember which tune it is

LOVE the Ray Charles solo!!

You transcribed them from bettersax charts. Very helpful video!

Great video. The Shure MV5 shows off your excellent sound.

Thanks for these videos - always good value

I've been looking at reviews of large diaphragm XLR condensers and computer interfaces, for sax, vocals, and voice over work, for many months. I can't to settle on a pairing. I don't want to buy a bunch and try them--gotta get it right in one shot.

Jay, you are right on about mic placement - this is great advice! I've seen so many RU-vid videos that say bad things about placing the mic directly in front of the bell. For tenor and alto I feel that I get a better sound, no question, with the mic 6 or 8 inches in front of the bell. Soprano placement is a little different, I play off axis to the mic to warm the sound up a bit. Great video.

Great video again! Many thanks for all this worthfuly honest info!

Really helpful video. Thanks Jay. Love your videos

Great content - thanks! I'd love to know how the industry standard Shure SM57 compares as well as some of the clip-on options form Shure and even other higher end vendors.

It came too late, I ordered a Zoom Q2n, thanks for your videos.

Informative and timely as usual. Thanks again. C U next time.

Another reason the Apogee mic outperforms is that it has a really excellent mic pre-amp AND DAC built in. My guess are the other usb mics don't. So with the Apogee you are also hearing better electronics.

Hey Jay there's a new Shure MV88+ Video Kit which has the same internals as the MV88 but with cables and all the bells and whistles and iOS/Android compatible and you don't need to pull off your phone case

Take a look at the Shure MV51, it's a large diaphragm condenser that will get the warmth that you're looking for and also runs $199.

At 3.02, would love to know the how the audio output provides the sound ie: is the mic connected to a speaker and you just film this on a phone for example? Love your channel

Great Video Jay! I think it would be cool if you did a review on some of the cheap amazon micorphones. Some of them sell for as low as $30-40 and have mixed reviews.

When i heard that sax solo for the cheap mic i nearly fell out! I love ray charles

Thanks Jay! Very usefull as always. All of these mics are conected directly into computer, right? I have one mic with only XLR input, therefore, if I want to record to my mac it seems like I need to acquire another product witch I'm not really sure what it is... I found very few things about it on the web, so I'd love to see a video about that on your channel. Thanks again for the video, your classes are the best.

Danke!

Great video! it's a shame that here in Brazil the mics are so much expensive than in Europe !

Thank You! You rock my friend!

Thanks for great content and inspiration! I would just like to share what I found to be a great solution for studio recording of my sax (not really the theme for this video but anyhow). I usually use a combination of tho microphones, one condensed mic and one band mic. Be sure what type of condensed mic you use since some that are made for singing specifically has a tendency to sound quite thin if you don't get close enough. But that together with the band mic gives you a really nice opportunity to experiment with mixing the sound of the two mics. Want more pop sound? Increase input from the condensed mic. Want more vintage sound? Increase input from the band mic. No matter what I found the combination to give a very rich sound.

Apogee also makes a free Recorder Called the MetaRecorder.... it is an excellent free download from those Talented Apogee Folks here in Santa Monica. And it has a Vu Meter built in and has a system for multiple takes... and exports easily. I use if all the time for Memorizing Lines... I do a lot of film. I've also got the Apogee One... and have had excellent luck with that little portable mic. Keep up the good videos.... love your playing too. Back in the day ...early 70's I toured with the Ike and Tina Turner Review.... played Tenor Sax on their Asian Tour. Ike hired me after playing only 8 notes of Soul Serenade.... ha... he just held his hand up... walked out of the room and didn't say a thing. I didn't know until the next day that I'd been hired. I was kind of depressed because I really wanted that gig. I was moping around up at UCLA where I was working on my Masters in Theater... didn't have cell phones or an answering machine... so my girlfriend said why not call and see what happened... maybe you misunderstood him walking out. I went to a payphone and called Rhonda Graham... their road manager and she yelled at me ... "where the hell you been? I've been trying to call you all morning... there's a ticket for you at LAX... get to San Francisco by 2.... for Horn Section Rehearsal... sound check at 7 PM... and we kick off at Basin Street West at 9 PM.... I did so and the next 2 or 3 months had the time of my life.... Best Always, Joseph Miller www.imdb.com/name/nm9202697/

F-word yeah man!! I have clue how to do this stuff. I use my phone for everything! The are the Man!! Thanks for telling us the truth!

Very informative. Nice work,

Informative. What is the setup when you want to record over a backing track so BOTH sound great?

I can see you are recording in the phone mic. What I'd like to know is what are you using to record what we are hearing. I hear input to the phone. Not the output from the recording device? Nice playing by the way.

Thank you very much , I picked up some very helpful tips. How would you go about adding a backing track to this set up ?

thank you for this videos i was thinking of making a video of a song i want to do but thinking that it wasn't going to be as good without a mic. thank you i really appreciate it very much. 😄

Do you record anything with backing tracks? Do you ever make your own back tracks? If so, could you share or do a video detailing how to do this? Thanks

Hi Jay, thx for this tuto. Regarding the picture quality, do you use only your iPhone to film or do you have another device you would recommand ? Thx again for your great videos !

Thank you so much for this video. I learn a lot from you 🙏 Is it possible to change a dry acoustic room into a wet room without removing the sponge from the walls? TNX..

Thanks for this. Great quality!

Jay, I was wondering what your thoughts are regarding recording the sax with a backing track. I copy the backing track to my phone and listen to it with earphones when I record. I use a zoom H4n to record the sax while I listen to the backing track. I then use Audacity to combine the backing track with the sax recording. One nice thing about this is that I can enhance the sax part (EQ, reverb, etc) before combining the two. I don't know if there are other ways to do this and was wondering what your thoughts are or your process if you do this kind of recording.

Merci pour ces informations ! Comment tu fais pour qu'on entende pas les clés du saxophone ???

Hello, just discovered your videos today, and I want to start dabbling in recording and video....Is Mac still preferred for this type of work, or are PCs ok? I've always heard that Mac was superior for audio and video production...I'm not looking to go from 0 to pro instantaneously, but just wondering if what I have already is adequate.

Great video Jay! Exactly what I was hoping for .... a week ago. I now wish I wouldn't have ordered a $600 ribbon mic out of sheer ignorance to begin my recording adventure. You say they are difficult to use?

I recommend the AT2020 microphone to start

Great, thank You, that´s very useful! Another question, what would You suggest as an easy solution to make a video recording over a play along?

Thanks!! I needed this video!!

another great video and off topic question. What neck strap are you using in this video? It looks like more of a yoke than a neck strap

How would you go to the next step which in my opinion would be to add video of you playing to a recorded soundtrack. I believe you did that last summer when you had to learn charts to perform with a band at North Sea.

Hey, that's a great and informative video! Idk why, but I can't get along with the sound me breathing while playing. I wanna record clearly the sound sax makes, but idk how to get to there. I have a Fifine mic, which is a splendid one I've found out.

Thank you for the video. I was listening to your recording with my expensive Bose headphones and my ears that usually works fine. I couldn’t hear any differences. May be you should have used the baritone as the simple mics usually are no good in the lower area.

Haha it's from your Bruce Williams video! Great stuff

Gracias, Maestro

do you mind sharing the next step? which is mixing the sound for sax / winds instruments ? Still trying to figure out how to let the sound better on after recording

Does the Apogee Mic+ also work well for recording baritone saxophone?

Excellent!

Thank you so much!

Hi Jay. I am not recording but would like yto find out the best mic for solo performance like small one that usually sits on the bell. Is it any good ? Thank you in advance. Eugenia

Jay, Are you ever going to do a video demo on the iRig Pre? I'm sure you are familiar with it. A studio mic can plug into it and be used to record on iPhone, smartphone, Ipad etc ...

Hey Jay! As a disclaimer, I play trombone but love your videos! After much research, I settled on the Shure mv51...have you heard of this one? I believe it’s very comparable to your Apogee mic. It has the mic stand capabilities, gain adjustment, and has different modes. I was wondering if you wanted to check that out and let me know what you think of it. Also, in regards to recording with iOS in any regard, have you checked out the Shure Motive apps for specific recording? If not what do you use and how do they compare? Thank you for such great content!

Hi Jay, when i watch people playing the sax on YT etc they are often wearing headphones, are they listening to the track or their playing or both ??

I wonder how the apogee would sound whilst playing with background music when recording with your Phone ? Grtz

Thanks this helps !

hello, I wanted to ask you for advice on which alto sax to buy, I have to study for 5 years of high school and I would like to make one purchase but excellent I was thinking of a yamaha yas 280, I also saw your reviews and it looks like an excellent musical instrument

Any way I can make my room sound better? Or does it depend on the shape of the room itself? What makes a good sounding room?

Have you tried with a mic+gopro instead of mic+phone?

The solo I think is: Ray Charles' "I Got a Woman" , alto solo, I think it was Maceo Parker.

So are you ALWAYS recording audio into your phone as well as the video? Do you transfer it to a more traditional desktop/laptop device for editing? Will you talk software (both for audio editing as well as video) in an upcoming video? I find myself intrigued by the setups and workflows people have, but lack the patience to try doing much of this stuff myself.

Thanks for the insightful video. Would anyone recommend an amplifier? I purchased one that’s for acoustic guitar, at first I liked it but I’m not feeling it any more.

Thanks for the information:) Maybe you or someone here can help me out: I was suggested to get a DI Box for recording my sax and I like the sound it gives (don’t hear as much breath, just notes); however, my low notes are extremely quiet. Anything I can do to help it have an even tone? I’m used to controlling my breathing for for tone but no matter how ‘loud’ I’m playing, it’s still recorded very softly. I was looking in my DAW to see if I can change frequencies or something but having no luck. Any suggestions?

Did u ever heard about fifine k669b sir?? What do you think about that usb microphone?? Is it good for record saxophone??

I get alot of clicks from the keys. how do i reduce these? is it only technique or mic placements? have a lewit LCT 040 at the bell and a SP someting large diaframe mic as room mic.

I'm pretty sure you transcribed giant steps

Awesome.

Hi Jay! Thanks for sharing these tips. Anyway, I have a question: how can we avoid hearing keys when you play? I would like to hear notes only. Thanks for your response

What do you Think of shure sm57

Question, I want to get into playing alto saxophone and I’m debating getting a cheap Chinese sax that I you recommended in one of your videos or I found a used Jupiter JAS-767 for 758 but I’m not sure what to look for when buying a used saxophone

Hi, I follow you since almost a year, and I'm also a sax player, So many compliments for your videos. Have you never compared those microphone with the SDSystem LCM89? I've got it and I'm curious to understand the differences between them. Thank you in advance

Now that I've got a really good mic setup and it sounds really good when I play back the recording, how can I keep it sounding good after it gets uploaded to the internet? Seems like RU-vid etc. all use some kind of compression that degrades the audio and makes it sound like a cheap mic again.

Hi Jay - hey what app are you using on your iPhone to actually record? Is it just the built in voice recording app that comes with the iPhone, or do you use a 3rd party app?

what do you think about the piezzobarrel mic ?

It would be interested to see the sound spectrum (Frequency vs Time)

great titles!

Can you make a logic tutorial video for sax players?

Great stuff!

Jay, just thought id mention the k669b microphone. Dave Pollack reviewed it for sax recording and it seemed quite good. I recently picked one up for £20 and it's great! Thought it might be good for a versus video!

Thanks for the advice Jay. What about effects eg reverb and delay? What do you use?