Best mic for live flute AND whistles?

[eddiekibble]

Hi Apologies if this is a topic already covered, I DID try and look at them all...

My musical partner plays flutes, whistles (tin and other), and sings.
We are about to start gigging "properly" and she needs to be heard. A clip-on mic is out of the question, as she has to change instruments during a fair few tunes, but does not want to be tiied to a mic - needs to be able to move around. Plus, one mic per instrument equals 7 mics - far too costly. Cost iIS a problem...

I play guitar or mandolin, with a Boss looper; there is no percussion on stage other than what I produce on the guitar body.

A cheap option seems to be the old staple, SM57. Is that a bad move? Whatever, would the mic be positioned above her head, needing a seperate vocal mic for her to sing through? Or would a headmic do the trick for all?

EK x

[flutego12]

I had been asking the same question myself the past few months, not for gigging rather for checking my own playing.

After going round in circles the local music store which does a lot of private schools in the area suggested I had a look at the portable recorders - H2n (for handy up and go with 5 in built mics for XY and side recording) and if you are into serious recording, doing fancy overlays and mixing (more versatile) then the H4n which has dropped tremendously in price. These record in amazing stereo Watch You tube reviews. Most ppl download audacity to use with it. H2n records the entire stage great for live performances whilst the H4n simulates or has "world class studio recording" capabilities with bells and whistles. H4n has phantom power, a pair of great XY condenser mics and XLR jacks if you choose to use our own mics. Has 4 channel recording.

In the end, I sheepishly remembered that I had Photo Booth sitting quietly in my old imac which does videos and to my surprise the sound capture was good enough for my purpose. If u have a mac set up, Apogee One is great for capturing one instrument at a time for overlay in Garageband (using what you've already got). Though for bands Apogee Duets is better though the downside is it's price. I'm sure there are other set ups. This is just the beginner stuff.

[Zevang]

If movement is needed that best is a headset. AKG has excelent complete wireless sets.

[Bo]

I use the Edirol R09. Apart from the microphone though you should also pay attention where you put it. It is important too and I think it also varies with the settings you use.