IT BURNS!!!
Now, why is it that serious conversations about microphones always decay into conversations about thsi sort of thing? 
Cousins to Dick Burns obviously.
(TomS @ Jun. 06 2007,16:01)
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Now, why is it that serious conversations about microphones always decay into conversations about thsi sort of thing?
At a guess, something to do with phallic symbology?
?
(Bubbagump @ Jun. 06 2007,16:09)
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Cousins to Dick Burns obviously.
Ouch!
…and while on the subject, does anybody know what happened to the recording engineer Mike Rophone?
Wasn’t Mike Rophone Lance’s real name, the guy who worked on the Bitch Slap sessions?
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Yeah, but he used to say the same thing about a compuyter stick mic, and while it’s true, in a way, it is also not the best way to look at it, IMHO - I mean, one can make good music with a crappy guitar, but it is so much easier with a good guitar. Mics are instruments too!
I couldn’t agree more Tom. I’m with Vanclan on this, the more different mikes and types of mikes you have (within reason) the more chance you have of finding just the right one for the job.
But I still haven’t found anything that can make a bhodran sound anything better than a flatulent goat.
Don’t foget uncle Richard Noggin!
PEACE
Giz, I saw the Chieftans in a video a while back, with Kevin Conneff playing through an sm57 - and it sounded fabulous. That sort of surprised me. We have a cheapo bodhran we got through Lark in the Morning, and it sounds pretty nice in our living room, but darned if I can make it sound good recorded either. Then again I don’t know how to play it, even after watching the video, you’d think it’d be simple, I mean, it’s just a stupid simple drum, about as simple as they get… 
But a flatulent goat - that’s a bassoon, isn’t it?
Bodhran jokes:
http://www.ceolas.org/instruments/bodhran/jokes.shtml
That’s what I use on it too, an SM57. I’ve tried other mikes but nothing sounds any better.
I’ve given up trying to find the spot with EQ that brings out the sharp transient percussive hit sound, the player changes his hand position and pressure so much that by the time I find it, it’s gone. I’m talking live on stage here, I haven’t actually tried recording it yet.
So I just concentrate on letting it be a kind of, almost subliminal, rhythmic rumble. It seems to work that way. But it’s more an atmospheric pad than a drum.
As for playing it, I know my limitations. I just mix and leave that stuff to the bands.
A couple of good omnis and a Jecklyn disk… try it. Or even just one omni.