Internal mic baffle

[jaye deluxe]

Hi all, I'm new to accordions, new to this group, and appreciate the chance to learn. I came across a Sonola Rivoli R241, which has an internal mic with a 1/4 in. guitar cable. I think this is a factory set up ? What I have found is that the placement of the internal mic makes the center F# sound terribly screechy. Has anyone else had this issue ? And what is the remedy ? Move the mic ? I thought of maybe some kind of baffle ? Thoughts ? Thanks !!!

 

[debra]

Hi all, I'm new to accordions, new to this group, and appreciate the chance to learn. I came across a Sonola Rivoli R241, which has an internal mic with a 1/4 in. guitar cable. I think this is a factory set up ? What I have found is that the placement of the internal mic makes the center F# sound terribly screechy. Has anyone else had this issue ? And what is the remedy ? Move the mic ? I thought of maybe some kind of baffle ? Thoughts ? Thanks !!!

Not sure what you mean by "internal mic". If the mic is really inside, between treble and bass side, mounted on one of the reed blocks, then the sound quality is always limited because the sound inside the accordion is different from the sound outside.
If "internal" means there is a mic under the grille, then you should consider that in order to get an evenly distributed sound pickup there should be at least 4 or 5 mics distributed over the length of the keyboard (3 on a small diatonic will do). The sound of notes closest to a mic capsule should not be much louder than that of the notes further away from a capsule.
On the bass side the "chamber" is often suitable for capturing all the bass sound with a single capsule if carefully placed.
So the problem really depends on what type of internal mic you have, and on its placement. If there is a problem with F# then move the capsule further away from the F#.
Generally speaking the best sound from an accordion can be obtained by using mics that are not inside the accordion but some distance away. But that is only "the best" for recording. For amplification during gigs you always have a compromise between short distance from the sound source to avoid feedback loops and long distance from the sound for better sound quality.

 

[Ben-jammin]

knowing your specific application could be helpful. As Paul mentioned different applications benefit from different approaches.

My general experience is the closer the microphones are to the reeds the harder it is to get a flattering or natural tone and more eq adjustment is required. Subtractive EQing can make a big improvement.

 

[jaye deluxe]

Sorry, I thought maybe someone out there knows this specific model and mic design. Here's a pic of what I have. It looks like a factory set up, but kinda sounds.......terrible !!! Maybe there is someone out there that has experienced this and made any adjustments to how this mic is placed. Thanks !!!

 

[debra]

Thanks for the picture. So this is the setup with a single mic (bad idea) on the inside of the accordion (again a bad idea). If you want to really capture the sound that comes out of the accordion the mics should be on the outside (these are typically just under the grille of just outside of the grille.

 

[Mr Mark]

I've had some limited success with installing baffles to reduce proximity reed problems...the cheap way is to use a piece of stiff cardboard, at the very least you can experiment cheaply enough utilizing hot glue and some well placed screws before using a material with improved structural capability - having said that I have cardboard baffles in one accordion with no issues over a period of time. Results will be limited though, and chances are that you will actually have the reverse problem if you do so, although it would be the lesser of two evils (no screechy, just hard to hear). In your case you may have to start by also gaining clearance between mic and reed block to fit the baffle (if there is clearance between treble and bass reed blocks), and you wouldn't want the baffle to actually contact the mic...you may have to experiment with putting holes in the baffle to let enough of the reeds directly baffled to feel less confused.

The nice thing with that picture is that there is a lot of room to move things around, depending upon how well the mic picks up from afar, say like the empty corner at the end...I prefer if I can get a mic at the end (preferably high end) because this seems to be the easiest thing to address using eq as opposed to cherry picking notes in the middle of your sonic range. You might also want a baffle for the outside reed row, maybe the bass too, but there are things that you can do here.

I've not found a one size fits all, you will have to find the mic application which works for you. If it is anything less than an extremely loud situation on a quality instrument then Paul's recommendations are the ways to go. Otherwise for very loud volume a single dynamic inside has 'worked' for me.

 

[jozz]

my 2 cents:
either replace with a modern dynamic capsule that will probably not have the overloading issue,
or remove altogether in favor of a mic on stand, or a clip-on