Have you been playing handpans for a long time, and now finally, you are getting confident regarding recording your music either by yourself at home or in a studio with other handpan players and listeners? But the problem you might face would be the lack of knowledge about which type of microphone or handpan pickup could be the ideal choice for your music and the environment you are willing to play.
Keeping that in mind, we have put together this article which will help you towards the best handpan pickup or microphones that completely suit you and would enhance your performance or recording to the next level.
- Dynamic microphone
Dynamic microphones are musicians' most common type of microphone due to their extreme robustness and relatively simple design. One of the significant characteristics of these microphones is their capability to pick up a high level of acoustic music, eliminating any saturation in between.
When it comes to working as a handpan pickup, it becomes quite helpful. For instance, playing the handpan under challenging conditions like malls or shopping centers eliminates unnecessary noise and records only the music you play near it.
- Static microphone
If you want your handpan pickup to stay a little farther away from your instrument but still be able to pick up all the subtleties and nuances coming out of your music correctly, then static microphones could be a choice for you. Ideally, static microphones are said to work for you in places like home or recording in a studio, also on stage.
- Ribbon microphone
Suppose your handpan playing sessions are more or less restricted to studios along with a group or individually while recording. In that case, a ribbon microphone works wonders in those conditions. This type of microphone is almost the same as dynamic ones; the only difference has a thin metal ribbon as an alternative for the moving coil.
Ribbon microphones produce a different tonality to your music quality coming out of the handpans, allowing you to judge if the music is up to your standard.
- Contact microphone
As you can probably guess from the word contact, this type of microphone can stick directly to your handpans and pick up the sound produced through the rhythmic vibration of the instrument. The ideal condition for using this type of microphone will be on the stage, and it lets you hear your instrument distinctly from all the other types of instruments nearby.
Conclusion
Microphones are subject to choice in terms of personal matters depending upon the equipment available near you or the environment in which you are willing to play your handpan. Hopefully, after reading the above article, you can easily differentiate and choose which type of microphone would tick all the boxes and enhance your music quality.
