The piccolo trumpet — what an iconic sound! Mention it, and most musicians alive today think of one song: “Penny Lane.” That trumpet solo performed by David Mason is definitely the highest-profile appearance of the piccolo trumpet in the last century. Other notable pieces including this sound are Bach’s “Brandenburg Concerto No. 2” and many other Baroque compositions, including those by Vivaldi and, of course, Purcell’s “Trumpet Tune,” which you hear at most every wedding.
The piccolo trumpet is challenging both to play and to record. It’s as demanding as it is loud! Its volume and high musical range make it an instrument that needs to be recorded cleanly. It needs a mic with a wide dynamic range and, ideally, a mic that’s not too bright.
What mic should you reach for when recording the piccolo trumpet? We considered that too. Commonly accepted trumpet mics are a great place to start, but there are new mics coming out all the time, and we wanted to hear those on piccolo trumpet as well.
We took a large collection of mics (20 in all) into Sweetwater Studios and enlisted the talented Steve Patrick, Nashville’s first-call studio trumpeter, to play for us. One look at Steve’s recording credits will reveal his first-class talent. He certainly delivered for us, just as he has for artists like Carrie Underwood, Garth Brooks, Elton John, Idina Menzel, Chris Stapleton, Celine Dion, Styx, TobyMac, Matchbox Twenty, Ben Folds, and Lynyrd Skynyrd. He’s also played trumpet on movies such as Toy Story 4, My Little Pony: The Movie, Space Force, Fargo, Texas Rising, Lost in Space, Outlander, and Legends of Tomorrow. Or if you’re into video games, you’ve heard his playing in Minecraft, Fortnite, Call of Duty (Black Ops 3, 4, Cold War, Infinite Warfare, Modern Warfare, WWII), Destiny 2, Halo, Madden NFL (18, 19, 20), The Last of Us, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Assassin’s Creed, Halo, FIFA: (18,19), and Star Wars: (Jedi: Fallen Order, Squadrons). What a list! We were delighted to get him for this session.
We lined up all the mics in the studio, routed them into Rupert Neve Designs Shelford channels with no EQ or compression, and recorded them into Pro Tools with the AVID MTRX converters. You’ll hear Steve play two different passages in different styles and ranges, so you can hear how each mic interprets the sound. Notice how much of the room sound each picks up.
The mics we auditioned include dynamics, condensers, and ribbons. If you’re not sure what those mic types are, check out our Studio Microphone Buying Guide.
The Microphones
(Grouped by type, in alphabetical order)
Condenser Microphones
- AKG C414 XLS
- AKG C414 XLII
- Audio-Technica AT4047/SV
- Audio-Technica AT4050
- Mojave Audio MA-37
- Neumann U 87 Ai
- Neumann TLM 103
- Rode NT1-A
- Shure KSM44A
- Telefunken U47
- Warm Audio WA-8000
Dynamic Microphones
Ribbon Microphones
Take a Listen
Here are the performances. Each grouping is a different piece, and Steve played his Schilke P7-4 piccolo trumpet. Take a listen and see which sound you prefer.
Piccolo Trumpet
Piccolo Trumpet – Bright
Conclusion
What do you think? Can you hear the differences? They certainly weren’t subtle to us. Which is the right mic that will fit your needs? Call your Sweetwater Sales Engineer at (800) 222-4700, and they can help you find exactly the right mic for your piccolo trumpet.
Be sure to check out our companion Trumpet Mic Shootout to hear even more mics on a range of trumpets.
