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Post by blademaster2 on Feb 11, 2019 11:55:27 GMT -5
I saw Bohemian Rhapsody and was surprised that they depicted Brian May speaking directly into the guitar pickups so that the others in the control room portion of the studio could hear him.
I thought this was rather silly - guitar pups might have some microphonics, but these are non-ideal and May - like many - potted his Burn Tr-Sonic pups himself specifically to *reduce* microphonics. Moreover, if there was a mic on the guitar amplifier in the room he would probably have been better heard by directing his voice in that direction.
Do any others in the forum have any experience in trying this to say for sure that this was simply Hollywood silliness (as I thought), or am I simply missing something fundamental here?
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Post by reTrEaD on Feb 11, 2019 14:24:47 GMT -5
I saw Bohemian Rhapsody and was surprised that they depicted Brian May speaking directly into the guitar pickups so that the others in the control room portion of the studio could hear him. I thought this was rather silly - guitar pups might have some microphonics, but these are non-ideal and May - like many - potted his Burn Tr-Sonic pups himself specifically to *reduce* microphonics. Moreover, if there was a mic on the guitar amplifier in the room he would probably have been better heard by directing his voice in that direction. Do any others in the forum have any experience in trying this to say for sure that this was simply Hollywood silliness (as I thought), or am I simply missing something fundamental here? Having not had my hands on Brian's guitar, I really can't say for sure. But it would require a truly wretched pickup to have that level of microphonics. Hollywood stretching the truth or bending the laws of physics is not a new thing. Gravity, anyone?
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Post by blademaster2 on Feb 12, 2019 9:40:51 GMT -5
Since my post I have seen anecdotes on line of performances when the guitar player screamed into the pups and the audience could hear it, but I sincerely doubt these could be used as the microphone the way BoRhap showed it (and I would also expect that they would be terrible pups if they did work that way).
It surprised me that Brian May, who was consulted in some way for the film, did not gently suggest that they refrain from something so inaccurate.
In my online search I saw a post on a forum claiming that guitar pups *must* be microphonic to pick up the harmonics of the strings, otherwise all guitars would sound the same. I still get surprised by the claims I see on other forums.
And yeah, Gravity. Absolutely no regard for accuracy, plausibility or orbital mechanics .... but Sandra Bullock looked great.
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Post by ashcatlt on Feb 12, 2019 12:53:23 GMT -5
I have in fact seen pickups that you could talk through. Mostly 70s era "Teisco" types. Run them through much of any gain, and you could definitely use them as a microphone. I haven't really tried it on my shortscale bass, but even after I potted those pickups, I can hear all of the details of my fingers hitting and scraping and rubbing on the pickguard.
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Post by thetragichero on Feb 12, 2019 14:31:04 GMT -5
for esses and gees a few years back I recorded a short fast heavy metal type ep on the 4 track I received for my 16th birthday. too much gain, really, on the guitar, but at the end of one of the tracks you can hear "woah, that might work!" from when I recorded either guitar or bass track. microphone and amp were in a closet in another room
so yes, it is quite possible
(I have since potted the bass pickups in a mixture of paraffin and bees wax)
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Post by blademaster2 on Feb 12, 2019 17:49:43 GMT -5
I still believe that Brian May's pups should not be microphonic enough to permit him to speak to the control room through them.
But I cannot say for sure, so I will have to throw in the towel on this and concede that it was not purely make believe.
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Post by Yogi B on Mar 5, 2019 13:29:40 GMT -5
(From: Testing for microphonics with an un-potted PAF clone) So, per my recent post on this topic, would you agree that it seems unlikely that Brian May's Burns TriSonic Pickups on his Red Special could actually work well enough as a microphone for Brian to talk back through them to the studio control room? This was depicted in the movie Bohemian Rhapsody when they were in the studio recording Brian for that song. I feel that if those pickups were truly that responsive to his voice it would make them almost useless on his guitar. Well, I've seen people do this trick live, the two that immediately come to mind are: - Paul Gilbert, at the end of Get Out Of My Yard
- Kings Of Leon, Closer
Admittedly, the second is a poor example at demonstrating whether there would be enough clarity to understand what was spoken into the pickup; though the first does show it is possible.
Also, going back to Brian May, according to Greg Fryer in response to "WHAT POSITION IS THE REVERSE WOUND PICKUP ON THE RED SPECIAL? MIDDLE OR BRIDGE?": One fact that people might find interesting is that on Brian's Red Special both the Bridge pickup and the Neck pickups are partial[ly] encased in Araldite (for those not familiar with it, Araldite is a two part epoxy resin glue), however the Middle pickup has not been araldited. ... The Bridge and Neck pickups were encased in Araldite to assist in reducing microphonic feedback at high amp levels but for some reason Brian and Harold decided not to do this to the Middle pickup - in our discussions in 1998 Brian could not remember the reason for leaving this one un-araldited...and maybe we'll never know...
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