Roland Romanelli
Accordionist - Pianist - Composer - Arranger
Optimizing the sound of an accordion is far from easy. I was fully involved in the design of this new Prodipe mic pack, and, as you're well aware, I've always been hard to please when it comes to getting that perfect sound. Myself, my friend Ludovic Lanen, and the whole Prodipe team did our utmost to find a way to reproduce the sound of the accordion.
Of all the components in a mic, the one that has to be infallible is the capsule. Prodipe have developed an electret capsule that can take up to 140dB and recreate all the energy and nuances of your instrument. And what's more, its excellent linearity respects the timbre and sound of the accordion.
We also spent a lot of time thinking about how the three individual mics should be attached to the instrument. .
We decided that two mics would be best for the right hand manual. In fact, trying to capture the overall sound of the accordion with a single mic means that the mic has to be positioned pretty far from the instrument itself, which is a major disadvantage when you're surrounded by high volume instruments, like the drums.
The two right hand manual mics can be positioned close enough to the instrument to receive all the notes and harmonies, but none of the parasites from other instruments.
To make sure that the mics are in the best place to record the sound, we thought very carefully about the types of clamps we would need: two to suspend the mics over the right hand manual and one for the mic over the left hand manual. Each clamp has a Velcro fastening for easy attachment and removal.
I had a great time helping in the development of this accordion mic pack and I've been using it for live performances and most of my recording work ever since. So I know for sure that it'll be a superbly valuable piece of equipment for all accordionists.
