...is frankly a bit of a bugger. The problem is of course that sound comes from both ends of the instrument, and those ends move around. Usually sound men aim a mike somewhere at the middle of the bellows and hope for the best. A little better is to use two mikes, one for each end, but this feels limiting somehow to the player though the sound is much improved. In the studio life is much easier as you don't have to cope with ambient sound and can thus use an omni- directional mike some way back from the instrument. Use the best mikes you can lay your hands on - the timbre of a concertina will defeat cheap mikes. I have used an AKG C1000S mike with some success.
There are manufacturers who make a living from devising mikes for awkward instruments - some are listed in section 8. As an example we use Microvox kit. Their system consists of two close mikes which you attach one to each end of the concertina using Velcro. Each mike has a lead which runs into a small box you clip on your belt. From this one single lead runs to the DI box. The advantage is that since both mikes are held in proximity to the concertina you can move freely, and the sound quality is quite good too.
It is worth considering in any situation whether you can get away without miking at all. The tone of a concertina is quite penetrating and sometimes in smaller venues where PA is in use we have used mikes for our voices but not for our concertinas.
I asked the concertina maker Colin Dipper whether it would be possible to fit mikes permanently within the body of a concertina, but he advised that this would probably have a detrimental effect on the overall sound of the instrument. Having said that, Howard Jones has fitted internal mikes to his anglo concertina, apparently without harmful effects, and has put instructions up on the net at http://www.hjcjones.freeserve.co.uk/music/concertina/mike.htm
Copyright Statement