Aim a cardioid microphone roughly at the keys in the middle of the instrument. The saxophone projects its sound from the bell and all open keys so the radiation pattern is constantly changing. Most of the low frequencies are emitted by the bell because almost all keys are closed while most of the high frequencies emanate from near the mouthpiece. We recommend to place the microphone about 20 to 40 inches (0.5 to 1 m) away from the instrument in order to capture its entire sound spectrum without overemphasizing specific frequencies.
