Quote:
Originally Posted by David Spearritt  |
I find the big Manfrotto useful sometimes but I use the
Ambient Recording Jumbo Booms more. However, these are significantly more expensive than the Manfrotto and, though significantly more flexible, may perhaps not be worth the extra outlay for only occasional use.
And for those really hard to get to places, I have a
Clark S QT 15/HP pump up mast which goes to a little over double the height of the Manfrotto. The downsides being that, again, it's not cheap, is heavy and large to transport, has a large footprint needing more or less level ground and plenty of space to set it up and for people to get past it without it being a trip hazard, and the standard colour (at least for the 15m version I have) is a rather stage manager upsetting bright yellow and natural bright silver so it's more of a session tool than something for live recording. I daresay that Clarks might spray it another colour if asked - or I could do it myself but having it in yellow does at least reduce interest from venue H&S inspectors. It's not really something you chuck in the van just in case but when you really need the height it's a great thing to have ready in the store.
And about the recording, I really like the balance of room and instrument and the timbre of the instrument as captured. I've no problem with the basic stereo image which for me sounds mostly believable and quite natural. However, something that does bother me is that it sounds like there's some significant phase issues affecting fairly large sections of the music. It's virtually impossible not to get some correlation problems when using omnis on an organ (which is my usual method so I'm not criticising the choice) but it sounds like there are substantial sections of the music which are tending strongly out of phase. This does upset the otherwise good stereo image and, I wasn't able to check but, if someone listens in mono it'll really screw up the balance. How one feels about the significance of mono compatibility these days is a different issue but imo it's important to consider it, especially when the correlation errors are sufficiently strong as to affect the image and tonal balance in stereo replay as well as mono.
I do still like it though. Good instrument, good room and good playing.