Audience mics

[cajonezzz]

Hey Steve, great to see you moderating this forum! I contacted you a couple months ago regarding the startup mobile company my partner and I have. (i was gonna get back to you with a list of questions ) We've been working non stop and haven't really had a chance to post (although I've been following the thread every few days)
Last week was rough, my partner Phil had a blow-out on the I-5 in the truck, he skidded across all 5 lanes then flipped it over the median. Ended up upsidown,strapped in . The box (12 foot box on a Van) was peeled like the top of a soup can. He was so damn lucky, neither he or anyone else,in heavy so ca. traffic, were injured!! He was only carrying monitors and some other kak in the truck,(they were in shocked road cases) and had none of the recording gear with him....whew.... I'll post pics as soon as i can scan them,along with pics of the recording rig)
so we're looking for another truck, but in the meantime here's question #1:

We did a church remote, 24 trk , a very live venue. All the closemic,direct stuff was cool but we we're winging it for audience mics. Can you give a sure fire setup to start with?( when little or no time is left to really dial them in) Mics, placement, summing etc.? We used what we had left which was: 2 AKG c 3000's faced out to audience and 1 414 about midway down the stage rt wall, facing in at the audience (this one was pretty useless upop listen back) . I've seen sennheiser shotgun mics mentioned, could you elaborate a little? Thanks so much for the great info....Craig Zarkos

[wildplum]

Here's a quick and dirty solution that I learned from Guy Charbonneau (of LeMoble fame). It has worked very well for me in a broad range of situations. Seems to work best in venues from 200 to 500 people, such as the Freight or Slim's (for those familiar with San Fransisco area venues), though I've used it wtih success at the Filmore (1000 people), much depends on the venues lay out. When I have zero time to test for audience response, I go with the following:

Two pairs of microphones, one stage right, the other stage left. exact location depends on where the speakers are (trying to minimize the impact of the house sound system). Each pair has one shotgun and one cardioid mic. Currently, I use a 460/ck8 as the shotgun and either a Shure AM81 or a neumann KM 184 as the cardioid. The shotguns are pointed down the length of the sides of the hall, ankled slightly in towards the center (depending on room shape), the cardioids are crossed over the center of the audience (i.e. aimed so that the mics' "view" crosses about one third back, less in bigger halls). I record to separate tracks, if I have the tracks; otherwise subix to a stereo pair.

this also works well in larger or odd shaped halls, augmented by other mics; for example, a pair of omnis hung over the audience about two thirds back in a 1000 seater.

[cajonezzz]

Currently, I use a 460/ck8 as the shotgun and either a Shure AM81 or a neumann KM 184 as the cardioid.

Who makes the 460/ck8?? thanks craig

[recordista]

Who makes the 460/ck8??

AKG

[Remoteness]

Yup, the CK8 short shotgun capsules for the C460B's are made by AKG.

Sennheiser's shot shotguns (the MKH416's) work well too.

[Remoteness]

Craig,

I didn't want to leave out the fact that your associate crashed the truck. I'm really sorry to hear that.

I'm glade to hear luck was with him and no one was hurt. Man, in heavy CA traffic no less.

Shock mounted cases do come in handy when sh*t hits the fan.

I'm sure many would like to see your posted pics.

Good luck to you and yours my man!!!