Best of flying mics

[d_fu]

As a spinoff of another thread here, let's do a thread on flying mics (the thread title is © pkautzsch)... Show us your weirdest, most daring contraptions...

I'll begin with a setup of three layers of two mics each (AB, strings and soloists' spots) plus a harpsichord spot from a recent recording of a Handel oratorio in a small church with no place for mic stands and cables...

Cables were run in the center, and up to the balcony with the organ, where I had the preamp.


Daniel

[d_fu]

While I'm at it (busy copying CDs), here's something from a recording of a symphonic wind orchestra in the Liederhalle in Stuttgart. Not quite as crazy, but it involved long steel ropes, looong mic cables, and long thin nylon strings to pull the stereo bar back a good bit. We tied them to balcony railings on the far side of the hall. Tested U87 vs. KM 131 here, in the end the 131s made it into the mix as main mics.

[pkautzsch]

This is my standard setup for the church I record in mostly in Novembers at a festival.
There are three layers:
(1) One permanently installed rope above row 4 for a far-ish stereo pair which can do fine for archival purposes. The guy who installed that rope started with compact budget mics and later also had AKG C4000 there. A ladder is used to get there, and to fix the mic cable one needs to move that ladder through the row and past a lamp.
(2) a non-permanent rope above the front of the orchestra. I installed the mounting hooks last year and it turned out quite well. For optical reasons it has to be taken off when the church is actually being used for worship. Mounting this includes fixing cabling and mix while still on the floor, and then getting it up first on one side, then on the other with an assistant's help for getting tension. It also has to pass a pair of lamps. This usually holds my main Mercury-inspired threesome setup.
(3) a pair of winch-equipped ropes to which they mount a black cloth before Easter, which on Easter morning falls down and re-reveals the wooden Jesus Christ hanging behind it, symbolizing His resurrection.
One can also mount a pair of MK21 choir spots there ;)

It doesn't look as daring as Daniel's when set up, but getting it up and running always is adventurous with ladders being moved through the rows, and one person pulling at a rope while the other is fixing it 15 ft above the floor. Will try and get some pics of actually setting up.

[d_fu]

Originally Posted by pkautzsch

This

You've posted a link to the preview thumbnail...

[pkautzsch]

Was that Hegelsaal recording powered by SWR? Seen some of their sometimes really crazy setups in both Hegelsaal and Beethovensaal recently, including a foursome Surround setup tied to the balcony in Hegelsaal for Norrington's Mozart symphonies and some Magic Arm mounting of choir mic stands in Beethovensaal when Rilling did the Gubaidulina Passion.

[pkautzsch]

Originally Posted by d_fu

You've posted a link to the preview thumbnail...

As somehow the Edit button seems to not work:
Here is the fullsize jpg hopefully.

[d_fu]

Originally Posted by pkautzsch

Was that Hegelsaal recording powered by SWR?

No, no radio guys anywhere nearby... Just me and my companion (whose wife happens to be the flutist sitting on the extreme right). A jubilee concert of a music school's Youth Wind Orchestra, with present and former members performing.

Originally Posted by pkautzsch

As somehow the Edit button seems to not work:
Here is the fullsize jpg hopefully.

If you choose to call that "fullsize"...
Got a better resolution still?

[LX3]

Just to say, love this thread, long overdue.

Fascinated to know more, please keep it going

Here's a question for you... what do you do about ladders? Bring your own? Rent? Does the venue normally have one?

[mrsteaks]

Daniel - what a great thread. My, am I glad you chose to do it!

The excellent photos beg a question: how do you usually attach the microphone to the bar? I noticed you were using a piece of drilled angle (aluminum?) in one of the photos. Great idea! How were the mics attached to that?

I've modded a boom from a boom stand as a stereo bar, using the Manfrotto 3/8 to 5/8 adaptors to mount the mics and to fly the thing. They slide right over the bar and they can postioned anywhere on it. I'll post pics as soon as I can take some.

I'm guessing you have help rigging the ropes? Comments I have are 1) I usually work by myself and 2) many of the churches I record in will NOT allow me to string rope anywhere and don't want anything over the audiences heads. Fortunately the music directors allow me to use my stands!

Please, more pictures - with descriptions!

~~~~Mark S.
Pretty Good Recordings

[Remoteness]

Well done Daniel!

Thanks for the information.

[mrsteaks]

Originally Posted by Remoteness

Well done Daniel!

Thanks for the information.

Steve - speaking of information, I'd just bet you have wealth of it on this subject!

~~~~Mark S.
Pretty Good Recordings

[pkautzsch]

As to the questions regarding "my" church:
- they have a ladder there
- They do not allow lots of stands as the aisle must be kept clear for security reasons and the conductor is very "optical" about his concerts. Stringing those ropes meant drilling into concrete - they did allow that, seeing the advantage of someone in charge instead of everybody doing their own stuff.

Larger pic might be somewhere on some disk, I'll have to search a bit. Hopefully next week.

And 2nd the thought that Steve has been flying mics before I was born

[larsfarm]

Here's another picture from flying a pair of Pearl DC96 near coincident flanked by a pair of KM30. The bar is a 2m IKEA curtain rail ("index") with a couple of holes drilled at the ends where I attached lines that in turn were attached to the side balconies.

L

[d_fu]

Originally Posted by mrsteaks

How were the mics attached to that?

I'm guessing you have help rigging the ropes?

No, most of the times I don't... I set up the three pairs ropeway all alone.
If someone objects to fyling mics, they get stands...

Originally Posted by LX3

Here's a question for you... what do you do about ladders? Bring your own? Rent? Does the venue normally have one?

I usually rely on what's there. Can't carry around a really long ladder.
If a ladder is needed, I try to set up in a way that will allow me to take stuff down again without the need to use it.

[mrsteaks]

Ah-ha!! Thanks, Daniel - very simple (elegant), indeed!

~~~~Mark S.
Pretty Good Recordings

[niquest]

Hi,

here's a terrible pic done with a cell phone camera. This is from a recording done this Sunday in a truly terrible sounding university hall. I'd like it noted that I managed to hang these three (schoeps mk2s main+KM143 violin spot) from a clothesline plus set up a piano spot MS (140+120), everything in under 2 hours including setting levels, sending a quick headphone stereo mix and tc to the digibetas and rolling my tape. Tape in this case meaning a Deva IV, which greatly sped up matters. Nevertheless, this is the fastest I've ever flown a mic.
I had MK21 hanging as mains for the rehearsal. For the concert I exchanged them for the omnis but deeply regretted that as the room turned out to sound even crappier with the audience sitting. I also regretted not securing the vl-spot as it hung above a strad, but oh well, no time for additional fishing line here.

cheers

[JP66]

how's this from this past weekend...

schoeps mk8s in blumlein
schoeps mk41Vs in ORTF
schoeps mk41s in ORTF
schoeps mk21s in NOS
Neumann U89 in NOS

and not pictured is a set of MBHOs on a jecklin disk about 18 inches behind this.

[d_fu]

Originally Posted by JP66

how's this from this past weekend...
.

Doesn't qualify, the mics are not flying.

But I guess it's some kind of ET monster that has flown here from the planet of Microphonia... So it qualifies... What did you use this for?

[David Spearritt]

Originally Posted by d_fu

Doesn't qualify, the mics are not flying.

They are out in the open air though. The most windsocked mics on a single stand could be the title of another thread. :)

[JP66]

Originally Posted by d_fu

Doesn't qualify, the mics are not flying.

But I guess it's some kind of ET monster that has flown here from the planet of Microphonia... So it qualifies... What did you use this for?

this is what field recordists call a mic tree... a small group of people all use a single mic stand to clamp mics to. this was at the "all good festival" in masontown, west virginia.

Originally Posted by David Spearritt

They are out in the open air though. The most windsocked mics on a single stand could be the title of another thread. :)

i've seen 10 stereo pair (20 mics total) on a single stand. I think I have a pic of it somewhere. I'll see if I can dig it up.

[Frost]

JP66, thought I recognized that group of mics. I was the engineer under the tent doing the matrix recordings for the allgood festival . some crazy storms made that a fun one. Next time maybe Ill bring some REALLY long aircraft cable and fly my rig, he he he.

Hope your recordings came out well.
Frost

[JP66]

Originally Posted by Frost

JP66, thought I recognized that group of mics. I was the engineer under the tent doing the matrix recordings for the allgood festival . some crazy storms made that a fun one. Next time maybe Ill bring some REALLY long aircraft cable and fly my rig, he he he.

Hope your recordings came out well.
Frost

are you the blonde guy, kinda tall, that was taking pictures witha nice SLR?

[Frost]

Yup, thats me. I was also recording several streams of board feed and a pair of earthworks to both protools and a mackie SDR as well as making a mix for the bands to approve using an api 3124MB+.

Had fun, but not enough sleep...

so flying mics...

Frost

[JP66]

thank you very much for helping my wife with the flash on her SLR. I just got it for her for her birthday a few days before the festival. It's her first SLR and she is just learning the ropes.

and yes.... back to flying mics

[phil.]

Hello guys,

here is a very simple construction that I often use when needs be!

All it is is a piece of wood and four hooks on each corner. String goes thru the hooks and balances the whole lot....sometimes with a little balancing help of the mic cables, as you can see......

This actually works the best when going horizontally from one pillor to another in old churches. Because the wood panel can glide thru the hooks, you can actually move the whole construction left-right!

Thanks for this threat...very cool!

All the best,

Phil.

[David Spearritt]

What a great thread, keep em coming.

[niquest]

you know, if you record music for tv flying stuff's your only chance a lot of times. most cameramen and directors seem to loathe stands to an extreme measure beyond my understanding. producers, OTOH, hate renting those schoeps active tubes that a director might let pass on a good day.
this time having hung my mk21's from the ceiling saved their lives. shooting a documentary about an orchestra the camera crew had a 16-meter-crane for instrument CUs during ongoing rehearsals. predictably, the back of the camera hit my main pair (at about 3 and 1/2 meters' height) after only ten minutes of rolling the tape. It would have knocked the mics straight into the violins had they been on a stand. all they did, though, was to swing wildly on their fishing lines producing the acoustic equivalent of a drunk pan shot. when the crane hit one of my KM130 outriggers a little later, the second cameraman who just happened to be standing there caught it before it crashed into the double bass section. If I ever do something like that again I'll be sure to put foam windshields on the mics and use steel cables to fly them. sorry for the bad pic quality. shot with a cell phone again.

[David Spearritt]

Here are a couple of pics of a flown array using some tie down rope and some little pulleys. I used pulleys on the curtain support rod at the top of the proscenium as well as near the array to allow for easy flowing adjustment of height and lateral position. Worked really well.

[Larry Elliott]

David
What is the “Stereo” cabling that you are using?

Larry Elliott

[d_fu]

Originally Posted by Larry Elliott

What is the “Stereo” cabling that you are
using?

Interesting question...

I also kinda like the M/S mic holder (even though I don't like M/S )...
I see the AKG SA 40, but what's underneath?


Daniel