5.1 Audience Mic Question

[Shelton]

So,

I'm recording my first 5.1 project this weekend. A jazz festival in the courtyard of an old mission. I've recorded the concert for the past two years. But this is the first time it might be mixed in 5.1.

I usually fly a pair of 414EB's in an MS configuration at FOH, with the mics facing away from the stage (the majority of the audience is behind FOH). However, this year I'll be flying a 5.1 array at FOH. I'm just not sure which dirrection to aim it...

For those of you recording in 5.1, do you point the center channel at the stage, or at the rear of the audience?



Thanks,

Shelton

[fifthcircle]

When I do surround gigs, I always multi-mic the ensemble and use a set of rear-facing mics for audience response/ambience... Few of the mic setups really need to be changed from a standard stereo recording other than the fact that there are mics to capture the third dimension in the sound (the rear information). A remote recording is going to be different from a studio situatin because you need to present what was given to you- to fly things around in surround doesn't work for a live gig, usually.

Then said, I'm not a huge fan of single mic jazz recordings, either. But that is just my own personal taste.

--Ben

[Shelton]

This is a smooth jazz concert. Everything will be miked. I'm taking pre-fade, pre eq, direct outs from a Crest V12 desk. 43 mic channels, 4 audience mics, 1 mono board mix from a matrix...

[fifthcircle]

Gotcha...

I work things pretty much as-is. No special 5.1 arrays, but mix the sound as to take the point of view of being in the front row. The performers are across the front 3 speakers and wrapping around to the side a bit. Audience reaction and ambience coming from the rear. If you have 4 audience mics, you should get a great pickup. I prefer hypercardiods for that (usually AKG 460s) but I've had great luck with SM-57's too (go figure, but it works great on the Blues festival I often work- 19,000 in the audience).

If you must have a 5.1 array, look at a soundfield, Atomos, or other similar array and have it pointed exactly how you'd have your speakers. I find, though, that adding ambience from mics such as that to the front just dilutes the stereo image.

---Ben