The usual mics at Carnegie Hall

[RobAnderson]

The stereo mic is an AKG stereo mic (I am pretty sure the model no. is 422) in Blumlein configuration. The hall mic's are Schoeps MK2's. The 422 is what the stagehands use for feeding the lobby during a show, as well as for what I think are called "rehearsal tapes". The Schoeps are wired directly to the studio and are used as audience/hall mic's during actual recordings and broadcasts from the hall.

The 422 is also used in some recordings/broadcasts, but generally as a closer room/ambience/ensemble/early reflections pickup. It can be repositioned somewhat for other uses, but I have rarely seen it used in any other way. In fact, it really doesn't seem to get used all that much for the actual recordings.

[studio1117]

If anybody wants to buy a nice 422 setup, I'll be selling mine soon. Mic, mount, selector box, and 2 multi Cables (that's right folks..2 these about $400 from AKG) all in a ZERO case. probably @$1750, maybe a trade as well.

[Plush]

I do recall the stereo mic there. Mostly you have to realize that a lot of the performances given there are not recorded. Partly this is due to the high fees involved with working at Carnegie Hall. More casual recordings have been known to be made but that does not include moving any mics to an optimal position.

When we have worked there, we hung our own arrays with the help of the generally good natured stage hands. When all was said and done what with special fees for recording, video fees, still pictures fees and stagehand fees the cost was over $50,000. That included a $10,000 fee just to use the name, "Carnegie Hall," on the cover of the record release.

[newyorker42]

Thanks Plush and Rob. Makes sense... so they weren't recording! That really explains it.

Funny I just assumed they might as well just always record everything, but I wasn't thinking about all the hidden costs of doing so.

John

[fifthcircle]

My understanding from when I have performed there in the past is that just about everything is recorded. It may be a simple stereo mic (I do remember the 422 hanging there) to a CD recorder that the stage hand can run, but there is a document made. The problem is actually getting to listen to that recording. Unless you pay fees that Plush mentions, getting access to that recording is nearly impossible. I remember the group I was playing with having to pay several thousand dollars for the documentary recording and even then, the members of the group did not have access to it unless we went to the ensemble's offices to listen.

--Ben

[RobAnderson]

I don't know what it costs for the documentary recording, but to do a real recording definitely costs BIG $$$$.

I can tell you that the real recordings are usually much more involved than just a single stereo mic hanging over the stage. Generally the rehearsal can also be recorded in this case. Lots of people bring in their own stuff, but Carnegie has a pretty decent mic selection as well, not to mention its most valuable recording asset: the in-house Tonmeister Leszek Wojcik.

[JimboJ]

I believe the microphone is the AKG mentioned previously. The cost for an archival recording is $1,400 at current rates. The recording is made direct to compact disc. The audio quality is decent, though not up to any reasonable standards for broadcast or distribution. That's all well and good since the recording can only be used for study purposes or grant applications anyway.

Some producers opt to use this mic as part of their rigs for commercial recordings or broadcasts - but never on its own in my experience.

For commercial recordings, you have to pay a license fee to the hall, labor charges for stagehands, and a rental fee for use of Carnegie Hall's recording studio. It can add up!

-- James

[Dr Bob]

I produced a concert at Carnegie a couple of years ago for my university. We presentied some of the works our commissioning endowment had produced over the previous four or five years. (We are lucky to be able to present one of the largest commissioning prizes in the nation.) The groups ranged from chamber ensembles all the way up to a large jazz orchestra with twenty strings and a wind ensemble of thirty-five or so plus amplified "prepared" grand piano. I seem to remember the archive recording cost as about $1,200 or $1,400. Had we wanted a broadcast quality recording the quote was in the $12.5k range. We opted for the archive and I must say that generally speaking the quality of that recording is really good given the constraints under which it was made. That AKG mic works really well in that acoustic and the placement was versatile enough to give acceptable results.

All costs at Carnegie are "top of the range," including extra post 9-11 security fees, the printing of posters and lobby cards to their specs, and for a concert as involved as the one we were doing: very high stagehand costs. But, hey. It's Carneigie Hall and for the hundred or so students we were able to involve in the concert it was absolutely worth it.

Bob Miller