Comments on my chamber orchestra recording?

[DCtoDaylight]

A few weeks back I had the opportunity to do an archival recording for a 14-piece chamber orchestra. I've done a number of live recordings but not anything on this level, and (as always) it was a tremendous help to have access to this group and its collective knowledge as I prepared - in particular, getting a pointer to the Michael Williams "Stereophonic Zoom" paper.

I wanted to solicit comments on the product - I was pretty happy with it, and the music director was, too, but I'd love to know if anyone has suggestions for doing better next time (I may get another chance with the same group in April in a different hall).

Going in, I wanted to limit myself to a stereo pair - I've got equipment for that, and didn't want to have to rent or buy or be any more intrusive than necessary.

Both the music director and I felt like a mic setup in front of the stage got in the way of the audience experience - it's a pretty intimate setting. So I ended up at the very front corner of a balcony that actually extended over the stage a bit - if you envision the orchestra as a generally rectangular shape, my mics ended up a couple feet back from the front right corner, and maybe 13-14 feet above the stage floor.

As a result, the stereo field isn't as well-formed as it would have been from in front, and I lost some articulation through early reflection and reverb, but I thought the feel of the performance came through OK, and the hardware was invisible to the audience.

I used an NOS setup with a pair of Toa KY mics that I've had for years - SDCs that were part of an abortive Toa move into high-end mics back in the early '90s. They ran into a Metric Halo ULN-2, connected to a MacBook Pro running Logic Pro.

Thanks for the help in making this happen, and for anything you have to say!

[Jake Dempsey]

Stereo sounds nice to me. It's a really good recording. Lows are sitting nicely. The violins come across a little too bright for my tastes. Otherwise, sounds very good IMHO.

[pkautzsch]

Nice overall sound, though I could imagine a little wider stereo spread. I hear the low strings a bit to the right, and everything else sits right in the middle.

Have you considered flying the mics between the left and right balconies?

[tapermark2006]

I love my TOA's! Nice sounding capture IMO. Underated mic.

FYI. I got active cables to run the mics away from the power modules. Makes for a tiny setup.

[DCtoDaylight]

Originally Posted by tapermark2006

I love my TOA's! Nice sounding capture IMO. Underated mic.



FYI. I got active cables to run the mics away from the power modules. Makes for a tiny setup.

Hey, cool to see there's more than one pair in the world! And yeah, I think they're a really good-sounding mic in a lot of different situations.

I actually tried using the long cables that came with the mics for the first time while prepping for this gig, and they seemed to pick up more noise....I assume you're not having that problem? Or did you have new ones made up? The small setup is very sleek.

[DCtoDaylight]

Originally Posted by pkautzsch

Nice overall sound, though I could imagine a little wider stereo spread. I hear the low strings a bit to the right, and everything else sits right in the middle.

Have you considered flying the mics between the left and right balconies?

Good ears! That's pretty much exactly how the orchestra looked from the angle I had.

Flying the mics would have provided a better situation, but there was nothing obvious to attach to, and neither the church nor I had any experience with it, so I decided to keep it simple. Would you know of any sources for some basic flying lessons?

Thanks to everyone for the input - much appreciated!

[pkautzsch]

There's lots of flying schools in Florida, I think...

actually, there's a few threads including flying mics here on Remote Possibilites. One of them is about a festival I recorded last November, the other is called "Best of Flying Mics" and contains lots of great stuff.
There's always something you can fix your ropes on. Improvisation is key.