Piano and Cello Duet

[musicjunky]

Hello folks, long time reader, but first time poster...

Anyway, I've done some searching, but would like some help figuring out how to set up for a concert I'm recording this weekend.

The instruments are just piano and cello and the mics I have are:
414B-XLS (Pair)
DPA 4006 omni (Pair)
AT 4040
AT 4041 (Pair)
and several other's that I wouldn't think would be good for this.

I am a recording tech at my school and record many of the concerts there, but I also do mobile recording with my own rig and some teachers of mine are playing at a different venue and want me to record.

I've been thinking about what to use and am pretty set on using the DPA's for room mic's, and the 414's close to the piano, above the strings. My question is mainly what to use for the cello. I may also be able to borrow some more mic's from my school, but I would like to be able to do it with just my gear.

Thanks!

[John Willett]

Personally I would only use a single stereo pair in the right place.

A second set you will have multi-path distortion to contend with.

[maestro]

Put the 4006 stereo pair in the best sounding place, spot Cello with 414. Maybe the other stereo pair on the piano. However if the players balance well i doubt you will need more than the 4006s.

If you want to have a room mic just in case use 1 414 in omni mode. I did that once alongside a cardioid ORTF on choir and got great results.

[d_fu]

My aproach would probably be the 4006 as AB, and one 414 each as spot, set to wide cardioid for the piano maybe...

[Gaston69]

DPA 4006 90 degrees distance between capsule 38cm. good mic pre-amp.

[locutus]

Originally Posted by Gaston69

DPA 4006 90 degrees distance between capsule 38cm. good mic pre-amp.

I thought you said before it was 32cm. Or does the situation change the configuration?

[Gerax]

Hello

I've done many recordings of that kind of duo (plus violin/piano, or double/bass, or various string quartet). As much as a single stereo ORTF pair could be enough, you may want to be a bit more covered in case of less than perfect room acoustics, or players desire to tweak the balance a bit afterwards. So, I'd go with the DPA 4006 as the main pair; I favor ORTF for this kind of work. Then I'd spot mic the cello with either a 414 or the 4040, and the piano with either the 4040 (which I also have and like on piano) also as a stereo pair, pointed at the curve, halfway between the soundboard and the open lid, or the 4041. Depends a lot on how much control you want/need and on the recorded material as well: contemporary music may need a bit more dry, or direct sound, whereas classical, baroque, romantic etc...are fine with a "larger" more distant sound. Better to record spot mics and not use them after, than to need them an regret not having put them up.

Hope this helps

[musicjunky]

wow. Thanks for the suggestions. I was definitely ask thinking that the dpa's would be enough. Just that I'd rather have too much than too little, I can always just not use tracks. And the 414's are new and I was pretty excited about using them on piano.

I forgot to mention I also have an AT 4060. So I'm probably going to AB the dpa's. Stereo close mic the piano with the 414's. And spot the cello with the 4060.

Thanks!

[pkautzsch]

AT 4060 is the tube mic of the 40 series, isn't it?
Got some nice results spot-miking cello with tube mics.

2nd the advice of DPA spaced pair plus spots.

[musicjunky]

Ok, the gig is done, and just to let everyone know that may be interested, this is how I did it:

Piano had the lid on the smallest 3 inch peg so I couldn't get any mic's under, so I just spot mic'd it with a 414 in Wide Cardoid between where the lid folds back and the music stand, above the hammers. Sounded fantastic on it's own. wow..

Cello was spot mic'd with 414 in Cardoid about 3 feet away, pointed at level of f-holes but just off to the side so as to not pick up any scratchy bridge noise.

Dpa's were set on two different mic stands, about 10 feet from each other and 8 feet from cello and piano.

The recording came out great after just brief listen through after it was done.
I'm going to mix the spot mic's in and do some minimal eq.

Thanks all for your suggestions.

[Remoteness]

If possible, upload somethin we can listen to.

All the best.

[musicjunky]

Will do. The stuff is on my other computer right now, but I hope to have something up during the week.