U.S. Army Herald Trumpets!

[tenor39]

These guys are f'ing incredible! I've included excerpts from a concert I recorded last weekend of them playing the Shostakovich Festive Overture. This was how this piece was meant to be played! They were all in front of the orchestra. The SPL was intense, even from my recording location! The trumpets range from a soprano to a bass. I'll give you the tech details if you want 'em, but just enjoy the playing.

The U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own” - The U.S. Army Herald Trumpets - BIO

[cww2]

Thanks for posting this - I don't have speakers on this computer but can't wait to listen. It's one of my fave pieces, one I've played many times (trumpet).

Thanks again dude.

[NorseHorse]

Buckle your seatbelt!

[HughH]

Hello,
I agree they're phenomenal. We have them every year in DC at the July 4th concert on the Capitol lawn that airs on PBS and they're great.
H

[hughesmr]

Orchestra's not bad, either! Great job as usual, Mike!

[Dr Gruv]

very nice thanx - i'll play them for my students

[tenor39]

Thanks, guys, for the positive feedback. It's good to know someone can appreciate the hard work. I went to see the GM of the Orchestra yesterday and saw that his listening "system" was a boom-box.

[TSM]

Originally Posted by tenor39

I'll give you the tech details if you want 'em

Recording Sounds amazing. Please share your setup.....

[Recording David]

Yep - sounds f'ing fantastic. Lovely playing and capture.

Let's have the details then...

[tenor39]

The details:
Main pair - DPA 4041's on a stero bar in AB omni, flown from the eyebrow over the stage. Custom Forssell HV pre.
Strings - DPA 4003 omni's w/40mm APE's on large stands. Modified DPA HMA4000 HV pre.
Winds - DPA 4021 compact cardioids in an X/Y mount on a stand.
Hall rear - Beyond-Steve-Dorsey modified Oktava MK-012's (the real thing) w/omni capsules, hung from the 3rd light bridge 125ft. from the stage as spaced omni's.
Mic pre/Line Stage/A-to-D - Cranesong Spider.
Location monitoring - Mytek DAC96 into Ultrasone 750PRO cans.
Main Record - Lynx AES16>Magma PCI Expansion Chassis>Express 54 card interface>HP laptop running Nuendo 3 @88.2/24bit.
Backup Record - Alesis HD24 using lightpipe inputs.
Power - Custom Balanced Power unit w/separate analog and digital sections.
Mixing/Mastering - Asus MB w/AMD 6000+ dual core & 4GB RAM. Lynx L22/AES8. T.C. PowerCore Firewire. Waves, Voxengo, PSP, T.C Native plug-in's.
Monitoring - Heavily modified Blue Sky ProDesk 5.1 w/dual 10" subs. Custom Surround controller/crossover/D-to-A. Balanced AC on all gear but the PC.

Here are some pic's of the setup and the custom Forssell HV pre.

[sonare]

Why not add Altiverb rather than the hassle of the hall Oktavas? Not to mention the audience noise.....

Rich

[tenor39]

Originally Posted by sonare

Why not add Altiverb rather than the hassle of the hall Oktavas? Not to mention the audience noise.....

Rich

Several reasons:
- Low frequency wavelengths are huge and the distant omni's allow for better pickup of them.
- I can move the rear hall mic's in time in Nuendo and achieve a better slap-back echo, like the hall was 100ft. longer.
- The audience noise is picked up by the main AB pair over the eyebrow anyway.
- The Herald Trumpeters were playing from the side corners of the 1st balcony for a couple of pieces and this was the best way to get them. The surround is awesome!
- I did add in a bit of reverb and it sounds even better with the rear hall mic's in the mix.

There's a hundred ways to skin a cat. This just happens to be the way I did it on this concert. I don't normally use the distant mic's, but the location of the horns demanded it. YMMV.