Recording a Male/Female Opera duo

[soupking]

Is this possible? Is it better to use two separate mics for mixing?

What's common in recording this kind of setup?

[fifthcircle]

Stereo pair out in front and let them balance themselves... Of course it depends on the situation, but for a solo recital/recording, that is what I'd recommend. If you have 2 singers in front of an orchestra, you may want to use 2 mics, but it depends largely on how they are situated on stage.

--Ben

[markr041]

I agree with the stereo mic approach, with the balance achieved by the artists, not the engineer. But, if the artists are in a new environment, they need help to achieve the correct balance. They cannot hear from where they are what the sound is as heard by the audience (the mics). So, work hard with them to get the right balance, with one pair. This is far better than trying to do it artificially (with individual mics) ex post.

[krs]

Originally Posted by markr041

I agree with the stereo mic approach, with the balance achieved by the artists, not the engineer. But, if the artists are in a new environment, they need help to achieve the correct balance. They cannot hear from where they are what the sound is as heard by the audience (the mics). So, work hard with them to get the right balance, with one pair. This is far better than trying to do it artificially (with individual mics) ex post.

Honestly I find this advice quite strange.

I think it's a really bad idea for engineers to offer unsolicited advice to performers on where to sit or how to perform. *Especially* in a concert situation......

(If they ask, then perhaps one suggestion may be appropriate)

Putting up multiple microphones is neither immoral nor does it have to sound bad.

[markr041]

Offering advice to performers about the new hall they are in is neither immoral nor necessarily bad.

Each performance venue has its own acoustic quirks, and performers, who move from hall to hall, are not going to know them. They are free to ignore someone who really knows the acoustics of a hall he or she has worked in for fifty years.

The Mercury recordings, renowned at their time for really good sound, worked hard to re-arrange seating of orchestras to achieve good sound with three mics. Those folks were considered strange by some.

[fifthcircle]

Advice is both recommended and necessary IMO. If you're sitting in the hot seat, you should have the ability to produce the session (even if you aren't). The engineer must have the ability to translate the performers vision and make it come through on tape. If it means that you need to reorient or change the performing style a touch to make that happen, then it is your duty to let them know.

You don't have to be confrontational, rather collaborative. If something isn't clear, ask them to make sure you're on the same page. Once there is trust between the performer and the engineer, it can easily work both ways.

--Ben

[aracu]

I think that one of the biggest problems in location recording is that ensembles are often positioned in odd non-symetrical ways that simply can not create very good stereo images. To expect that these situations can or should be fixed with spot mics is putting the cart before the horse. Better to first reposition the ensemble (if they really want a better than poor or average recording) and then start thinking about spot mics. Otherwise I think it's a waste of time to try to fix something electronically with an excess of gear where there is no primary commen sense collaboration on an acoustic level. There is no comparison in terms of a coherent stereo recording between a well placed ensemble and a haphazardly placed one.

[Audiop]

Originally Posted by aracu

I think that one of the biggest problems in location recording is that ensembles are often positioned in odd non-symetrical ways that simply can not create very good stereo images. To expect that these situations can or should be fixed with spot mics is putting the cart before the horse. Better to first reposition the ensemble (if they really want a better than poor or average recording) and then start thinking about spot mics. Otherwise I think it's a waste of time to try to fix something electronically with an excess of gear where there is no primary commen sense collaboration on an acoustic level. There is no comparison in terms of a coherent stereo recording between a well placed ensemble and a haphazardly placed one.

But even though a good image can be nice is it really absolutely necessary?

I mean, if a ensemble is lined up on a string from your perspective in the performance hall it still would be a good experience if the performance was good and the hall did sound good, right? Capturing this and play it back would be ok in my book. My point is that IMO the recording is not of poor quality just because the spread of the performers in the soundfield is less than "optimum". If the timbre is correct and there's a good balance between direct sound and diffuse sound it stands all chances of being a good recording. Low distortion and low noise is the parameters that always mut be low IMO but more than that there's always room for artistic expression.

Or something like that.. :-)


/Peter

[aracu]

You have a good point, in terms of technically reproducing well a poorly thought out placement of instruments. For example, you record a large choir with all the soloists placed to the right of the rest of the choir, tympani farther right, and brass ensemble placed farther right on the floor next to the stage facing the left side, due to a church protocol, causing conducter and musicians to hear things unbalanced with delays... wouldn't you and everyone involved have a better experience if the placement was worked out more logically?

[krs]

I think this a bit of an apples/oranges discussion. I understood the original post to be about capturing a live performance. Of course it depends on so many things how one can make production decisions in this role.

Still I always believe the musicians know how to sit best to make their performance. Minor changes may be helpful but ultimately it's music first.

My first post was too black and white - apologies