Choir Recording - Help Me Choose!

[matt2525]

I've just finished recording a local male voice choir, using a couple of different mic setups, and I can't make my mind up which to use for the CD - I keep thinking I'm happy with one, then find something I like more in another... and then there's eq, blends betwen the mics ..... basically I just need to make my mind up on the best starting point

Any feedback would be great - I've posted a sample of the three main options here

[Paul_Jolstead]

I prefer #2. Not sure how/if you want the piano & bells (or celeste?) to be in the mix--I assume you had mics on these separately.

[NorseHorse]

Is this right?:

1 = near
2 = far
3 = mix

I definitely wouldn't go with 1. While I like the imaging and definition, the blend of voices just isn't as musical as it should be. 2 seems to be the easiest to listen to, but I could go with 3 as well.

[matt2525]

thanks for the replies so far, I think I agree with you both on choice from those 3 options. - the piano is an electric piano, unfortunately, through monitor speakers during the performance, but I do have the DI feed too - would have preferred to hear it all without the keys to be honest!!

NorseHorse,thanks for your comments, pretty much echoes my sentiments between 1 & 2, just couldn't decide whether to go with the better imaging and clarity vs the warmer rounder sound

Not quite there with your guesses on mic placements/blends - I'll let you know later what the three were, just didn't want to prejudice opinions by saying what each one was

[VoiceManMike]

It's between 2 and 3. 3 seems to sound a little more open, and I can pick out individual voices - therefor I like 3 better.

[chris319]

You've got a shouter in there and #3 picks up too much of him.

#2 is my first choice. #1 has an interesting natural reverb to it.

Need a spot mic on the piano.

[Ameyerson]

Call me crazy. I like 1 with maybe a little reverb. It's more from the heart for me

[ghellquist]

I will listen later, not possible at this computer.

Will only add an idea -- next time when you record an electrical piano try to get a midi feed from it as well. It might take a bit of fixing, midi does not like travelling down long cables. But it will allow you to add a much better piano sound later.

// Gunnar

[Lenny]

I liked number 3 the best simply because i thought it captured the dynamics of the song better than the others. They all started strong, but 2 stayed pretty flat instead of building and falling. Number 3 came back at the end. So i would say in context of the song and capturing the dynamics for me would trump any mic placement or effects per se, with the least amount of compression possible.

[matt2525]

Thanks for the replies everyone - I'm going to be editing it on Wednesday, and I reckon I'm going to go with #2 for this recording - I do like the clarity of 3, but for this choir, especially on some of the songs, clarity won't always be my friend! Plus I do like the richness of 2.

I won't be using any compression, if neccesary I''ll automate the gain for quiet passages, but overall the dynamics were fairly well controlled in the performance

MIDI from the piano might have been nice, I did give it some thought at the time and decided against the extra decisions it would create! Ideally I'd have had less piano in the mics, so I could use more of the DI (which would have been spot mics if it was accoustic), making it easier to get a decent sound - these 3 recordings don't have the DI'd piano in them.

By the way NorseHorse, the mics were:

Clip 1 - 2 x Gefell M294 SDC in ORTF , blended with UMT70s LDC (card) centre
Clip 2 - 2 x Gefell UM70 LDC (in omni) with MV690 bodies, about 8 feet apart, blended with the same centre mic
Clip 3 - The ORTF pair on its own

all mics were about 3 metres in the air, approx 5 metres back from front of choir