Girls Choir

[-momo-]

I was asked on rather short notice to record a girls choir at a local music festival last night - they're also trying out for the Canadian nationals, so their director asked me to record two songs and make their application CD. The venue was an hugely cavernous 150+ year old wooden church, maybe 200 people in attendance.

The rules dictate a raw recording with no mixing or mastering, so I went with two Rode NT5s in an X/Y, placed about 12 feet in front of the choir. This was also using the new rig I posted about recently (Onyx 800R synced via ADAT to a Focusrite Pro26).

I was happy with the results, although there's a few disconcerting pops. I don't think it's the sync as this is the first time I've noticed it. The Furman was reporting barely 110V on the circuit I was on, so maybe that had something to do with it.

They did an awesome job, IMO. About 20 girls, none older than twelve or thirteen, I'd say. The adjudicator thought so too, and gave them a gold.

Anyway, here it is - about six minutes and two songs. Again, this is raw with no effects, EQ, or anything. Since I get a free pass on that stuff, I'd appreciate any comments on the raw recording. This is about my fifth choir attempt, second time using X/Y. I still have tons to learn but I hope I'm starting to get the hang of it.

At least those of you with kids might enjoy it.

[NorseHorse]

The gals are clear. However, the choral groups I work with though would probably call this too clear. Moving the mics back would give the voices more time to blend and give you more space.

The more info about the ensemble, genre, and director preferences (etc) you can get, the better equipped you'll be to get "that" sound. And "that" sound changes depending on who your working with. The college a cappella groups I work with usually prefer a more close up (pop) sound.

Funny thing, I just recorded Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B tonight for a female acappella group.

[chris319]

What did you use as a recorder? I can hear the dropouts you mentioned.

Some of the sections sound a little off mic as NorseHorse observed. Otherwise pretty good in all other respects.

[-momo-]

Thanks very much for the feedback. Yes I guess I should have moved further back. I only had about a half-hour for setup, but that's just an excuse. I likely would have grabbed more of that beautiful room, too.

Using X/Y, I figured the mics shouldn't point beyond the sides of the choir or it would be even more off axis? I'd also read X/Y at too great a distance reduces low freqs, so I guess that's why I went with the distance I did.

Chain was two Rode NT5s -> Mackie 800R -> Focusrite Saffire Pro 26 -> Cubase SX.

The Pro26 is synced to the 800R via ADAT. I've had zero sync issues so far so I don't think the pops are from that. Could power have been the culprit or is that just wishful thinking?

I tracked at 48KHz 24 bit, levels didn't go beyond -6db, I boosted to just below zero on the output bus for the mix. Other than that, there's nothing else as per the rules for the application recording.