Maria Schneider two ways: In AUS (with AKG/senn/EV) VS in Germany (Neumann/Schoeps)

[Gobo Diddly]

Now that I have your attention.....

This is my first post after lurking for over a year and I hope you'll be helpful and kind.

I need to purchase mics to record a student big band and small group jazz ensembles at a school's project recording studio. In my search for horn microphones (in addition to reading great threads/posts by Remoteness, Afarber, Jazzyoda, JimVanBergen, FifthCircle, Plughead, et. al.), I've scoured Youtube for, as you say here, "slutty" big band videos to see what others are doing, too.

There are currently two videos of jazz-composer Maria Schneider conducting her composition Hang Gliding on Youtube with two different ensembles (her own group at an outdoor festival in Vienna; and alternatively a live, but more studio-like performance with the WDR Big Band).

Probably the audio quality of youtube, even in HD, will not suffice in a real comparison of the mics used, but I submit for your review and comments the two videos, which based on your experience with these and/or other mics, will hopefully provide a springboard for discussion of big band micing at two distinctly different price points - which will then hopefully be helpful to me and others.

Musical performance aside, the audio quality of the WDR sounds better to me, but the mics are A LOT more expensive and its an indoor gig.

Now I'm a musician/teacher, not an engineer, but from what I can tell.... here are the horn mics......
Maria in Vienna with the Maria Schneider Orchestra [saxes AKG E535 EB ($300 each), trombones EV RE 20 ($375 each), trumpets Senn. MD441 ($800 each). AKG C414 for Ingrid Jensen, and a not-for-consideration-clip-on for Donny McCaslin]. All told, roughly $7,200 in horn mics, including Ingrid's solo C414 mic.


Maria in Cologne with the WDR Big Band [saxes Schoeps CMC6 with???caps ($2,000 each), trombones and trumpets Neumann TLM 170 ($3000 each), Gary Versace MD441] roughly $35,000 in horn mics.


While the WDR sounds better to me, is it four times better to reflect the four times the cost? What do you think? What horn mics would you use at these two price points of $7,500 vs sky's-the-limit (new mics not vintage please)? Plus please assume 13 mics for horns. --- I respect the real deal, old school, minimal style of AFarber and JazzYoda, but I need to use one mic per student for grading purposes... I'll solo the sections or students in class to shame the little brats into practicing ...hey it works!!!


Best, GB Diddly

PS Free bonus video.... Wyton Marsalas in Stuttgart for an All Neumann show (I think they're all Neumann on horns anyway at JALC..... TLM170 saxes and trumpets and KM184 bones. What do you make of the SDC on bone here VS SDC on saxes for WDR?

[Jim vanBergen]

Hey Bill,
replied to you off-thread. Hope it helps.

JvB