Second recording gig feedback

[npulsipher]

I just got done with my second remote recording gig and was looking for some feedback. Please let me know what went well and what I could have done better.

About the gig:
I still don't have the most ideal set of gear, or experience so this was a freebie. It was a local armature church choir live in a smaller chapel. The concert was for families so you can here kids getting bored and babies crying throughout the concert

The stage was also an interesting setup it looked something like this (see attachment) I'm not sure why they built the chapel like that with the piano off to the side and behind the choir.

The Song:
This was the best performed piece of the night and it also posed an interesting challenge. it's just the women singing. With the piano so far away i decided not to turn the mics toward the women because i was worried that the piano wouldn't have gotten picked up very well. I would have like to put a spot mic on it, but i only have 2 inputs

anyways, thanks in advance for your feedback!

[audibell]

Hi, congratulations on getting yourself started and joining our merry group - the women sang very well, no "picolo stand-outs" and the Altos mostly present. I believe you think you should have gone for the swivel-right and left the piano as room sound, and I agree. The congregation or audience come out for the singers but so many choral performances turn out to be "piano concerto, with chorus" - and that's because the over-worked or unimaginative directors place the piano out in front of the singers, therefore halving the distance to the main mic pair and daren't insist the accompanyist barely play, for fear of offending the poor dear. Piano be banished under a blanket! to off stage but lid up so the singers can hear or even behind the singers, like in a big band. If you're going to get a little Mackie vlz-1202 mixer (for example) to add some instruments to the main pair, make sure you can run cables out into the hallway because the combination of piano/instruments hitting you in the chest as well as what's going into the headphones will seduce you into setting levels based on what you hear/feel in the room, rather than the true balance between all elements, which hard experience will teach you can only be judged accurately somewhere free of the immersion in the soundwaves swimming pool. You can always drop a Shure 57 inside the pno if you have a spare channel.

There's not much you can do about children trotting about & spluttering in a worship space; perhaps you can have the chorus sing again after the service and invite family members to stay for a bit of live energy. I do this down here for high school Christmas concert CDs etc and the Director/kids let the parents know ahead of time that the singers may have to stay after the concert for a couple of re-takes. I've had them in tears afterward begging for another try because nerves wrecked an entrance or made a solo wobbly - which comes out fine later.

I guess your diagram was the altar, not the whole chapel, right? Good work, keep it goin'
WalterT

[boojum]

You did well. The audience cannot be controlled. The chorus was good. For a second try that is great.

Cheers

[npulsipher]

Thanks guys! Good to hear i'm at least on the right track.

Walter, that's a good point about the piano not being the focus of the concert. As there are many members in this choir that I am friends with, I'm sure I'll be recording there again. Next time I'll try turning the mics.

As I've been going through and splitting the night up into tracks for CD I thought of something. How much mixing do you guys do in post for your on location gigs? It just seems like there's not much I can do after it's all been recorded. Thoughts?