Using a Blumlein Array in Live Recording?

[El Rancho Deluxe]

I'm preparing to record a live show in a local chapel this upcoming weekend. The acts include a spoken word artist, a four-piece, bluegrass oriented group, an acoustic duo, and an acoustic solo artist. There will be no PA, as the acoustics in the chapel seem quite good.

The plan, based on previous experience at the venue, is to record the entire event using two FatHeads in a Blumlein array, but want to be certain I've the the idea properly understood. My understanding is that one mic faces the performers and one is perpendicular. The array should be slightly above the performers and angled down at about 45 degrees. I'm thinking the the mics will be five to seven feet from the performers throughout event. The mics will be fed into an Apogee Duet, then into Logic.

Anything I'm missing here?

FWIW, I've done a previous recording at this venue with a single Cascade FatHead; with the following results:

YouTube - Live From Elm City- The Honeycutters 1

[leddy]

Originally Posted by El Rancho Deluxe

Anything I'm missing here?

Kind of -

You'll need to treat the perpendicular mic as the "side" mic in mid-side when you mix down (copy to another track, flip the polarity, and pan that opposite of the original). Search "mid-side" recording.

You could also point the mics in an XY fashion (each mic point 45 deg away from center, 90 deg from each other) and not have to deal with the MS decoding. If you do it this way, make sure that you check the polarity of the mics so the the "fronts" of both mics are towards the performers. You'd probably catch that when monitoring and you can fix that in post, but still worth mentioning.

Most people think of the second way as Blumlein, but AFAIK either way is still techinally "Blumlein". (That is to say that either way will produce the sound of crossed fig. 8's). The first way is Mid-Side (with a fig. 8 mid). Each might have it's pros and cons depending on the situation.

[ptr]

Blumlein are two crossed eights, with the nul section facing the sound source! (Where the top black and red lobes cross in the picture..)
ie. neither ribbon/capsule face the sound source!

Picture from Wikipedia..

Check the article there for more explanations! Ther's als loads Blumleinstuff on GS

/ptr

[Tommy-boy]

Cascade has a nice short pdf on blumlien recording. Check out this link:

http://www.cascademicrophones.com/BrochureFinal_16.pdf


On a side note - I recommend you supplement the fathead2s with another mic that does a better job picking up high frequencies. The fathead2s, like many ribbon mics, have a sharp roll off. The fathead2s will sound warm and will have full bodied lows and mids, but the highs will be lacking in a significant way. An omni condenser would probably be useful in capturing the hights. On a budget - even a simple 57 would add some of the highs back in (not at the same level of clarity and detail though).

Just my 2 cents.
-Tom

[NorseHorse]

Don't worry about adding another mic for highs. If you want to, try a high-shelf of a few db during editing. Fun video, by the way. Very interesting that they are both somewhat off axis.

[JonesH]

I wouldn't bother with another solo mic either, unless it's a bass heavy programme that you feel will be misrepresented by a figure-of-eight microphones bass loss due to proximity effect. If so, then I'd consider another array completely instead of mucking about with a third mic. Or rather use a good EQ to dial in some treble during post processing.

[El Rancho Deluxe]

What do you all recommend for height of the array and distance from the performers? I'm think that the the mic stand will be 3-6 feet from the performers and was thinking the the mic heads should be about chest high? Instrumentation will be guitars, vocals, an one group will have a standup bass. There will likely also be hand percussion.

[hbphotoav]

A couple of years ago, I was able to record an event in Bern with a Blumlein array of original Cascade FatHeads and a 1m spaced omni pair of DPA 4061s on the same stand. The mics were about 2' (.7m) over the head of the conductor, and 2' (.7m) behind him. He was on a podium, about 3' (1m) tall. There were about 250 singers and a small orchestra at Bern's Casino Konzerthaus. I went with the tracks from the DPAs for the video project I was shooting (mainly for the much better sibilants from soloists and chorus) although I think I might have liked the stereo image from the Blumlein a bit better.

Even though the events are dissimilar, it might be interesting to hear the difference between the mics, and the patterns. Straight bounces, no EQ or other processing, other than conversion to MP3 in iTunes. Mackie Onyx 1220 onboard micamps and dig card -> MacBook Pro running Tracktion -> OWC 2.5" FW drive

[NorseHorse]

Thanks for sharing! When it's just the strings, I could be swayed either way, but as soon as the voices come in, there's only one choice for me in these samples.

[El Rancho Deluxe]

The stereo image from the fatHeads is pretty cool, in my opinion.....

Thanks for sharing the files and the info.

Originally Posted by hbphotoav

A couple of years ago, I was able to record an event in Bern with a Blumlein array of original Cascade FatHeads and a 1m spaced omni pair of DPA 4061s on the same stand. The mics were about 2' (.7m) over the head of the conductor, and 2' (.7m) behind him. He was on a podium, about 3' (1m) tall. There were about 250 singers and a small orchestra at Bern's Casino Konzerthaus. I went with the tracks from the DPAs for the video project I was shooting (mainly for the much better sibilants from soloists and chorus) although I think I might have liked the stereo image from the Blumlein a bit better.

Even though the events are dissimilar, it might be interesting to hear the difference between the mics, and the patterns. Straight bounces, no EQ or other processing, other than conversion to MP3 in iTunes. Mackie Onyx 1220 onboard micamps and dig card -> MacBook Pro running Tracktion -> OWC 2.5" FW drive

[El Rancho Deluxe]

Well, the show was a success; though there were some recording snags. Given that I was running the door most of the evening, I had someone else minding the mics. We had some overs and a problem with buzz in the side mic, but here's a clip from the evening from one of the performers, Sam Amidon:

http://www.elranchodeluxe.com/SASumnerKnight1.mp3