For your ears only, an excerpt from a recent choir concert

[Mats H]

Hi,

Just wanted to share this recording with you. I'm quite pleased with both the performance and recording as I'm a part of the choir S:t Jacob's youth choir. This is a bundle of some songs from the concert wednesday this week in S:t Jacob's cathedral in Stockholm, Sweden. Listen to them in the numbered order

http://www.livingsound.se/choirconcert.zip

I used an A-B setup of Microtech Gefell 296, a pair of MG296 room mics about 30 feet back pointing outwards, a Neumann KM140 on the marimba and an M/S pair of Sennheiser MKH40/30 for the soloists. Preamps were 2 channels of Earthworks LAB102 and 5 home built preamps. All through Lavry blue @ 24 bit 48 KHz into Fireface 800 and Reaper as DAW. The mix was made in Sonar, resampling and "mastering" was performed in Soundforge with Izotope plugins.

[Mats H]

Bump.

Did anyone listen?

[David Spearritt]

I did, just now. It's very beautiful, superb performances and an excellent recording. Wonderful balance between reverb and direct sound and between the ensemble and solo sound. Particularly loved the Coventry Carol.

Very nice work, Mats.

[d_fu]

What David said... Great recording, as usual. Oh, and really lovely music, too...

#5 does get a tad screechy when it gets loud, after 4:00 or so... Is that the acoustics?


BTW, did you get my PM about that other recording of yours?


Daniel

[Mats H]

Originally Posted by David Spearritt

I did, just now. It's very beautiful, superb performances and an excellent recording. Wonderful balance between reverb and direct sound and between the ensemble and solo sound. Particularly loved the Coventry Carol.

Very nice work, Mats.

David,

Thanks for the feedback The reverb level I got was mostly thanks to the use of omni mics in this wonderfully acoustic space and due to room mics. We had a nice time singing there!


Daniel,

I got your message before, did you get a chance to listen to the old concert?

Thanks! I didn't really find the mix screechy, the sopranos sing their hearts out and that's their sound... But then again it got plenty loud at times and I limited the mix heavily with Izotope Limiter. It might be one of those spots.

[d_fu]

Haven't had time to listen to it yet, sorry....

[pbansen]

Lovely recording and an excellent choir! Great listening - thanks for posting it!

Pete Bansen

[Audiop]

Lovely recording Mats.

Listening with HD600 the result is very balanced and nice to me.

Shame on the traffic though.

I'm tempted to try the GF296 and see how they compare to omnis with plastic membranes.


/Peter

[phil.]

Very Beautiful. Great Work Mats!! thumbsup

Phil.

[leary]

sounds beautiful, love it! what are they singing about?
i´m in love with "i denna goda juletid"

[Mats H]

Originally Posted by leary

sounds beautiful, love it! what are they singing about?
i´m in love with "i denna goda juletid"

Hi,

Thanks for the feedback! I'll tell Vera that you liked the song It's a swedish translation of the Norwegian song "I denne søte juletid". (In these merry christmas times) The lyrics in short tell us that we should be happy, a son is born that will forgive our sins.

The original Norwegian lyrics:

I denne søte juletid
Bør man sig rett fornøie
Og bruke all sin kunst og flid
Guds nåde at ophøie.

Ved Ham som er i krybben lagt,
Vi vil av all vår sjelemakt
I ånden oss forlyste;
Din lov skal høres, Frelsermann,

Så vidt og bredt i verdens land
At jorden den skal ryste!

En liten sønn av Davids rot,
Som og er Gud til like,
For våre synders skyld forlot
Sitt høie Himmelrike.

The MG mics are great, they are very quick. Though I find that the Sibilance sounds a bit strange with choir music.

[leary]

mats, thanks a lot! i can understand it a bit

[hbphotoav]

Originally Posted by Audiop

Lovely recording Mats.

Listening with HD600 the result is very balanced and nice to me.

Shame on the traffic though.

I'm tempted to try the GF296 and see how they compare to omnis with plastic membranes.


/Peter

I have both the M200 series (mylar... SMS 2000 pencil with the M27 omni capsule) and the M296. To my ears, the M200 don't have quite the "air" the M296 capture (the sibilants thing that Mats mentioned, perhaps... though I don't find it strange... just different)... nor do they extend quite so low, or seem to capture the "bloom" in the LF quite so well (possibly due to the larger diaphragm?). They are very close, definitely the same "family"... and they work well in multi-omni setups... but I generally reach for the M296s first for a main pair.