classical micing, Decca tree or near coincident?

[FOURTHTUNZ]

I know this may not be the right place for this but,
what are you guys using for classical music recording?
This weekend both nites I had a gig that I used km 184s into symetrix into a Mac/Paris setup, very solid! first nite I used x/y coincident 2nd nite used near coincident, which I liked better, i think..
What are you using for mic,pres recorders?
Have you tried a decca tree? Can you buy this sort of a bar for a mic stand? I also am interested in mid side micing for this if any of you have tried this, I would love to hear about it,Thanks!
Daniel

[Stizz]

Try this link for mic stand bars
http://www.wesdooley.com/ds_SMP_and_Decca.html

[Dave Martin]

Go to www.wesdooley.com for more information about Decca Trees. In fact, I'd suggest that you do a Google search using "Decca Tree" as the search phrase - you'll get lots of useful links.

[FOURTHTUNZ]

Hey guys, thanks for the links! A little pricey but its a start!
Everything they make looks top notch, love to have one of those 44's!
Daniel

[Gone Fission]

If you're doing a bunch of stereo location recordings, you might want to have at Bruce Bartlett's book "Stereo Microphone Techinques". It's a very in depth survey of options, giving evenhanded descriptions of the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. If I were doing location stuff, I might carry it around as a "when in doubt" reference. If I did much stereo micing at all, I think I would own it.

Bear

My classical chums use spaced Earthworks QTC1 omni pairs then 'spot' mic's

[DigitMus]

Yeah, I've got Bruce Bartlett's book, definitely a good reference. I've tried a number of different configurations for live classical recording. Here's what I settled on : Crane Song Spider for mic pres & A/D conversion; Royer SF-12 as main (stereo) mic; pair of QTC-1s as distant (room) mics. This set-up doesn't have the in-your-face sound I hear (and hate) on some modern classical recordings and almost all movie soundtracks that use orchestra. It has more of a vintage vibe - kind of sounds like you're sitting in the 5th row center.

Scott

[Moze]

Originally posted by FOURTHTUNZ
I know this may not be the right place for this but,
what are you guys using for classical music recording?
This weekend both nites I had a gig that I used km 184s into symetrix into a Mac/Paris setup, very solid! first nite I used x/y coincident 2nd nite used near coincident, which I liked better, i think..
What are you using for mic,pres recorders?
Have you tried a decca tree? Can you buy this sort of a bar for a mic stand? I also am interested in mid side micing for this if any of you have tried this, I would love to hear about it,Thanks!
Daniel

I've used the Wes Dooley Decca tree with 3 M249's in omni. It provides a pretty good blend but for the type of soundtrack recording I was doing I had to pull in a lot of spot mics in the mix (KM84's, U87's, etc... over the different sections). The setup is VERY tweaky. It takes a bit of luck and patience to position it just right as it has a tendency to swing and sway quite a bit.

We recorded each section separately (strings, then windwoods...brass...percussion) to get the effect of more players. The tree really helps to blend all of those sessions together...but it's still pretty tough to recreate the whole room smear...

Have a session coming up were we'll use the tree with 3 new M150's. Should get a bit more air out of the room...I hope!

-Moze

[FOURTHTUNZ]

The classical gigs I get are far and few between and low paying to boot! Most are also live concerts which limits the micing options somewhat. I agree the bruce Barlett book has a good overview of stereo micing. Until now I haven't had the option of 24 bit multitrack for live so I've been thinking alot more about spot micing or multimics. Moze, I envy your mic collection! Who makes the m249? 3 m150's? I'd like to have 1!
You'll have to to let us know how these sound compared to your other setup, thanks!
Daniel

[Bob Olhsson]

The Decca tree was a great solution to the problems created by the limitations of the mikes available during that era. The latest high-end small diaphram mikes don't have the signal to noise problems that their older counterparts had which makes spaced small-diaphram omnis a much more practical solution than they were back in the 1960s and '70s.

A Blumlein pair combined with omni outriggers can be very effective as can an array of three or four omnis. I think the tree is way over-rated when you consider what else is available today from Schoepps and Sennheiser.

[Moze]

Originally posted by FOURTHTUNZ
The classical gigs I get are far and few between and low paying to boot! Most are also live concerts which limits the micing options somewhat. I agree the bruce Barlett book has a good overview of stereo micing. Until now I haven't had the option of 24 bit multitrack for live so I've been thinking alot more about spot micing or multimics. Moze, I envy your mic collection! Who makes the m249? 3 m150's? I'd like to have 1!
You'll have to to let us know how these sound compared to your other setup, thanks!
Daniel

The m249 is an old Neumann. Not really my personal collection, just the stuff that we have at the studio I work for.

I tried 2 of the m150's yesterday as spaced room mics on a drum session. They sounded fantastic in that application. Only problem has been that we've had to get 8 of these in to find 4 that have worked. 3 were DOA and the other crapped out soon after firing up....

-Moze