Christmas with Chanticleer

[PeterV]

I came across this program while channel flipping late at night.

It had been recorded at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in the Sculpture Hall.

The sound was lovely near as I could tell from my cheesy TV speakers.

The microphones appeared to be Schoeps, perhaps CCM. They were arrayed in a 'W' in the horizontal plane with the base of the stands 4 to 5 feet apart and the base of the 'W' aiming at the performers. The capsules looked to be about 4 feet off the floor. The performers deployed themselves differently for each song, sometimes in a couple of ranks, sometimes in a circle... There appeared to be no monitors for the performers.

I have some questions about the event.

Were there any house speakers for sound reinforcement at the venue?

What is the name and use of that array of microphones?

How does that affect phase?

Were the position changes of the performers for visual purposes or sonic reasons?

How was the page turning during singing so quiet? Was it masked by the binders they were using? Quiet paper?

I recently recorded a choir doing a live winter concert. Oddly enough, Chanticleer sounded better both in performance and recording.

Thanks,

Peter

[Sound Sorcerer]

Hello Peter,
I had the chance to record Chanticleer a few years back on a live performance. At the time I used a couple of AKG's 414XL-II on cardioid mode, hanging from the top at the center-front of the concert hall and about a foot apart from each other. The result was amazing, and event though they move around so much there wasn't a need for any extra mics. The thing that happened with Chanticleer, is that they have this super powerful voices, that the concert hall just filled up with them, making sound reinforcement and extra monitoring needless, of course we are talking about a concert hall designed for classical music & jazz... Anyway, It was a unique and magical experience for me.
Best Regards,

[dbaudio]

My assistant directed me to the posting about the Chanticleer Christmas Special at the Met Museum in NYC. I was the audio producer and recording engineer for the show.

The placement pattern and heights of the mics were, for the most part, a function of the camera restrictions, rather than an esoteric stereo technique. With very little time for setup and/or rehearsal, I placed mics where I thought I might get the best overall pickup for the various configurations of the performers. Camera sight lines were a primaray concern. The mics were mixed as needed for each song.

There was no PA in the room, but there was a great deal of noise -- hum, buzz, creaks, shuffles. Most of those were eliminated in post. Posting was done at Sync Sound in NYC, one of the best audio post facilties in the world. post production was done in ProTools.

The mics were all Schoeps: CMC6U preamps with MK4, MK5, MK21, and BML03 capsules. There were also some CCM4 and CCM 5 mics.

All mics were ground supported. There was no possibility of flying mics in the room because of strict museum policies, along with visual and time contraints. Wireless microphones were ruled out for a variety of reasons.

I appreciate your kind words about the sound of the show. Televised live events require great compromises on the part of audio. It is especially gratifying when something turns out successfully despite overwhelming odds.

As another contributor to this lsit mentioned, working with Chanticleer is rare and wonderful privledge. It is why we work as hard as we do.

Daryl Bornstein
Audio Producer for WNET/Channnel Thirteen Great Performances

[Remoteness]

Mr. Bornstein,

Welcome to the Remote Possibilities forum.

Thank you for posting the information and enlightenment.

I hope you get a chance to come visit us again from time to time.

Keep up the good work.

All the best to you and yours!

[PeterV]

Thank you for your responses. I will hold out hope for improvement in my efforts. More practice...

Peter

[dbaudio]

Peter,

Your response is right on the money. Contrary to many established "opinions", there is no "right" solution to remote recording. Every situation presents a different set of problems which have a variety of potential solutions. It is only through trial and error that you gain the confidence, experience and set of tools to quickly assess and address the litany of problems inherent in location recording.

I recall an assistant of mine who was looking for the answer to a particular problem. I suggested that he experiment, rather than committ to one specific approach he had read about. He was surprised to learn that I not only wasn't willing to solve the problem for him, but that I didn't actually have an immediate solution. I wanted him to use his brain, and use the session as an opportunity to experiment and learn.

There are no "right" choices in remote recording. There are certainly better choices, and often times bad choices. It takes as you aptly said, time to know in advance what may or may not work.

Keep experimenting. That is the fun part!

Daryl Bornstein

[Remoteness]

Well said DB!

Totally on point.