Choir Recording in a Church - Would appreciate some feedback

jonesd90 · 25th January 2012

Hey guys,

I did some choral recording and wandered if any of you could give me some critique?

Anything from mic positioning, mic choice, mix down, overall balance. Tell me how to make these better please!

Mic choice is a pair of KM184 in open pair (ORTF) configuration DAV BG1u Preamp. mics about 3.5 meters elevated directly above the conductor.

Spaced SE 3 (cardioid because I had no omnis on me... how daft!). Pointed away from choir down the long part of the church spcaed about 4-5 meters apart. Liquid emulation of millennia preamp. Height about 6 feet.

In the ES IST EIN ROSE ENTSPRUNGEN piece the spaced SE 3 mics are used as a coincident pair on quartet which were singing about 10 meters behind the conductor.

The only post production issues I have faced (which are especially apparent in IN THE BLEAK MID WINTER track) is a lot of vehicle noise outside which made editing different takes literally impossible. On good headphones its easy to tell, on my laptop speakers its pretty impossible to hear. Unfortunately we only had a limited amount of time in the church...

Thanks to anyone who has anything to say.

Dave

File 1: Es Ist Ein Rose Ensprungen by Jonesd90 on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free
File 2: http://soundcloud.com/jonesd90/in-the-bleak-mid-winter

boojum · 25th January 2012

"Es Ist Ein Rose . . . " seem to have an awfully lot of early reflections. What was the space like that you were in? If it is early reflections I think you are SOL. Otherwise it is quite nice.

mathieujm · 25th January 2012

The choir sound is nice, but there is a lot of processing that is heard at the beginning of Es ist ein rose (to eliminate the traffic noise ?) and too much reverb

I like In the Bleak Mid-Winter. It is more natural but always the traffic noise

particullary with the soloist and then the choir come whith abig difference of ambiance.

Difficult to use all this for a production I think

jonesd90 · 26th January 2012

Thanks for the replies! As for early reflections, it is a church. Large open space, stone walls. Shouldn't really have much in the way of early reflections as the nearest wall to reflect off would have been about 5-6 meters away (to the side of the choir) and the back wall (directly infront of choir) was about 30 meters away!

The sound of the choir at the beginning of ES IST EINSTEIN ROSE sounds odd only because (what I can tell) I had to crank the volume way up (they sang extremely
Quiet here and was in audible until I really pushed the fader!

Any opinions on stereo imaging? My monitoring room isn't at all perfect so if somebody with a perfect room and more experience than me could give some pointers.

Thanks, Dave

Dz7 · 27th January 2012

They really like their plosive consonants! Might want to do some selective de-ess'ing...at least to my ear (classical singer myself)

Otherwise, sounds great!

evinrude · 29th January 2012

Hi! Nice sound overall. I can't help you with the stereo imaging, but I have another tip. I've sung Es ist ein Rose entsprungen in this arrangement (Sandström) before, and I really like the deep bass tones in the last phrase. That is the only phrase with deep bass, but in this recording the bass tones are rather weak. This might be due to the cardioids; I've experienced significantly richer bass with omnis in similar settings. Perhaps it's possible to boost the low register a little to achieve better balance? (It's hard to tell without knowing the choir, but the lack of low register may also be due to the performance itself.)

25th January 2012	#1
jonesd90 Gear interested Joined: Dec 2010 Posts: 12 Thread Starter	Choir Recording in a Church - Would appreciate some feedback Hey guys, I did some choral recording and wandered if any of you could give me some critique? Anything from mic positioning, mic choice, mix down, overall balance. Tell me how to make these better please! Mic choice is a pair of KM184 in open pair (ORTF) configuration DAV BG1u Preamp. mics about 3.5 meters elevated directly above the conductor. Spaced SE 3 (cardioid because I had no omnis on me... how daft!). Pointed away from choir down the long part of the church spcaed about 4-5 meters apart. Liquid emulation of millennia preamp. Height about 6 feet. In the ES IST EIN ROSE ENTSPRUNGEN piece the spaced SE 3 mics are used as a coincident pair on quartet which were singing about 10 meters behind the conductor. The only post production issues I have faced (which are especially apparent in IN THE BLEAK MID WINTER track) is a lot of vehicle noise outside which made editing different takes literally impossible. On good headphones its easy to tell, on my laptop speakers its pretty impossible to hear. Unfortunately we only had a limited amount of time in the church... Thanks to anyone who has anything to say. Dave File 1: Es Ist Ein Rose Ensprungen by Jonesd90 on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free File 2: http://soundcloud.com/jonesd90/in-the-bleak-mid-winter

25th January 2012	#2
boojum Lives for gear Joined: May 2007 Location: Astoria, OR, US&A Posts: 2,311 1 Review written	"Es Ist Ein Rose . . . " seem to have an awfully lot of early reflections. What was the space like that you were in? If it is early reflections I think you are SOL. Otherwise it is quite nice. __________________ Nov schmoz ka pop.

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25th January 2012	#3
mathieujm Lives for gear Joined: Jul 2008 Location: France - Toulouse Posts: 554	The choir sound is nice, but there is a lot of processing that is heard at the beginning of Es ist ein rose (to eliminate the traffic noise ?) and too much reverb I like In the Bleak Mid-Winter. It is more natural but always the traffic noise particullary with the soloist and then the choir come whith abig difference of ambiance. Difficult to use all this for a production I think

26th January 2012	#4
jonesd90 Gear interested Joined: Dec 2010 Posts: 12 Thread Starter	Thanks for the replies! As for early reflections, it is a church. Large open space, stone walls. Shouldn't really have much in the way of early reflections as the nearest wall to reflect off would have been about 5-6 meters away (to the side of the choir) and the back wall (directly infront of choir) was about 30 meters away! The sound of the choir at the beginning of ES IST EINSTEIN ROSE sounds odd only because (what I can tell) I had to crank the volume way up (they sang extremely Quiet here and was in audible until I really pushed the fader! Any opinions on stereo imaging? My monitoring room isn't at all perfect so if somebody with a perfect room and more experience than me could give some pointers. Thanks, Dave

27th January 2012	#5
Dz7 Gear maniac Joined: Aug 2010 Location: Canada Posts: 168 1 Review written	They really like their plosive consonants! Might want to do some selective de-ess'ing...at least to my ear (classical singer myself) Otherwise, sounds great!

29th January 2012	#6
evinrude Gear interested Joined: Sep 2011 Location: Turku/Åbo, Finland Posts: 29	Hi! Nice sound overall. I can't help you with the stereo imaging, but I have another tip. I've sung Es ist ein Rose entsprungen in this arrangement (Sandström) before, and I really like the deep bass tones in the last phrase. That is the only phrase with deep bass, but in this recording the bass tones are rather weak. This might be due to the cardioids; I've experienced significantly richer bass with omnis in similar settings. Perhaps it's possible to boost the low register a little to achieve better balance? (It's hard to tell without knowing the choir, but the lack of low register may also be due to the performance itself.)