recording a string quartet tomorrow

[djanogil]

Will a pair of spaced small condensers do the job (Oktava Mk012)?

I wouldn't really want to mic them individually, (and would be short on mics).
The spaced pair seems more natural, but I was told the cello (having a lower register) could have problems coming out,
maybe adding a room mic pointing at him would be enough?
Any experienced advice?

Thanks

Jean

[klaukholm]

Spaced omnis. If you work on placement you should get a great result given good mics. If you have a mic shortage you can spot them with one closer XY or ORTF or use a simple ORTF with Omni outriggers.

[MattiMattMatt]

For string quartets - I agree, keep it simple. No special mic for the cello.

-matt

[djanogil]

Originally Posted by klaukholm

Spaced omnis. If you work on placement you should get a great result given good mics. If you have a mic shortage you can spot them with one closer XY or ORTF or use a simple ORTF with Omni outriggers.

Great,
except that my pair is cardioid,
can I still do the job?

[klaukholm]

You can do it with only an ORTF, but personally I think you loose too much bass. Rememer the String quartet is inherently top heavy as it is and benefits from some full bass.
Many good quartet recordings have been done with only a simple ORTF.

I would make sure to find a big hall (300-1500 seats) with lots of wood - particularly if you only have cardioids. Long reverb is your friend in that case.

[pkautzsch]

Done some quartet recordings, most of them with ORTF-ish setups, and most with high-boost mics like the Neumann KM184. Oktava 012 are said to sound "sort of" similar.
Spaced omnis are great. But I like them better with larger ensembles. With cardioids, one can vary the direct/reverb ratio and the ensemble's balance without changing the distance from the ensemble: another pro-cardioid point.

[d_fu]

Recorded a string quartet in a rather large reverberant church (live convert) with a pair of cardioids in some kind of more or less arbitrary spaced setup (good deal wider than ORTF and fairly stright) and the sound was very nice (the musicians especially liked it a lot, it was much less reverberant than they were afraid it would be). With a string quartet, you won't really notice a lack of bass, I guess. Experiment a bit before the recording, and you'll surely get a decent result.

[bluesbaz]

No mater what you use, take your time, placement is everything.
Place the first mic in mono and listen until the frequency balance is right, then add the second you will notice if there is a phasing problem a lot better after having heard the first mic for a minute. Thats a tip I wish someone had told me before my first string session.

Are you doing this as an overdub. What is the recording for.

by the way you could also try a
Jecklin Disk
They are rather easy to approximate.

[djanogil]

Originally Posted by klaukholm

You can do it with only an ORTF, but personally I think you loose too much bass. Rememer the String quartet is inherently top heavy as it is and benefits from some full bass.
Many good quartet recordings have been done with only a simple ORTF.

I would make sure to find a big hall (300-1500 seats) with lots of wood - particularly if you only have cardioids. Long reverb is your friend in that case.

Hmm , well actually my studio is 20 Sq. Meters, but we did it today with an ortf couple plus a TLM103 pointing at the cello and a rear room mic.
The result is very nice and pleased everyone.

Thanks for your advices