Klarinet Archive - Posting 000540.txt from 2003/01

From: Janis Cadieux <klargrrl@-----.ca>
Subj: Re: [kl] recording
Date: Wed, 29 Jan 2003 13:22:28 -0500

Thanks for the info Paul.

I did record one track already with my friend using cubase and an $850 mic.
the sound is really good so I see what you mean about having good mics. She
is away now so unfortunately I can't record that way again. I'm borrowing a
mic from a friend which he uses to record with his chamber group with so I
think it's decent. I guess at this point I'm wondering if it would be
easier just to use the single stero mic. The room I'm recording is, I
think, not exceptionally live and small. My deadline is fast approaching to
get the recording in. The friend who is helping me is not experienced in
doing this kind of recording but is a film maker and does sound editing for
film professionally so I think has the aptitude for it.

Janis

on 1/29/03 12:36 PM, pwharris at pwharris@-----.net wrote:

> Janis:
>
> I have done quite a bit of recording using several different techniques of
> various chamber group in the area. I find that the "stereo microphone
> system" is the easiest to balance, but using a microphone for each
> instrument gives the most presence to the recording. The ideal way would be
> to use the stereo mica for ambiance in a room of adequate size and then a
> microphone for each instrument for presence. This would of course be a 4 or
> 5 microphone layout (stereo mica is really two microphones in one housing.).
> I personally do not like to microphone the piano with two microphones as it
> is really hard to balance the two correctly for the ends of the sound board
> you have them set at. I would rather back one microphone up a little and
> microphone the piano at a distance that includes the whole range of the
> instrument. This is easy to do by opening the lid of the instrument and
> pointing the microphones at the instrument from 3 or 4 feet away at above
> the level of the top of the instrument. With good microphones you will
> still get the presence of sound without the annoying mechanical bits and
> pieces that happen when you microphone to close.
> There are several schools of thought about recording methods. You can run
> your microphones through a mixer and then record the track's as a balanced
> stereo mix on the fly. This is the method I use when there is not enough HD
> space for the time of the total recording session to record each track
> separately, or if you have enough HD space, then record each track
> separately and mix to a final balance later in the "studio". There are many
> good HD recorders that you can do this with and you won't even need a mixing
> board. I really recommend that you use this later method as it give you the
> final control of your mixed sound and is really the only way to get a good
> recording of something you are part of.
> If you don't have access to a multitrack HD recorder, you can probably rent
> one. It really is the way to go unless you have lots of experience in
> recording and can listen to a group in a room and predict what each
> microphone will do. Even the very experienced get fooled when they try to
> do this.
> One other thing, it goes almost without saying that you must use the very
> best microphones you can get. Capacitor microphones for instrumental
> recording are a must. The basic range should be 30 - 20,000 hertz. minimum.
> Remember even if you can't hear all of these frequencies, they still affect
> the perception of those you can hear. You also want a microphone that will
> record all of yours, but add very little of its own color to the sound. The
> state of the recording art is such that of all of the components involved,
> for most recordings using semipro or pro equipment, the choice of
> microphones is what will influence the recording in an audible way.
> Recorders if you use dat or HD, mixers if you use front line recent (last
> 10 - 15 years) and other electronics are generally good enough now that
> there is no audible difference from brand to brand and bottom to top of the
> line. This is still not true of microphones. Microphones still very much
> have their own color and what each ads to the sound is perceptible.
>
> Paul Harris
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Janis Cadieux" <klargrrl@-----.ca>
> To: <klarinet@-----.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, January 28, 2003 11:29 PM
> Subject: [kl] recording
>
>
>> I'm sure this has probably been discussed on the list before but I'm going
>> to be doing a recording on Sunday for an audition CD (Brahms, Poulenc) A
>> friend is going to help me record and has been asking sound recordists she
>> knows and they all say to mike the piano with two mics and the clarinet
> with
>> one. We're using a mini disc recorder so we would also need a mixer. Is
>> this a good way? I personally wanted to use just a single stereo mike.
>>
>> Thanks
>> Janis
>>
>>
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