Hello, my knowing and experienced friends.
Im currently expecting a record session with a local Jazz band and I am now asking for your tips and suggestions.
The band plays somewhat of a traditional jazz with some fusion elements and contains following instruments:
Drums (Brushes)
Upright Bass (Line possibilty)
Electric Guitar (a clean round sound with a Fender Deville amp)
Acoustic Piano
Saxophone
Vocals (A young woman with a very smooth and gentle voice)
The recording is taking place in a fully equipped studio with a SSL 900+ console. The "main" recording room has rotating walls with a reflective, an absorbing and a diffusing surface to choose from. There's also a isolated drum booth. I have the possibility to use all kinds of microphones, everything from the frequently used SM57 to capacitor microphone Neumann U87 and lav mics.
I would appreciate microphone suggestions, placement, recording techniques etc.
Comments
haha, about those rotating walls. Kinda hard to explain but ther
haha, about those rotating walls. Kinda hard to explain but there's like 50 smaller pieces with 3 different surfaces. The idea is that you can adjust exactly how much of the absorption, diffusion and reflection you want.
I should have mentioned that it is a school assignment.
What school? What saxophone? You can get a lot of answers by
What school?
What saxophone?
You can get a lot of answers by searching the forum. But here are a few reactions.
Vocals - start with the U87, probably end there.
Guitar - SM57 at the grille cloth pointed at the center of the speaker.
Bass - use a mic or mics in addition to the line in. Large diaphragm dynamic pointed at the sound hole. Small diaphragm condenser pointed from the bridge up to the finger board.
Sax - Probably a ribbon mic. Pointed at the middle of the neck about the length of the sax back.
I'll let you look up piano and drums. I'm a college professor. Shouldn't be giving students too much help with their homework.
If the room is big enough, I'd be inclined to set up an M/S or ORTF pair to capture the overall sound. I might isolate the vocalist rather than the drums and try to capture the instruments as an ensemble.
Quote:"The recording is taking place in a fully equipped studio
Quote:"The recording is taking place in a fully equipped studio with a SSL 900+ console. The "main" recording room has rotating walls with a reflective, an absorbing and a diffusing surface to choose from. There's also a isolated drum booth. I have the possibility to use all kinds of microphones, everything from the frequently used SM57 to capacitor microphone Neumann U87 and lav mics. "
Lucky dog, you! Way to go! But man, you need to let the producer and engineer make those decisions, that's what they get paid to do. Don't rely on some shmuck on the internet to decide which mics from a collection of "all kinds" to choose from, OK? And let us know how cool it is to watch those walls rotate!