Skip to main content

Hi,
I'm going to do a recording for a pianist and a solo soprano/mezzo, and I'm looking for some advice on placement and mic setup and such. It's a very nice hall (this) and I have access to nice mics (DPA:s, Neumann, AKG, Royer and more) and pres (milennia & RME Micstasy). Please geek out with advice :)

Comments

Cucco Mon, 12/22/2008 - 09:16

I've had mixed results with the same combination.

My best recording of such came from the following:

Royer SF12 as main overhead (captured about 60% of what I was hoping for)

Schoeps CMC6 MK2s as flank pair (added 20% more)

Beyer M130/M160 M/S pair for the piano aiming the rear null at the soloist

Beyer M130 at about 8 feet in front of the soloist.

This combination worked very well for me.

If this wouldn't work (recital versus recording session) a single overhead pair and a spot mic or two should do the trick.

Cheers-
Jeremy

johannes_o Mon, 12/22/2008 - 10:59

Thank you, Jeremy. This was in an ordinary setup with the musicians facing the audience, I take it? This will not be a recital, so I can place them anyhoo I want.
I was thinking about placing them on opposite sides of an A/B pair (TLM 50 or DPA4003), like this:
Piano
A B
S <- Soprano

Any thoughts on this? This would place them both in the stero mid, able to see each other and still allow for height/distance adjustment.

I was thinking about placing a KU100 in the hall for surround ambience as well.

DavidSpearritt Thu, 01/15/2009 - 01:41

Done a lot of this. The two best results came from high quality omni main pair with wide spacing (1m) and a nice LDC spot on the soprano in the first case and an SF24 vocal spot in the second case.

Make sure the main omnis and vocal spot are as close to identical distance from the soprano to avoid smearing of the vocal image and sound.

Omnis used, M150 and DPA 4006TL pairs, spots used 414, and SF24 as I said.