choir mastering

[tonymarachella]

hi guys, can u help me?! here the link to listening my choir recording session. gear: mic km-184 (ortf technique), pre warm audio wa 12, interface digi 002.

https://soundcloud.com/tonymarachella%2Fai-preat-benia
do you think the choir is too far? mics was at 3m from choir director. I decided this distance to take a good relationship between direct sound and reverberation, it's right?

what do you think about my recording?

which waves plug-in is better to compress the stereo master? there is some frequency that resounds and must be eliminated?

thanks for your help

 

[paulears]

The clarity of the voices is good, but perhaps a little too dry - but that sounds more like an unfriendly space really. I'm intrigued by this statement.

I decided this distance to take a good relationship between direct sound and reverberation

Do you mean you tried changing the distance and chose this balance of direct/reverb, or did you just pick it and not listen? For me - too dry for the type of music. I suspect I'd be very gentle and add some artificial decent reverb - but I would NEVER compress this type of music. The entire benefit of ORTF is that it is an very gentle modification to a more common technique and compression will wreck the subtlety the technique provides. In my own humble opinion - orchestral, chamber or choral material only needs compressing to suit a medium that has limited dynamic range. FFF to ppp doesn't need reducing to FF to pp, or worse F to p - does it? There's also the danger of the compressing algorithm introducing some left/right shift if the compression. doesn't track properly.

If I had to do anything - I personally would make it a little brighter, and add some very subtle extra space as the room isn't that supportive. I might actually decrease the distance to the source a little too, if this didn't lose the outer people to increase the detail in their annunciation then make the space bigger artificially. Just no compression at all for me. If anything, a bit of dynamic range expansion could be nice - obviously in the clip we can listen to there isn't much in the way of dynamics, there could be in the entire thing??

 

[tonymarachella]

hi paul. i have recorded in some points, listen, and after i decided. yes, the reverb of the space was no good, but I don't want a very dry recording session. i try to caputure a good mix beetwen room and/direct sound without compromise the records. which reverb you advice? hardware or plug-in. many thanks for your feedback, very useful.

 

[paulears]

Well - I still have the very first Yamaha DSP-1 processor I bought over 25 years ago that had sampled real venues from all over the world. Munster Cathedral is still a favourite that I occasionally use - but I'm now a big fan of plug-ins, and a favourite in the collection is a freebie supplied with a Cubase update - Reverence, and there's one programme I really like and use on piano recordings - Live Stage. So many different plugins now that my collection of other hardware doesn't get used any longer - because with time and effort, the exact right plugin is there somewhere. Exact and right for me, of course! I bought the Abbey Rd collection recently which work nicely on contemporary sources - but it's a simulation of a non-real space.

 

[DogsoverLava]

Loved the choir! A little dry but I thought the balance was really nice - Maybe even a bit top heavy - Would have liked more brass from the baritone and bass voices.

 

[tonymarachella]

Well - I still have the very first Yamaha DSP-1 processor I bought over 25 years ago that had sampled real venues from all over the world. Munster Cathedral is still a favourite that I occasionally use - but I'm now a big fan of plug-ins, and a favourite in the collection is a freebie supplied with a Cubase update - Reverence, and there's one programme I really like and use on piano recordings - Live Stage. So many different plugins now that my collection of other hardware doesn't get used any longer - because with time and effort, the exact right plugin is there somewhere. Exact and right for me, of course! I bought the Abbey Rd collection recently which work nicely on contemporary sources - but it's a simulation of a non-real space.

thanks paul, i will try abbey rd collection.

 

[tonymarachella]

hi guys, a short audio clip from the master. what do you think?

 

[paulears]

Well I like it. If you had used a picture of a large cathedral space, I doubt anyone would be asking questions and just assuming. It's certainly a BIG space, but it does flatter the music.