recording a choir

[dirtydog]

Hello all,

I am going to be recording a choir in the next few weeks. They will be doing the music from an old Broadway show. Yes, all legal issues have already been dealt with. My concern is that they will be doing a few of songs with a CD accompaniment. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to deal with my monitoring nightmare? The choir consists of 80+ elementary school kids. We will be doing this in an auditorium at a local high school. Mic positioning is not a problem. Just can't figure out how to provide the monitor to the group without having the CD bleed into the mics. Obviously, headphones are not an option here. Thanks in advance!

 

[dynamo12]

Dirtydog,
which microphones ( and how many ) are you planning to use ? How many monitors they have ?
Have you considered Hypercardioid pattern ?
You can place monitors right in the null of mikes
( 100-125 degrees off axis). Jo

 

[Richard Kuschel]

Originally posted by dirtydog:
Hello all,

I am going to be recording a choir in the next few weeks. They will be doing the music from an old Broadway show. Yes, all legal issues have already been dealt with. My concern is that they will be doing a few of songs with a CD accompaniment. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to deal with my monitoring nightmare? The choir consists of 80+ elementary school kids. We will be doing this in an auditorium at a local high school. Mic positioning is not a problem. Just can't figure out how to provide the monitor to the group without having the CD bleed into the mics. Obviously, headphones are not an option here. Thanks in advance!

Why worry about the bleed?

Put the speakers behind the choir and raise them so you get a good sound in the room of the pre recorded material.

Set up a decent set of microphones and record the choir and the backing tracks live.

No headphones, better balance and the backing tracks will take on the character of the room that you are recording in.

 

[dirtydog]

Hey Jo and Richard, thanks for the replies...

First, I should admit that I haven't even seen the auditorium yet so I really have no clue as to what kind of trouble I am getting myself into. Since you asked, I am thinking of using 414's and/or AT4050's. To be perfectly honest, I haven't made up my mind as far as mic selection goes. I have to rent mics to do this job so I have to find out what is available to me. At the very least, my preliminary plan is to set up 3 mics about 3-6 feet infront of the group (LCR). Two overhead, up high (not too high). I then want to put 4 mics in the "audience". One each for L and R (respectively) and a mid-side setup in the center. As far as the monitors, I have no clue as to what they have. I may have to rent those too. I have already considered allowing the leakage to occur. I am just concerned about ending up with crappy monitors. Especially if the CD has alot of reverb on it already. I still have to hear the material that the kids will be doing too. With any luck, all my concerns will be moot. We all know how Murphy's Law likes to tear chunks out of us engineers. I like to try and minimalize it to the best of my ability.