The Orchestra As Sardines

I spent the first weekend of 2011 recording a small orchestra in a small hall. Or rather, HALLWAY. 8^)#

The performance space measured about ten feet wide by fifteen feet high by thirty feet long. The performers numbered eleven: flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, french horn, violin, viola, cello, contrabass, drums/percussion, piano. Plus the composer/conducter Mike Przygoda, and the recordist, yours truly.

There were a few six by eight foot practice rooms attached to the main area, and a baby grand piano in an alcove by the entrance.

With a bit of discussion about the (generally poor) room acoustics, and musician-to-conducter sight lines, and what multiple microphones would be likely to introduce in the way of phase cancellation, we decided on the following:

Still shoot for a stereo recording - mono would solve the phase problems, but finding a sweet spot for it would take too long, and anyway, stereo is almost always better...

Percussion items and drumset in a practice room with a single overhead mic (CAD M179 set to cardioid pattern). Piano lid on half-stick with a few winter coats placed over the opening, mic'ed inside with two AT4040's. Maestro Przygoda in the center of the room, conducting directly under the ten-foot tall mic stand (almost against the wall, holding two more CAD M179's, cardioid pattern, two or three feet apart, angled slightly outward). The rest of the musicians spread out across the room in a big arc, all facing the conducter, strings toward the left, woodwinds toward the right.

Recordist in the other practice room.

So here is a quick mix of one of the twenty-four pieces we recorded that weekend.




This is the primary stereo pair with some added reverb, and the unprocessed percussion track added in to the center. No stereo piano tracks added, as there is no piano in this piece.

After listening, I think I could add just a bit more volume on the percussion...what do you think?

WWGJD?

...which of course stands for "What Would Glyn Johns Do?"

Recording the band Rego a few months back, I used the "Glyn Johns method" for recording the drums. I was VERY pleased with the results.

Glyn Johns has worked with such artists as Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Easybeats, The Band, The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Kinks, Led Zeppelin, Eagles, Eric Clapton, The Clash, The Steve Miller Band, Small Faces, Spooky Tooth, The Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Blue Öyster Cult, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, Midnight Oil, New Model Army, Belly, Joe Satriani, Ronnie Lane, Rod Stewart with Faces, Joan Armatrading, Buckacre, Gallagher and Lyle, Georgie Fame, Family, Helen Watson, Fairport Convention and many others. Suffice it to say, THE GUY KNOWS HIS STUFF.

The Glyn Johns method uses only four microphones to cover the entire drumset.

The real backbone to the method is the 2 "overhead" mics: not actually placed overhead in the current mega-mic way, but with the "left side" mic directly over the snare drum facing straight down, and the "right side" mic 6-8 inches above the floor tom, facing the snare and high-hat. These cardioid mics must be equidistant from the center of the snare head. Although I often see people suggesting small-diaphragm condensers for these overheads (and SDC's are a better choice if using them as regular overheads, to pick up primarily cymbals), I don't think that they pick up the *entire* drumset as well as large-diaphragm condensers - so, my pair of AT4040's got used (with the 10db pad engaged). Both forty inches away from the snare (use your tape measure, get them exactly the same distance!). Pan these tracks halfway left and halfway right for a natural stereo balance.

The other 2 mics are just there to reinforce the overheads: a snare mic (I used a Shure BG4.0, SDC, clipped to the top rim, pointed at the center of the snare head, null side toward the high hat) and a kick drum mic (I used a Heil PR40, cardioid dynamic, goes down to 28Hz, 145 SPL, about 6 inches away from the drum, with a surrounding tunnel of a few acoustic foam pads).

No effects on the overheads, some EQ and compression on the snare and kick. Fifteen minutes to set up. Does it get any better than this?



Stephanie Whiton on the drums...sounds a bit like John Bonham to me. Now I've got to find an empty three-story stairwell, so I can get that killer live reverb!

My Qlist (Mic List)

Before I post some audio examples (soon!), I thought I might show a quick list of the microphones I'm currently using (LDC is Large Diaphragm Condenser, and SDC is Small Diaphragm Condenser, of course):

2 Apex 140 Miniature Cardiod Condenser Mics
1 Apex 215 Dual-Ribbon Mic
1 Astatic 930VP Variable-Pattern Boundary Mic
2 AT4040 LDC Mics
2 AT803 Miniature Omni Condenser Mics
2 AT803b Miniature Omni Condenser Mics
1 AT875R Short Shotgun Condenser Mic
2 ATM63HE Dynamic Mics
2 ATM25 Dynamic Mics
1 AT Pro-1 Dynamic Mic
2 AT Pro 8HEx Headset Hypercardioid Dynamic Mic
3 AT ST90 Mark II Dynamic Mics
3 CAD E300-2 Multi-Pattern LDC Mics
2 CAD equitek e70 SDC Mics (omni & cardioid capsules)
4 CAD M179 Multi-Pattern LDC Mics
1 CAD M9 Tube/Valve Mic
1 CAD Trion 6000 Multi-Pattern LDC Mic
1 Heil PR 40 Extra-Large Diaphragm Dynamic Mic
1 "Lamont" Binaural Dummy Head
2 Naiant MSH-1c Miniature Condenser Mics
4 Realistic PZM Pressure Zone Mics (Modified)
2 Shinybox 23 Ribbon Mics (Modified)
2 Shure SM57 Dynamic Mics
1 Shure BG-4 SDC Mic
1 Superlux S502 ORTF Stereo SDC Pair
1 Superlux WB-383 Miniature Condenser Clip-on Mic
1 DiMarzio Clip-In Acoustic Guitar Pickup

Plus a few mighty elderly clunkers that barely deserve to be classified as microphones, but I do occasionally use them for their unique..."clunkiness".