Topic: recording small a capella group

[marko]

Hello tapers,

As one of the members of our small choir (20+ members), I want to make recordings of rehearsals and concerts. We sing mostly a capella, baroque, standing in a semi-circle, in a small church.
Soon I'll get m-audio Microtrack II. I intend to buy some cardioids along, probably a SE Electronics 3A stereo-pair.

I have some questions:

• does anyone have comments on these microphones? Any alternative in this budget? (400 E).
• do I need a pre-amp, and why?
• what setup do you recommend for the mics ?

Thank you for your suggestions,

Marko

[marko]

I'm sorry, i should have introduced myself first.
I'm a newbie from the Netherlands. I was trying to find an alternative for my MD to make some live recordings, and your forum made me yearn for more... 

[Petrus]

OKTAVA MK-012 MSP6 is a set of 2 mic bodies and 3 matched pairs of capsules; omni, cardioid and hypercardioid. Great value, not much over 400€, and you can arrange almost all stereo pairs from these (excluding MS and Bluemlein of course).

Would getting a ProTools LE with Mbox2 be a better choice than the Microtrack II for this kind of recording? The price is about the same, but you get a professional caliber editing/HDD recording system for about the same price. Of course you would need a laptop to run it.

[marko]

Thank you for your suggestions, Petrus! I read good reviews on the MK-012, so maybe I will buy these!
The MTII might also be used for stealth recordings, or for catching some outdoor sounds on one of my trips with the binaurals I once bought from Sound Professionals (SP-TFB-2). Furthermore: I don't have a laptop, alas.
Does anyone have any experience with the new SE Electronics SE 4 matched pair? They have the same price as the MK-12 MSP6, and the same characteristics as the SE3, and have also matched pairs of capsules for omni, cardioid and hypercardioid. I don't know if I would ever use the hyper-cardioid ones, but it would be nice to experiment with omni's and cardioids.

[John Willett]

How about just using the new Sony PCM-D50?

[Krispy D]

I have had good luck recording choral groups using boundary mics.  you may want to think about this option if you don't have any intention of recording anything else.

[marko]

thank you all for your suggestions
i'll look into the mics soon
for this moment i'm a little confused about what to do about the MT2:
i read that there's a serious flaw with the 1/4" input recording
and that was my first intention of using this recorder:
that i could plug 2 reasonably priced condensers (like the OKTAVA MK-012 MSP6) into the gem. would an additional small 2-channel preamp make any difference?
or should i cancel my order and go for another recorder?
what solution with condenser mics for a amateur on a budget is te be recommended?

[db]

if you can you should rent some gear until you find what's suitable.

[marko]

thank you all for your input
i've bought me a pair of oktava mk012 mics along with my microtrack ii recorder
my tests at home so far were  very satisfying
tomorrow i'll start taping choir rehearsals