Hello from a new member,
Graham Munda (Dueling) emailedme re. the topic of "stack taping" as he knows me and had seen my name mentioned in this forum. I don't .know if I have any light to shed
on the subject, but am happy to contribute, maybe on a specific question basis. In brief, I have been using 4 mics to make recordings since 1990. At all times, the bqackbone
of the mic selection has been the Crown SASS P PZM, a stereo condenser mic that can be powered either by 2 9 v. batteries or phantom. For the years between 1990 and
2002, I used battery power on both sets of mics, and used mostly low cost unidirectional mics sold by Radio Shack. In the early years or two, I had a pair of AKG 1000's that
were on loan until the owner, a taper who was taking a long break from recording, resumed taping and wanted them back. He was using them in a 2 mic recording style, not
4. I was rather surprised to discover that there was no audible difference in the recordings made with either. I used a passive, battery powered mixer, also sold by Radio Shack, during this whole period. What changed the micing style was a phone conversation I had with Crown Int'l. I had called to inquire about having my PZM tuned up after
over ten years of schlepping it around to concerts, and described my micing style to the tech I was talking to, and he said I should really consider their CM-700 cardioid mic
because, among other benefits, its SPL rating matched the demands of live concert recording such as I was doing. I had only to commit to phantom power as the CM-700s
were phantom power only. Thus, the Shure FP-42, a 4 into 2 channel mixer that phantom powers all 4 mics and can run on battery power. Mixing on the fly is something I
have many hundreds of recordings worth of experience with. I now record 4 discreet tracks and do my mixing after the fact. As to mic placement, 1 foot from a stack is
a little closer than I usually go, but between 2 and 3 feet is a normal distance. I look at the speaker and try to determine where the low-mid-high freq. zones are. I don't
look for much low freq. as I get that from the stage. Stereo imaging, and esspecially the concurrance of the PA and the stage imaging is very much a product of the FOH engineer when using this method, but that is no different than the concurrence issue when using a board feed; it's still the board operator who's in charge as to the signal
mirroring the stage image. Nowadays, I also quite a bit more frequently than before, will use the stage monitors instead of the PA when the PA is not accessible, mic-wise,
and I have 4 CM-700s which can be run thru the Shure (mixing on the fly again) to blend with the stage signal. This can be quite useful in a small room with a lot of signal
from the stage that isn't available to just a stage mic. These sources can include the vocals, any instrument that's plugged into the board but has no stage amp-type of source such as keys, sax, flute, etc. There is a New Monsoor recording from The Sweetwater, 12-2-05, on LMA that is a recent example of a 6 channel recording (where the
4 stage monitor sources are mixed down to 2 on the fly) one can listen to to check this micing strategy out. I never try to make just the PZM grab all the sound, monitors
included, as that would be a real trainwreck, phasing and crosstalk-wise. Recording I have heard with stage mics set on omni have never impressed me. I will be glad to respond to any specific questions if I can add from my experience to anyone's recording efforts. Best email to reach me is at sunauto@pacbell.net.
Topic: Stack taping help needed (Read 3329 times)