Topic: What's wrong with this recording?

[ScottT]

The second time out with my rig was on Sunday when I taped Dickey Betts & Great Southern.  This was in a park in downtown St. Louis surrounded by tall buildings.  It didn't sound the greatest at the show but there's something else going on here.  Check out the sample (rightclick, Save As) - is this phasing?  I'm thinking the sound (most prevalent for me as a 'swishing' in the cymbals) is the result of setting up in a hurry and not verifying my stereo configuration.  Is there anything I can do now to make this recording more listenable?  What do I need to do in the future to prevent this from happening again?

Statesboro Blues FLAC (26 MB)

Statesboro Blues 256k mp3 (11 MB)

Many thanks in advance for any assistance....

[ScottT]

This was at the Rib America Festival and there were thousands of people around.  If I had to guess I'd say I was a couple hundred feet back from the stage.  I was in the center, just in front of the board.  It wasn't windy but I still used the screens that come with the 'Luxes.

I run the Superlux SMK-H8K with cardioid capsules.  I arrived a bit late (had a looooong hassle at the gates about bringing in gear  ) and setup quickly as the band was playing its opening tune-up jam.  I tried to approximate ORTF but probably wasn't quite at 110° 17cm.  I've been patching for nearly ten years but am still trying to get the hang of running my own gear...

The other instruments don't sound as bad as the cymbals to my ears, so maybe it is a distance issue.  If that's the case, there's nothing that can be done to clean it up right?  There was another rig there (AT825) so I can always get a copy.

[ScottT]

Sounds like I'll pick up the other source for the show, and run a different configuration if I find myself that far from the stage again.

Thanks very much for the reply.  +T

[Scooter]

That "swishy sound" is the high freq's phasing a bit from the breeze.  Any time you have a breeze when you're taping outside(from a distance), you'll get this sound.  It really bugs me too .  When it's really windy it's awful.  I agree w/ Moke that a narrower spread would have given a little better detail.  I find that the farther back I am, the better the "point at the stacks" seems to sound.