Topic: What mics and what config for this gig?

[Belexes]

I have an open taping situation coming up for this band that just signed to RCA:

http://thewanderingsons.com/
(shows concert ad)

The venue is an old college chapel:
http://www.lawrence.edu/about/tour/chapel.shtml

No photos on the site of the interior of the chapel, but it has wood pews and excellent natural acoustics when full of bodies.  I have the SP C4's and was thinking of running omni's, even though this is indoors.  Good decision or stick with cards?  I don't have hyper caps.  It's either omni or cards.  I am going to use a stand.  There is a balcony, but it is very deep in the chapel and I think too far from the sound source especially since I don't have hypers.  I am going to run DFC somewhere in front of the balcony so I am not under it, 1/2 back.

If I ran cards, I think I am going to use DIN.  What config if I use omni's?

TIA.  If I get a good pull I think the artist will throw some of my recording on their myspace page.

[cgrooves]

I have only run omnis outdoors, so no help there really.  I would think omnis would be fine indoors if the room acoustics were really good and the audience wasn't too rowdy.  Typically, you think of running omnis closer to the sound source than you will be, however.  In any case, if I chose to run omnis, it would be A|B split.  Then the question of "split how much?" comes up.  Since you are running on a stand, and will probably not have the option of utilizing another taper's stand you will be limited.  However, I have made a couple of really good split omni recordings outdoors with a split of only 12"-16".  The cards in a DIN configuration may be the ticket.  If they play 2 sets, you could try both configurations and see what results.  Good luck!

[Gutbucket]

Here's a technical answer-

Below is a chart from Michael Williams 'Stereophonic Zoom' paper that is a good starting point for spacing omnis.  It shows the stereo recording angle or 'pickup' angle (labled SRA and shown as a figure listing + & - angles from 0 degrees in the small ovals) for omnis in various A-B spacings (measured in cm's).  Because he uses the same graph for various mic patterns, you can disregard the vertical axis of the graph ( showing mic angle) since this is for omnis. 

Of course if you can adjust your setup during a sound check you could monitor though headphones while adjusting the spacing, that's what I typically do if I can. Here's a link to the paper the cart is from if you're interested.

As for how close to set-up (ideally) keep in mind that the distance factor for a cardioid is 1.7 vs. 1.0 for an omni. That means an omni needs to be 1.7 times closer to the source than a cardioid in order to pick up the same direct to reverberant ratio of sound.  A hypercardioid patern has a distance factor of 2 and so will pick up the same direct to reverberent ratio twice as far from the source as the omni. 

In non-technical terms that means get up as close as is reasonable with the omni's.

[Gutbucket]

Non techincal answer-

If the room sounds good a recording made with omnis can be outstanding.  If the room sounds bad you'll need to get really close with the omnis to get good sound.  I usually find a 35"-40" spread works best for me from a bit back in the room, but less than that can work too, though you'll have less stereo spread. 

If micing up on the stage lip I'll tend to just eyeball the band setup and often end up with a bigger spread, but a baffle or jecklin-disc can work well up close too, and that keeps everything tight together on one stand.  I've only used a home built jecklin-type disc at a distance and didn't care for it, but many people like the results when used up close.  Not hard to build, plenty of threads & pics at TS if you want to whip one up, just do a search.  Good luck.

[Belexes]

+T on the help.  I have never recorded in this venue, so that doesn't help, but have seen concerts there before.  FZ actually played this place in '69 and a recording exisits of that, but I think it's a board tape.

My T-mount is only 12", so not a lot of spacing for omni's (no second stand) and I am afraid if I get too close the audience noise will be a factor, so maybe DIN cards in the way to go.  There is an opener, so I suppose I could try omni's on that, monitor it, and if I don't like it, switch to cards for the headliner.

The music is Tom Waits-ish, not loud rock and the audience tends to chill for the performances I have seen.  Plus, this being a chapel, no alcohol.  So that's why i was going to chance omni's.