Topic: classical music samples?

[wbrisette]

full orchestra, but you can also check this sample out:

http://homepage.mac.com/wayneb/FileSharing11.html

Download: Sinfonia 2nd Movement


This was done with Earthworks QTC-1/QTC-40 mics. Two center, one each side of the orchestra.

Wayne

[Gutbucket]

Posting to mark the thread so I can return and listen to some samples.
I'll try and dig up a few short samples of my own but they are also mostly DPA 4060 sourced.

[DSatz]

BayTaynt3D, thank you for the kind words, and (maybe the symbol doesn't show up in your browser and/or I'd better go back and make sure I typed it correctly) the angles in my message, such as 45 degrees, are meant to be preceded by a "plus-or-minus" sign. I was talking about the physical angle between the main axes of the two capsules--not what Michael Williams calls the "stereophonic recording angle" (the total arc of pickup which will just fit into the audible angle between your loudspeakers when you play back the recording).

A pair of cardioids at plus-or-minus 45 degrees gives an SRA of 180 degrees, which is far too great for semi-distant music recording. What angle do your speakers present to your ears when you listen at home? If you're as far from them as they are from each other, for example, then they're only "60 degrees apart" for you. If you record a 180-degree SRA and play it back in a 60-degree setup, most of the sound sources will seem to be near the center line of the stereo image.

Just as an interesting contrast, I happened to notice that the Beyer MCE 72 stereo microphone has a pair of cardioid capsules at plus-or-minus 60 degrees.

The situation is even worse--much worse, actually--with most variable-pattern stereo microphones. With only two exceptions (which are no longer made), all such microphones use dual-diaphragm capsules and vary the patterns of those capsules by varying the polarization voltage on their rear diaphragms. This type of construction invariably results in a polar pattern for the cardioid setting (and wide cardioid as well if the mike has that option, as in certain Neumann and AKG models) that becomes broader at low frequencies. So the overlap between channels only increases in the bass--making the overall pickup "more mono" just in the frequency region where you need it to be "more stereo" instead.

I know I'm digressing, but ... people get confused over the "low frequency / localization" thing. It's true that we don't tend to localize low-frequency sound sources sharply; nearly all the cues which let us localize sound sources precisely in a recording are in the midrange and upper midrange. But when the low frequencies are practically mono, the recording lacks a sense of "spaciousness," "envelopment" or "being there." Oddly (or maybe not), the two types of two-mike recording that generally provide that spaciousness the most are the two extreme opposites: Blumlein and spaced omnis.

[Dede2002]

BayTaynt3D, thank you for the kind words, and (maybe the symbol doesn't show up in your browser and/or I'd better go back and make sure I typed it correctly) but the angles in my message, such as 45 degrees, are meant to be preceded by a "plus-or-minus" sign.

I was talking about the physical angle between the main axes of the two capsules--not what Michael Williams calls the "stereophonic recording angle" (the total arc of pickup which will just fit into the audible angle between your loudspeakers when you play back the recording). A pair of cardioids at plus-or-minus 45 degrees gives an SRA of 180 degrees, which is far too great for semi-distant music recording. What angle do your speakers present to your ears when you listen at home? If you're as far from them as they are from each other, for example, then they're only "60 degrees apart" for you. There needs to be some rough correspondence of the angles for the stereo image to make sense.

Just as an interesting contrast, I happened to notice that the Beyer MCE 72 stereo microphone has a pair of cardioid capsules at plus-or-minus 60 degrees.

The situation is even worse--much worse, actually--with most variable-pattern stereo microphones. With only two exception (a pair of Schoeps models which are no longer made), all such microphones use dual-diaphragm capsules and vary the pattern by varying the polarization voltage on the rear diaphragm. This type of construction invariably results in a polar pattern that becomes broader at low frequencies--so the overlap between channels only increases in the bass, making it "more mono" just where you want it to be "more stereo" instead.

I know I'm digressing, but ... people get confused over the "low frequency / localization" thing. It's true that we don't tend to localize low frequencies sharply--that nearly all the cues which let us localize sound sources in a recording are in the midrange and upper midrange. But when the low frequencies are practically mono, the recording lacks a sense of "spaciousness," "envelopment" or "being there." Oddly (or maybe not), the two types of two-mike recording that generally provide that spaciousness the most are the two extreme opposites: Blumlein and spaced omnis.

DSatz, you never digress. Thanks for the great info.

[Gutbucket]

...when the low frequencies are practically mono, the recording lacks a sense of "spaciousness," "envelopment" or "being there." Oddly (or maybe not), the two types of two-mike recording that generally provide that spaciousness the most are the two extreme opposites: Blumlein and spaced omnis.

I've noticed and thought alot about that. Furthering the digression, here's a thread from a while back exploring some reasons why that may be the case: Why Blumlein sounds more spacious than other coincident or near-so arrays.

[live2496]

Nice recordings Moke. I'm a big fan of DPA's too.

Carpa, you might start out with some cheaper capsules and a mic pre and then upgrade to the dpa's later. Here are some numbers from DPA:

Total harmonic distortion (THD):     <1% THD up to 123 dB SPL peak
Dynamic range:    Typ. 100 dB
Max. SPL, peak before clipping:    134 dB

These mics will handle high SPL's. I would recommend trying spaced omnis and at the right distance to balance the room sound with the sound of the instrument.

The dpa wiring terminates in microdot connectors which is a miniature screw-on cable. These are unbalanced but you can get a part from dpa (DAD6001) that converts them to an XLR connection. I think most people here terminate them to a mini plug which is common on the small battery powered preamps.