Topic: Stealthing with Neumann U89's

[airbladder]

The other night I recorded Arlo Guthrie at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in Troy, NY.  Now Arol allows recording but the venue doesn't seem to.  So this is what I did.  I wore a cowboy shirt with a two chest pockets, put a microphone in each pocket, and held a OCM R-44 between my legs.  I cut two holes on the inside of the pockets so the cables could run under my shirt to the deck.  Like this only the capsule of the mic stuck out of the pocket.  The shirt was sliver and was the same color as the mics.  At first I kept my jacket on, unzipped, and covering the mics.  When the lights went down I opened the jacket to expose the microphones but left it on.  I have the R-44 bag so I could close that and hide the display light.  This venue is old and was built for very little people.  You sit leg to leg with your neighbors and honestly I don't think the woman sitting next to me knew that I was taping.  She was aware that something strange was going on down by my feet but the mics were totally off her radar.  I am sure she wondered why I didn't clap but not my issue.

The first set came out good.  I basically hit record then covered the deck up so the levels were set low.  There was some user error for the second set and it was lost or may have never been recorded I am not sure.  Before this show I had never used the R-44 with out a pre amp and a/d to power my mics.  Things were rushed and I didn't get the chance to do a dry run.  Not sure what went wrong during the second set but I know the hold button was not engaged.  I guess that is a rookie stealth mistake to make.  I was happy to get the first set and pull off stealthing with this rig because I have always wanted to try.  Not sure I liked the experience, too stressful.     

That's it ladys and gentlemen.  You can stealth with LD's.  It was actually easy to get DIN in the tiny venue.  At home where I wasn't smashed between two people the shirt allows for a natural NOS.  When I upload the set to etree I will throw a link up.   

   

[illconditioned]

The other night I recorded Arlo Guthrie at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in Troy, NY.  Now Arol allows recording but the venue doesn't seem to.  So this is what I did.  I wore a cowboy shirt with a two chest pockets, put a microphone in each pocket, and held a OCM R-44 between my legs.  I cut two holes on the inside of the pockets so the cables could run under my shirt to the deck.  Like this only the capsule of the mic stuck out of the pocket.  The shirt was sliver and was the same color as the mics.  At first I kept my jacket on, unzipped, and covering the mics.  When the lights went down I opened the jacket to expose the microphones but left it on.  I have the R-44 bag so I could close that and hide the display light.  This venue is old and was built for very little people.  You sit leg to leg with your neighbors and honestly I don't think the woman sitting next to me knew that I was taping.  She was aware that something strange was going on down by my feet but the mics were totally off her radar.  I am sure she wondered why I didn't clap but not my issue.

The first set came out good.  I basically hit record then covered the deck up so the levels were set low.  There was some user error for the second set and it was lost or may have never been recorded I am not sure.  Before this show I had never used the R-44 with out a pre amp and a/d to power my mics.  Things were rushed and I didn't get the chance to do a dry run.  Not sure what went wrong during the second set but I know the hold button was not engaged.  I guess that is a rookie stealth mistake to make.  I was happy to get the first set and pull off stealthing with this rig because I have always wanted to try.  Not sure I liked the experience, too stressful.     

That's it ladys and gentlemen.  You can stealth with LD's.  It was actually easy to get DIN in the tiny venue.  At home where I wasn't smashed between two people the shirt allows for a natural NOS.  When I upload the set to etree I will throw a link up.   

   

That's the most crazy stealth story I've heard in a while...

I would be scared to take those mics out of the house!

Just a note, though: for a cardioid pattern (and other patterns too?) the mics need air on both the front and back.  I'm not sure putting them in front of your body will sound that great.  Well, any Neumann mic will probably sound great... but it might not be a cardioid pattern...

  Richard

[airbladder]

Yea I ran cards.  Would subcard be any better?

[L Ron Hoover]

Keep stealth stealth.












Just kidding of course.

[(Evan)]

I did something similar recently. I recorded three shows on Broadway using AKG-414 ULS mics covered in black speaker cloth. Wore a large jacket and kept them on the inside pockets before the show started. Had the cables running on the inside of my jacket into a Microtrack II in my pants pocket. When the shows started, I pulled out the mics and actually held them against my shoulders so that both sides of the capsule were sticking out above my body in the open.

No one ever really payed attention to me. However the quality of the recordings really just weren't worth the trouble, so I'm back to using CMC-8's 

[Kyle]

I used to 'stealth' with my Sennheiser ME-80 shotguns all the time. The mics were modular so I could break them down so security never knew what they were. I actually used to tell them that the mic cables were spark plug wires from my VW bus. I would explain that the engine compartment did not lock and the parts were often stolen. If it was a 'hippie'-ish type of event it was easier as I could point to the other buses in the lot and say "Look at all of those buses, someone might break down and take something!". As long as they didn't find the deck I was home free. I had a decent size bookbag with everything in it. Mics in their cases (I said the mics were engine parts) and cables. I usually had the deck in a box at the bottom of the bag wrapped up in a towel but after the story about the spark plugs they didn't continue on in the search. I can't believe that it actually worked, but I pulled it off about twenty times. After a particularly bad bust during the encore of a Santana show I gave it up.  I would never attempt it now, as tight as things are in venue security. Great fun while it lasted.

[Eigenklang]

heh, that is "boldness always wins" in practical terms. 

Very cool. Perhaps they are now trying to pay more attention towards smaller stealth devices so they just dont realize it.

[illconditioned]

I did something similar recently. I recorded three shows on Broadway using AKG-414 ULS mics covered in black speaker cloth. Wore a large jacket and kept them on the inside pockets before the show started. Had the cables running on the inside of my jacket into a Microtrack II in my pants pocket. When the shows started, I pulled out the mics and actually held them against my shoulders so that both sides of the capsule were sticking out above my body in the open.

No one ever really payed attention to me. However the quality of the recordings really just weren't worth the trouble, so I'm back to using CMC-8's 

Wow.  You guys make stealthing too hard.  All I got is Countryman B3 > recorder PIP.

  Richard

[Jamos]

Great story about the Troy Music Hall...
I've been there before, and it is a great sounding hall.  I would imagine that at a quiet Arlo show with everyone sitting, you'd come out with a quite listenable recording.

When I first read the thread title, I was laughing out loud, but after reading how you did it, it doesn't seem to crazy at all.

The U89's are pretty big though aren't they?  The 414's should fit easily in a pocket, but I thought the 89's might be too large...

Interested to hear your recording!