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Gear / Technical Help => Ask The Tapers => Topic started by: monochromic on August 16, 2005, 07:26:36 AM

Title: Improving warmth in a bright room?
Post by: monochromic on August 16, 2005, 07:26:36 AM
evening all,

just wondering if anyone had any tips/thoughts on ways to help give warmth to a recording in a 'bright' room? a band i've recorded many times in the past are in the middle of a 'month of sundays' residency in a small club here in sydney, capacity 100 - 150 with the only place to position my stand being back of the room. i've recorded twice so far (two nights to go) and have run both mk41 and mk4 caps, both occasions close to the back wall, slightly left of centre around 6.5'-7' up, ortf config -- the resulting recordings have been a little bright. i have some rig/room pics from last sunday here which may give a better idea; http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=48154.0

any thoughts/tips/experiences most appreciated.

- brett
Title: Re: Improving warmth in a bright room?
Post by: muj on August 16, 2005, 07:29:59 AM
get a warmer pre, in that club you should be able to get ac power without hassle.

 ;)
Title: Re: Improving warmth in a bright room?
Post by: Ray76 on August 16, 2005, 07:33:36 AM
evening all,

just wondering if anyone had any tips/thoughts on ways to help give warmth to a recording in a 'bright' room? a band i've recorded many times in the past are in the middle of a 'month of sundays' residency in a small club here in sydney, capacity 100 - 150 with the only place to position my stand being back of the room. i've recorded twice so far (two nights to go) and have run both mk41 and mk4 caps, both occasions close to the back wall, slightly left of centre around 6.5'-7' up, ortf config -- the resulting recordings have been a little bright. i have some rig/room pics from last sunday here which may give a better idea; http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=48154.0

any thoughts/tips/experiences most appreciated.

- brett

ditch the v3 and get a 148 :P
Title: Re: Improving warmth in a bright room?
Post by: pfife on August 16, 2005, 07:45:46 AM
You might be getting some bounceback from the back wall... if you can, I'd move your stand a little ways from the back wall.   Also, what about running Sonosax SX-M2/LS2 -> V3 -> DAT?  I've never done this before, and I don't own either peice of gear, so maybe its not possible, but it could warm it up, if you can run it like that.
Title: Re: Improving warmth in a bright room?
Post by: muj on August 16, 2005, 09:40:45 AM
evening all,

just wondering if anyone had any tips/thoughts on ways to help give warmth to a recording in a 'bright' room? a band i've recorded many times in the past are in the middle of a 'month of sundays' residency in a small club here in sydney, capacity 100 - 150 with the only place to position my stand being back of the room. i've recorded twice so far (two nights to go) and have run both mk41 and mk4 caps, both occasions close to the back wall, slightly left of centre around 6.5'-7' up, ortf config -- the resulting recordings have been a little bright. i have some rig/room pics from last sunday here which may give a better idea; http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=48154.0

any thoughts/tips/experiences most appreciated.

- brett

ditch the v3 and get a 148 :P

nah..the m148 would add some sparkle. maybe have Doug build a darker m148 by using sowter transformers or st.ives..get the portico or http://www.davelectronics.com/bg1.htm
Title: Re: Improving warmth in a bright room?
Post by: Tim on August 16, 2005, 11:58:00 AM
brett,

try a pattern that is more on-axis next time, like DIN 17cm90º stereo pattern.
as mentioned, you might be getting rear and side wall reflections which can sound bright, so turning the mics more on-axis might very well help.
The more you turn them straight towards the stage, the more you might want to consider spacing them.

^^^ what he said
Title: Re: Improving warmth in a bright room?
Post by: monochromic on August 16, 2005, 04:54:20 PM
thanks to all for your thoughts, +t's all round.

have just put in an order for a dina bar from cascademedia, should have it in time for the final show of the month.
Title: Re: Improving warmth in a bright room?
Post by: monochromic on August 28, 2005, 03:26:09 AM
fwiw, ran mk4's in an ortf config, lowered the stand to around 6 foot and a touch further from the back wall -- a much better result, added the perfect amount of warmth to the mix. the dina bar arrived from cascade during the week, so i'll be trying mk41's in dina at the show tonight and see how things pan out.

thanks again for the tips fellas.
Title: Re: Improving warmth in a bright room?
Post by: pfife on August 31, 2005, 09:28:07 PM
fwiw, ran mk4's in an ortf config, lowered the stand to around 6 foot and a touch further from the back wall -- a much better result, added the perfect amount of warmth to the mix. the dina bar arrived from cascade during the week, so i'll be trying mk41's in dina at the show tonight and see how things pan out.

thanks again for the tips fellas.

Nice!   :laugh: That's a nice rig - just needed a bit of tweaking! 
Title: Re: Improving warmth in a bright room?
Post by: Kevin on September 01, 2005, 12:54:49 AM
Shoeps are naturally bright so try using a different pre, 148 would be a great combo but anything warm will do...
Title: Re: Improving warmth in a bright room?
Post by: muj on September 01, 2005, 03:01:07 AM

depends onthe capsule i guess, but all the flat freq. caps are to my ears neutral, and with some dark coloration.
Title: Re: Improving warmth in a bright room?
Post by: monochromic on September 01, 2005, 05:29:44 AM
ran with the mk41's in dina config last sunday night -- different sound engineer than on previous occasions, and he produced an almost unbearable 'bright' sound (ear plugs came in handy!), this was of course reflected in the recording. best pull from the four shows was the mk4/ortf/6ft stand config. will be running the mk41/dina config again saturday, this time at an in-store. photo below is from a previous in-store -- really cool place.

a 148 would be nice, i'd be interested to hear how it pairs with a v3 after hearing so many good things. i may run the sonosax in front of the v3 at the next 'bright' show, for comparisons sake if nothing else.

(http://www.wearegifted.com.au/blog/images/IMG_7877.jpg)
Title: Re: Improving warmth in a bright room?
Post by: muj on September 01, 2005, 06:36:04 AM
ran with the mk41's in dina config last sunday night -- different sound engineer than on previous occasions, and he produced an almost unbearable 'bright' sound (ear plugs came in handy!), this was of course reflected in the recording. best pull from the four shows was the mk4/ortf/6ft stand config. will be running the mk41/dina config again saturday, this time at an in-store. photo below is from a previous in-store -- really cool place.

a 148 would be nice, i'd be interested to hear how it pairs with a v3 after hearing so many good things. i may run the sonosax in front of the v3 at the next 'bright' show, for comparisons sake if nothing else.

(http://www.wearegifted.com.au/blog/images/IMG_7877.jpg)


i would get a portico instead.... if you are interested i might sell my hhb classic 80 tube pre , which will definately make things sound much warmer or brighter depending on  how hard you drive the unit.


 ;D
Title: Re: Improving warmth in a bright room?
Post by: creekfreak on September 01, 2005, 10:34:29 AM
Get some LD mics  ;D
Title: Re: Improving warmth in a bright room?
Post by: BobW on September 02, 2005, 09:49:45 PM
brett,

try a pattern that is more on-axis next time, like DIN 17cm90º stereo pattern.
as mentioned, you might be getting rear and side wall reflections which can sound bright, so turning the mics more on-axis might very well help.
The more you turn them straight towards the stage, the more you might want to consider spacing them.

^^^ what he said

X-Y @ 90 degrees.  ORTF definitely causes a loss of bass. It can often be fixed in post.....
Title: Re: Improving warmth in a bright room?
Post by: VA_TAPER on September 02, 2005, 10:39:20 PM
ORTF causes a loss of treble not bass.  It's not really a loss, it's phase cancelation and it occuse at high frequencies where the wavelengths are close to the spread of the mics; bass wavelengths are much longer than the ORTF spread. 

A tube pre with transformers should warm things up a bit but like muj said can also increase harmonics at the top end. 

I'd suggest simply moving the mics closer to the sound source to increase the proximity effect and boost the mid-bass, this will in effect warm the recording.

One night, if you have enough cable,  clamp booms on to each stack, split the mics - one per stack, tweak the aiming (degrees off-axis) durning soundcheck and give that a try, just keep at least 2-3 ft off of the stack to ensure a mixing of the horn with the mids.

peace, chris
Title: Re: Improving warmth in a bright room?
Post by: BC on September 03, 2005, 11:29:25 PM
brett,

try a pattern that is more on-axis next time, like DIN 17cm90º stereo pattern.
as mentioned, you might be getting rear and side wall reflections which can sound bright, so turning the mics more on-axis might very well help.
The more you turn them straight towards the stage, the more you might want to consider spacing them.

^^^ what he said

X-Y @ 90 degrees.  ORTF definitely causes a loss of bass. It can often be fixed in post.....

I respectfully disagree about this, IMHO XY is the thinnest sounding of the stereo configurations.