Topic: narrow room/windscreens/noise barriers?

[jagraham]

hello-
im doing the two new riders of the purple sage shows this weekend 9/5 clementines harrisonburg, va and 9/6 gore va wilderness jam.  they are both unique because i havent taped the venues or similar ones before.  i know how outside taping goes but i was wondering if in addition to using an umbrella if it would be smart to use small pieces of wood or cardboard propped up beside the mics to help the sound?  any experience with this?  also, what really gave me the idea of "isloating" the sound like that was the clementine cafe venue.  i have never taped in a venue that looks so narrow.  the url for that is http://clementinecafe.com, there are some pictures on the site.  i assume if i am about halfway back from the stage near the bar, it would be smart to set the stand high and the mics narrow with each other??  any help with this is appreciated.  thanks in advance!

[Gutbucket]

hello-
im doing the two new riders of the purple sage shows this weekend 9/5 clementines harrisonburg, va and 9/6 gore va wilderness jam.  they are both unique because i havent taped the venues or similar ones before.  i know how outside taping goes but i was wondering if in addition to using an umbrella if it would be smart to use small pieces of wood or cardboard propped up beside the mics to help the sound? 

It's inside right? No need for an umbrella.   What are you trying to accomplish with the wood blocks? Generally you want to avoid having anything near the mics.  There are a few exceptions to that such as using omni mics with a Jecklin-disc baffle between them or using boundary or PZM mics which have to be mounted on a surface to work properly, but for most all other microphones and techniques, anything that disrupt the sound-field near the microphone is bad.

any experience with this?  also, what really gave me the idea of "isloating" the sound like that was the clementine cafe venue.  i have never taped in a venue that looks so narrow.  the url for that is http://clementinecafe.com, there are some pictures on the site.  i assume if i am about halfway back from the stage near the bar, it would be smart to set the stand high and the mics narrow with each other??  any help with this is appreciated.  thanks in advance!

A narrow room isn't necessarily bad. Put the mics where it sounds good.  I'd setup as close as you can to the stage, where the vocals from the house speakers still sound clear - too close and you might only hear the instruments well.  If you are using cardioid or super-cardioid directional mics and are concerned about too much sound bouncing off the walls, you might choose a stereo configuration that spaces the mics farther apart with less angle between them so their more sensitive axis is pointing more towards the front. Search for the Stereo Zoom paper information on this site which describes the relationship between mic spacing and angles.

Farther back in the room the sound bounces around more and the level of the music gets closer to the level of the crowd noise, so higher up might help, as long as it sounds good up there.  Have fun.