Topic: Taping a Choir ?

[momule]

I have been in contact with My old Choir director , and she has set me up to record an upcoming Concert .
My ? is . running stage lip what would be a nice Mic config for a 50+ person Choir.

Im thinking of running XY as the way the group is set up it seems DIN or such would render a weird recording as the Sopranos will be all Left channel and the tenors would be all Right channel with the Baritone and bass filling the insides. Seems Xy would render a More even sound .

Anyone here record such Concerts?
TIA for any help..
Nick

[John R]

m. french should have the info you need.

[Brian]

scratch XY. you won't be able to get enough seperation IMO.

I'd go for cards,  ORTF, at stage lip or JUST behind the conductor,  but put the microphone stand WAAAAYY(i dunno 12 feet or thereabouts) up high and point the microphones down towards the back of the choir.

I just recorded a choir but I had the luxury of using 3 omnis.  If had only two mikes i'd go for cardioids in the fashion I described above.  By raising your stand and pointing the microphones down you will acomplish 3 things.

1) direct sound
2) nice blend of room sound
3) capturing the depth of choir

If you get too much direct sound from the front of the choir(by having your stand too low) you will get absoutely no depth and that's something you definitely want IMO.

Hope that helps! Good Luck!

[Swampy]

Ya, if you are going to put your mics anywhere near the condutor, make sure to get them high, especially if it is man wearing a suit/tux. You can hear the suit on the recording if you arnt far enough away. I think if you are that close though, you probably wouldnt have to worry running a wider pattern like DIN, you'll probably get a nice blend, maybe somthing like DINA...

[Brian Skalinder]

I recorded a small (~12 member) choral group in a church setting recently.  The challenge, as you basically already understand:  getting close enough to minimize the room, but far enough away to achieve blending among the voices on stage.

XY may help reduce an overly strong L/R stereo effect due to singer placement.  But, putting some distance between you and the choir will help more, I think.  And an open mic pattern - subcards or omnis - will help even more.  STL makes some good comments that will help with blending and capturing the depth of the choir, especially if there are multiple rows of singers.

Any opportunity to set up during rehearsal to try out a bunch of different configs / patterns / locations?
Do you have free reign for where / how you set up?
Any opportunity to hang mics?
What mics / caps do you have at your disposal?
Any idea if the crowd will be rowdy or quietly polite?

[momule]

thanks to everyone for there input.
 +t to the thread

just to answer a bit more in detail.

""Do you have free reign for where / how you set up?""
Not sure yet what My bounds will be , More details to come


""Any opportunity to hang mics?""
Not sure yet,  but I did ask her about it. as I was assuming I would need to be more outta sight than acoustic thinking.

""What mics / caps do you have at your disposal?""
I have a Pair of Superlux Knock off's (samson Co2's which are Card and accept the superlux caps)so I guess I could pick up a pair of Omni caps for them. and My buddy Jason just bought Heaths Old 483's (which I was planning on using) But we have no 61 caps for them just yet.

""Any idea if the crowd will be rowdy or quietly polite?""
When I was in Choir the crowd was very quiet. I remember hearing Analog cass played in class a couple days later But dont remember if they were from the SBD or AUD. (I do recall they sounded like azz)

[Brian]

i saw that you had the akg hypers.  I have those too and really haven't found an ideal situation to use them for recording acoustic music in spaces lilke churches or concert halls yet.  But I'll be getting some 61s and will definitely try those out on.  The only thing I've done with 63s is mike an acoustic guitar from 8' away in the studio and XY in a small club for 1 show   I guess you could always throw them in the way back of the room for ambient microphones if you don't have any omnis at your disposal.  another idea to try is to put them on another stand about 10-20' behind your "main" pair and point the hypers to the back of the room.  who knows? i've heard of people doing this with cardiods for surround recording techniques.  however you have to think about the back lobe pickup of the hyper.

it's all a crapshoot really.  just throw some microphones up and let it roll   with a little instinct and intuition 9 recordings out of 10 should come out nice

[crunchy]

you should pm Pat (pnobles). He has done some choir recordings.

[daverinuk]

I did a couple choir recordings in college, most of what's being said here I fully agree with.
I was able to set up mics in the Aud though, so that may influence things. You might ask if they mind.
The best way to get a good blend is to go high. I ran my AKG 480/ck61's and put the mic stand as far up as possible, right under the edge of the balcony (basically like hanging mics from the balcony) and pulled a decent tape. A choir in a church or good auditorium is much different acoustically than a rock show, obviously. It's gonna be a bit boomier than you're used to. I'd reccomend trying to record a rehearsal in the space if you have the chance.
Good luck!