Recording Marching Band (formerly: Furry windscreens - moisture resistance?)

[voltronic]

Crowd noise is pretty much unavoidable with the crowd in front of the mics.  I think your dilemma is the press box is the best spot for video, but the ten foot fence may be your best bet for mic location.  Could be interesting to put a set of unobtrusive mics on the fence to make an audio recording there, but shoot video from the press box to sync later. 

Got anyone you can team up with?

Yes, the band bought a Zoom Q8 which is a cool little camera, other than the severe fish-eye which I don't care for.  One of the directors was running that next to me from the press box, and I was thinking of exactly your suggestion for next time.  If I clamp my mics onto that fence as I did at the press box, they're not going to be in anyone's way.

[Gutbucket]

Thanks for posting samples.  Enjoyed the last clip most, and the audience was a bit quieter for that one as well.

While looping that file I made some significant EQ corrections and brought out some details with a touch of "bottom-up" compression using the adjustments available in VLC, which I was using to play the files.  Those things went along way towards making it sound more impactful and clearer, seemingly "closer" sounding.

[voltronic]

Thanks for posting samples.  Enjoyed the last clip most, and the audience was a bit quieter for that one as well.

While looping that file I made some significant EQ corrections and brought out some details with a touch of "bottom-up" compression using the adjustments available in VLC, which I was using to play the files.  Those things went along way towards making it sound more impactful and clearer, seemingly "closer" sounding.

I'd be curious what EQ settings you chose so I could try replicating them.  I just put that clip through Ozone using the "Upward Compression" preset which I usually like, but with only the Dynamics and Maximizer modules active.  No EQ, but I like the improvement in presence so far.  I uploaded it in the dropbox folder linked above.

This was a fun experiment, but I don't think I'll record from that far away again if I'm given the choice.  It didn't sound as bad as I expected though.

[Gutbucket]

Something like this (did this quicker, just now, as a loose approximation.  Works okay on this particular system.. hand-wringing & whatev)

[F.O.Bean]

Great pic Voltronic! I have probably seen over 100 Pitt football games in my day, and I have ALWAYS wanted to record their marching band mid-field I have seen Pitt's recording setup from afar, but it was certainly no Schoeps rig lol

Id love to hear a sample from your rig because I've always wondered what it sounded like mid-field like that!

[voltronic]

Great pic Voltronic! I have probably seen over 100 Pitt football games in my day, and I have ALWAYS wanted to record their marching band mid-field I have seen Pitt's recording setup from afar, but it was certainly no Schoeps rig lol

Id love to hear a sample from your rig because I've always wondered what it sounded like mid-field like that!

Go back a page to Reply #88 for the link to my Dropbox folder.  In a couple weeks, I should have some samples from field-level or front-of-stands.

I also just uploaded a sample of the visiting band that played pregame before most of the crowd was there.  I had the gain set higher on the FP24 for that recording but everything else identical.  This was the loudest part of their show.  These samples are titled "Visitors" and I have it with and without compression / maximization.  Both clips were limited and normalized.  Please be kind about the playing - remember these are high school students and it was the first show of the season.

You'll notice the "pit" percussion is much louder with this band - that's because one side of the PA crapped out for the home band, which is what all of those instruments are run though.

[voltronic]

As promised, here are samples from a recent competition, recorded from my preferred location of the front railing of the stands at the 50.  Still a 1 meter spacing at this point.  I ran the recording through the same exact compression and maximizer settings in Ozone as posted above.  There are also unprocessed tracks for comparison, but I prefer the processed versions.

Since this was a competition, the crowd was small and quiet.  In the first clip, you will clearly hear the field judges dictating notes, as well as our small Honda generator which powers the pit electronics.

Sample 1 - Clean
Sample 1 - Processed
Sample 2 - Clean
Sample 2 - Processed

[voltronic]

More samples from another competition last night, with a couple of changes:

Mics set about 8-10 feet farther back, as I normally clamp onto the front railing of home stands, but in this case I needed to actually be able to sit with my equipment so I was clamped onto the railing right in front of the first seat at the 50 (see picture below - this is not the band heard in the samples below). 

Spacing was only 60cm this time instead of 1m, and instead of FP24 > M10 I chose to use my modified 70D outdoors for the first time.  Mastering settings the same as before.

Sample 1 - Clean
Sample 1 - Processed
Sample 2 - Clean
Sample 2 - Processed

[voltronic]

...And we're back.  First competition of the season this past Saturday night, and we had a surprise guest performance from the Boston University Marching Band, who were warming up for a college band competition in Allentown the next day.  They did a fun pop set at intermission.  (If you like it loud, skip to 6 min!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVFIGOfyrfM

I decided to abandon the spaced omnis for this season as they take up too much lateral room and interfere with the spectators next to me, plus it means two clamps, two shockmounts, etc.  So for this show (and based on the results, probably the entire season):

CM3s, in SRS "Wide ORTF" mount=http://www.shapeways.com/product/F9QV4WQ7A/wide-ortf-cm3
Røde WS8 windscreens
DIY shockmount with 68-shore Rycote lyres
Superclamp onto front rail of stands at 50
DR-70D JWMod, MID gain, about 10:00

The section where I was at this field is set back 20 feet back from the rest of the stands, overhanging a walkway.  So it's back a little farther than I'd like to be, but the elevation helps the balance.

[Karl]

Very nice!

[rocksuitcase]

Very nice!

I agree. very balanced recording. catches the xylophones and other softer instruments.

[Karl]

This isn't the best performance, but here is a 4 track recording I made of my drumline: https://www.dropbox.com/s/9rmc31ejz4cbx7b/2016%20AJHS%20Winter%20Ensemble%20Recording%20Session%20%28Monday%20before%20Champs%29.flac?dl=0

[voltronic]

This isn't the best performance, but here is a 4 track recording I made of my drumline: https://www.dropbox.com/s/9rmc31ejz4cbx7b/2016%20AJHS%20Winter%20Ensemble%20Recording%20Session%20%28Monday%20before%20Champs%29.flac?dl=0

Nice!  Are you performing or are you the director?  Neat arrangement of the Dvorak New World Symphony.  Can you share the details of the recording?  Sounds like the mics were right up on the mallets.

[Karl]

Glad you like it! I'm the director, I arranged all of the music.  I had two stereo rigs recording this. 1st rig (for the battery instruments) is in my sig, AT853>Tascam DR-100mkII. 2nd rig (for the pit instruments) is Rode NT5>Edirol UA-5>Zoom H2n.  Both sets of mics were about 8 feet high. AT853's are locked about 15cm apart, and the NT5's were about 5 yards apart. And yes, they picked up on the mallet instruments almost too well, you can hear every mistake!


For fun, I took this and made my first surround mix out of this!

[rocksuitcase]

Karl,
Very nice tonal quality. The mallets are certainly front and center but the overall performance is captured really well.
Kudos!