Topic: Comparison recordings of classical woodwinds

[mschiff]

Last Wednesday night I recorded the woodwind section of the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra at a rehearsal in the home of the composer of the piece they were rehearsing (Acadian Dances, by Steve Goldman). There were 2 bassoons, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 1 English horn and 2 flutes.

I used 3 different setups to record, all at the same time.

1. Zoom H2 with rear mics enabled at medium level
2. Avenson Audio STO-2 into DAV BG-1 into Echo Audio Mia into Sonar 7
3. DPA4060 into Core-Sound MIC2496 into Microtrack 2496

All recordings are 16/44.1 wav files. The only post processing done was to raise the level of one of the files to match the rest by about 3db. Otherwise, these short samples are straight out of the recorders.

See if you can pick which is which, and let me know which you like best and why, please. The order of the files does not match the order above.

http://www.stevegoldman.com/music/woodwindtest.zip

-- Martin

[amfortas2006]

Dunno wich would be wich, but the nr3 sound a bit more coated, vapoury...

Nr.2 sounds a bit more dry to me

nr.1 rather clear and direct.

I dunno, if I would have to choose... Maybe 3. But just cause it makes me less tired to listen to

[requiem]

My guess would be sound 2 is from zoom h2.
I like sound 3 the best, natural sounding and more detailed.

Cheers

[Outrageous]

Martin, thanks for the comparisons.  These are very talented musicians, and the sound of all the tracks is quite good.  My guess is that #2 is the H2, since it lacks a bit of detail, especially at the high end.  I like #1 the best, perhaps because it seems the brightest and clearest.  My guess is it was recorded with the STO-2 mics.  Number 3 is very nice also, although I rank it slightly behind #2.  I'm guessing you used the binaural mics for it.

[mschiff]

I think some of you are going to be surprised. 

Sound1 is the DPA4060 mics...etc.
Sound2 is the Sto-2 mics...etc.
Sound3 is the H2 with rear mics enabled, placed on a table just beneath the other mics.

-- Martin

[Outrageous]

Martin, yes, I'm surprised the H2 sounded as good as that.  I just listened to the samples again with headphones, and I noticed that the music in #3 (H2 recorder) seemed to be localized "inside my head", whereas the other tracks give the impression that the instruments are to either side.  How did you set up your mics for this?  And what is your take on the different results?

[mschiff]

Listening on a pair of Genelec monitors at work, the first two (sound1 and sound2) sound VERY similar, but the Sto-2 track is slightly warmer sounding. The H2 track has much less of a stereo feel to it and is more centered. The composer preferred sound2. Actually, both sound1 and sound2 are VERY close to what it sounded like in the room. When I played back Sound2 immediately after the session in the same room, it sounded like the players were still there.

I am very pleased with the H2 sound though. With a bit of mastering I can make it sound almost as good as the other two by spreading out the stereo image (using Izotope Ozone 3).

I did the same thing with a brass section and a string section, and the H2 was the composer's choice on the brass recording. The DPA 4060 recording was the choice on the strings by far, but I did not use the Sto-2 mics for that recording. I used a pair of Studio Projects C4 mics into a Tascam US-144 interface.

The room is a very poor room for recording. It is circular and about 20' in diameter. 2/3 of the walls are glass, and the other 1/3 is wood paneling and openings. Ceiling is smooth painted drywall, and the floor is carpeted. There are certain places in the room where there are nodes, so I had to be very careful where I placed the mics. In the case of the woodwinds, the mics were at about 5' high in an A-B configuration separated by about 4 feet (the Sto-2 mics). The 4060's were a few inches higher and spaced about 2 feet apart also in an A-B configuration. The H2 was centered between them on a table at about 3 feet off the floor.

By the way, the purpose of these recordings is to be used at a composer's workshop. It is called the Young Composers Challenge. You can see the details at http://www.youngcomposerschallenge.com. If you know of anyone that composes music (or wants to) that meets the conditions below, please let them know about this opportunity. It is free for participants.

Entrants must be between the ages of 13 and 18 years. (Entrants must be 13 years old by the date of submission and under 19 years old by the date of submission). Entrants must reside in the Southeastern United States (Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama).


-- Martin

[Ozpeter]

Heh, I downloaded this a day or so back but forgot to listen - and now I know the answer!  Anyway, just to say that in my experience, you can do some very nice things with the H2 stereo image by recording in 4 channel mode (2 x stereo files) and then adding (or subtracting) level and width to the rear pair for ambience, while leaving the forward-facing pair as is.  Having the H2 on a table could slightly disadvantage it in this comparison due to reflections from the table surface - I'm not clear how close the others were to the table.

Anyway, must listen now!

[amfortas2006]

SHOOOT!

I knew I should have bought 6 of those zoom h2-s instead of the schoeps pair!

Would have had double surround aaand better sound for the money!

HEHEHE!!!

 

[6stringer]

Picked up an H2 last month, and have been very happy with it for what it is.
Listening to the samples, I have to give #1 a slight advantage, but they all sound very nice.