Small Choir Recording

[buzzsmith]

Hi!

Got a group of 5 very talented folks coming by tomorrow, Monday, June 1...(3 female, 2 male) to sing two kinda anthem-like patriotic songs.

We're going to stack at least 3 to 4 times to try to get a big choral sound and here's my current thinking...



1. I can record in stereo with either the 414 pair or the KMS44 pair
2. I can record in mono with the figure 8 Blue Woodpecker Enhanced Ribbon
3. I can record all 3 mics (the pair to individual channels panned L and R and the Woodpecker to a 3rd)

The room is acoustically treated with Auralex foam so there's not very much room reflection, although it will be a little tight for 5 since the room is about 8x12 feet.

I can also move folks around on subsequent stacks to change the sound of each pass.

More than likely, they will be singing in harmony on each pass, not just 1 part, then stack the 2nd part, etc.

Any comments or suggestions?

Thanks!

Buzzy

[bkshepard]

Hey Buzzy,

First off, I wouldn't separate the singers like that for two reasons.
1. You can get phase cancellation between the microphones the way you have them set up
2. They will sing their harmony better if they are all standing next to each other

I would suggest grouping them Girl-Boy-Girl-Boy-Girl in either a slight arc, or have the boys take a step back so they are singing over the shoulder of the girls. Since the room is fairly dry, I would use a mic pattern that doesn't emphasize ambiance. Something like a basic X-Y coincident pair with the two 414s would sound really clean. If they can, have the singers actually switch harmony parts on the overdubs. That will take a little longer to record that way, but it will help with the "big choir" sound.

In your mix, use a trim plugin to narrow the stereoness of each individual pass, then spread those individual passes from left to right rather than pan them all full left and right. Bus all the tracks through a nice stereo reverb.

Oh yeah...Have Fun!

[buzzsmith]

Hey Buzzy,

First off, I wouldn't separate the singers like that for two reasons.
1. You can get phase cancellation between the microphones the way you have them set up
2. They will sing their harmony better if they are all standing next to each other

I would suggest grouping them Girl-Boy-Girl-Boy-Girl in either a slight arc, or have the boys take a step back so they are singing over the shoulder of the girls. Since the room is fairly dry, I would use a mic pattern that doesn't emphasize ambiance. Something like a basic X-Y coincident pair with the two 414s would sound really clean. If they can, have the singers actually switch harmony parts on the overdubs. That will take a little longer to record that way, but it will help with the "big choir" sound.

In your mix, use a trim plugin to narrow the stereoness of each individual pass, then spread those individual passes from left to right rather than pan them all full left and right. Bus all the tracks through a nice stereo reverb.

Oh yeah...Have Fun!

Thanks for that, Brian! Can you point me to an article that details/explains the X-Y concept for Dummies?

I know what you mean, but I haven't done that in years and I probably have it in a reference book, but if you have a moment, I'd appreciate it.

If not, I'll Google it later!

I will have fun!

Buzzy

[bkshepard]

X-Y is really simple. Take two cardioid-pattern microphones and place them as close together as possible--some people put one directly above the other with the top microphone inverted (assuming it is a side-address mic like the 414) to get the two diaphragms as close as possible. Angle the two diaphragms toward each other so that the pickup patterns cross. I would start with an offset of about 90 degrees, but experiment. The wider you make the angle, the narrower the recorded sound will be and vice versa.

Take a look at this article. Bartlett calls it the Coincident Pair technique, and it is described just a little below the top of the article.

[sdemott]

I would go one step farther with this.

* Set up a main stereo pair as you see fit. X/Y is fine, I tend to prefer near-coincident pairs myself (like ORTF, NOS or the like)...but whatever you choose will work.
* Have everyone setup and sing their parts.
* Now, for each succesive take - have everyoen change positions in the room, and remember to also change their distance from the stereo pair of mics (to mimic a wide & deep choir).

Keeping the stereo pair static and moving the singers around will create an illusion of a full choir.

HTH

[bkshepard]

I, too like the ORTF and NOS configurations, but I think for the type of room you described, the X-Y will allow you to focus on the singers and get less of the room in the recording. For a more "live" and/or a larger room, ORTF and NOS could sound great. My advice is based on the idea of not capturing the room and adding the "room" via a reverb. The main thing is: experiment! It's pretty easy to switch between X-Y, ORTF, and NOS, so give 'em all a whirl if you can.