David,
Thanks for this. Lots of good info here! Looking
forward to the longer article.
Chris
--- David Tayler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> A number of people have requested info on
> recordings; I am preparing
> a longer article for the web but the material below
> is sufficient to
> get started.
> Obviously a lot of this is a matter of taste as well
> as technique,
> and there are many ways to do a recording, so the
> following is simply
> a subjective opinion. I have, however, carefully
> compared many of the
> microphones and recorders against each other. There
> is a difference
> as well between the American and European styles of
> recording.
>
> Budget lute recording
>
> Option one: record to laptop with a firewire
> interface.
> If you already own a laptop with a firewire
> interface, you can make a
> very nice recording with the Focusrite Saffire
> interfaces. The
> Saffire and the Saffire LE are reasonably priced and
> have excellent
> microphone preamps, excellent AD/DA converters, as
> well as high
> quality headphone outputs. If your laptop has no
> firewire, you can
> add it with an inexpensive card. I definitely DO NOT
> recommend USB
> for recording. There are obviously many other
> choices for interfaces,
> but the majority are too brittle sounding to use for
> lute,
> particlarly if coupled with a budget microphone.
> The regular Saffire (not the LE) has built in
> reverb, if you want it.
> I use acoustical modeling when I use reverb, but
> that is a subject
> for another day.
> A good rule of thumb with reverb is: if you can hear
> it, it is too much.
>
> For inexpensive microphones you may choose the
> Oktava MK 012 ($99~150
> each when on sale) with omni capsules, or a set with
> omni, cardioid
> and hypercardioid capsules. Another good budget
> choice is the Studio
> Projects B1 ($99 with Shock Mount). There are many
> other choices as
> well. For long and complicated reasons, for lute it
> is better to have
> small capsules rather than large, but there are
> always exceptions,
> such as the B1. Many of these can be purchased
> second hand on eBay,
> although I would not purchase second hand Oktavas as
> a rule.
> So-called Factory matched Oktavas are a waste of
> money. Omnis give a
> rounder sound than cardioids, but pick up room/hall
> noise as well.
> Expensive mics are listed below.
>
> Option two: Record to Flash Recorder.
> Instead of the firewire interface you may choose a
> stand-alone,
> completely silent flash recorder. These machines
> have no moving parts
> and normally have microphone preamps built in. There
> is at present
> only one real choice under $1,000 which is the
> Fostex FR2-LE, which
> runs $499-$599. No computer needed. This is a very
> good machine,
> although the overall sound of the Saffire is a bit
> warmer and the
> headphone outputs are better as well. The Fostex is
> portable and runs
> four hours on rechargeable batteries. Other flash
> recorders do not in
> my opinion have good enough preamps to do a lute
> recording, and tend
> to crash, which in live concerts is no fun. The
> preamps of the other
> Flash recorders tend to sound tinny, noisy or
> plasticky. Sound
> Devices make a pretty good flash recorder, but they
> are very
> expensive: save your money for the microphones.
>
> Connect the mics with Canare quad xlr cable or the
> equivalent mogami.
> The quad cable ensures minimal interference from
> electrical sources.
> Even nicer for stereo is a two channel snake, which
> is one cable with
> two microphone ends.
> HAVE make very nice cable and snakes; professional
> quality.
>
> There are of course a myriad of possibilities for
> recorders, but I
> test many of these as they come out and the above
> represent solid choices.
>
> For a truly quiet recording, you will need a mike
> with a very low
> noise floor. The B1 is pretty quiet; to get it
> really quiet you will
> need Sennheiser MKH20 or MKH80 (not 800)
> or the Schoeps MK2, and those are of course
> expensive. The Saffire
> mike preamps compare favorably with my custom made
> mike preamps which
> start at $1500. The are not as good, but they are
> pretty close, and
> tremendous value for the money. Finally, when buying
> a microphone,
> never buy what the salesperson recommends. You will
> *definitely* be
> wasting your money nine times out of ten.
>
> The standard ORTF, NOS and DIN systems are the
> easiest way to
> position the microphones, and this approximates the
> human ear. Place
> the microphones so the centres of the capsules are
> 7-8 inches apart
> and angle them to 90-120 degrees (for NOS, a bit
> farther apart).
> Alternatively, if you are using omnis, use the AB
> system and space
> the microphones 3-4 feet apart. If the sound is too
> bright or beamy,
> angle the microphones a bit more off axis. Do not
> use XY for lute, in
> which the noses of the mics are pointed together at
> right angles.
> You can read a nice, although understated,
> description of the mic
> placement if you google Bruce Bartlett.
> You will quickly learn which placement works best
> for a given space
> by listening. Only listen to the recorded sound, not
> the live sound.
>
>
>
> DT
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> To get on or off this list see list information at
>
http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
>
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