rob aylestone
Moderator
Before you find the sound you want, you need the experience of getting it wrong. You are trying to plan in advance an event you at your stage cannot predict. To people who have already recorded in a damp basement with hvac running they'll be wondering what the piano room is like. Being honest, the room needing to being nice probably means yours at home already isn't. The church sounds wonderful, but, is it? Some churches can be overwhelming. Monitoring difficult, and you end up with a muddy mess. We suggested all sorts of things which you seem to be rejecting for no valid reasons.
Look at the mics you have. Pick one and try it. Learn to analyse what it captures so you can change things. You can tweak placement and aim to emphasise the wanted components or reduce others, and you can change the distance that will change the balance between flute and room. One mic. One flute, and then maybe two hours of fiddling using your ears. Try it with the other mic and see if it flatters the flute, or is the first mic better.
This is the ONLY Thing you should be doing first. When you move to the church, how will you do this there when you have no speakers? Can you find a small room where you can bring them, or will you have to use some kind of sealed headphones? Forget trying to follow rules that need you to have experience to reject if not appropriate. How do you know?
There are things I always do, because mostly they work. There are things I never do because when I try them they always failed for me. This isn't a rule, it's guidance that saves wasted time. When things don't work, you try the odder things, but each recording gives you better scope for making sensible decisions. When people suggest really strange things, I always try them before dismissing them.
Last thing. Nobody yet has asked what the flute actually sounds like? I have a faulty flute. It's the only rubbish instrument I own. It sounds horrible when I record it. My pianist colleague took it to his wife, a decent flautist. It plays really nicely, it sounds very nice. The only fault is me. Flutes seem to put more of the player into their sound than other instruments. No idea why.
You need to get going and try things out and then listen and adjust for the next recording. Forget the room. Forget the clever techniques. Forget the specs of the microphones. Get the best out of what you already have.
Look at the mics you have. Pick one and try it. Learn to analyse what it captures so you can change things. You can tweak placement and aim to emphasise the wanted components or reduce others, and you can change the distance that will change the balance between flute and room. One mic. One flute, and then maybe two hours of fiddling using your ears. Try it with the other mic and see if it flatters the flute, or is the first mic better.
This is the ONLY Thing you should be doing first. When you move to the church, how will you do this there when you have no speakers? Can you find a small room where you can bring them, or will you have to use some kind of sealed headphones? Forget trying to follow rules that need you to have experience to reject if not appropriate. How do you know?
There are things I always do, because mostly they work. There are things I never do because when I try them they always failed for me. This isn't a rule, it's guidance that saves wasted time. When things don't work, you try the odder things, but each recording gives you better scope for making sensible decisions. When people suggest really strange things, I always try them before dismissing them.
Last thing. Nobody yet has asked what the flute actually sounds like? I have a faulty flute. It's the only rubbish instrument I own. It sounds horrible when I record it. My pianist colleague took it to his wife, a decent flautist. It plays really nicely, it sounds very nice. The only fault is me. Flutes seem to put more of the player into their sound than other instruments. No idea why.
You need to get going and try things out and then listen and adjust for the next recording. Forget the room. Forget the clever techniques. Forget the specs of the microphones. Get the best out of what you already have.