Need help recording a violin in this space!!

C

Captain Whisky

New member
Hello everybody!

So recently I've been working on my first short film and the music has turned out pretty well considering I had to compose it without seeing any footage. I have been fortunate enough to find a very talented classical violin player who is able to play the piece I have written for the film. I really need your guys help about how to record her and a violinist in general. I have no experience recording strings! I have a couple of mic choices but most importantly I want to show you the room I have to record in because it's shape is a little awkward and I'm not sure what the best thing is to do is. My instinct is to place her near the book shelf in the center of the room to keep some kind of equal amount of space for the violin to breathe? Mic placement higher above??

You can hear the piece here if you like, currently it's not mixed and obviously needs real string players to play the parts, hopefully can get a cellist too!

https://vimeo.com/177285942/7f4e241d91

Obviously I want to do the the music, film and violinist justice so want to do the best recording possible so would really appeciate your help here. Check out the pics of the room I've attached.
 

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Last edited:
For starters...I would out the strings right about in the center of the rug, where the coffee table is...facing the direction of the ladder.

Place a mic(s) up close on the strings and hang a mic(s) up where the ladder is going, up by the fenced space....record the up-close mics and distant mics to their own tracks.
See how that sounds.
You will have the up-close and the distant tracks to mix or use individually as you like.
Strings tend to sound good in more lively spaces, and you should be able to get a decent sound in that space.
 
I was thinking to place the violinist near the base of the ladder facing towards the bookshelf. One mic over the violin body about 12 inches up. The other mic near the bookshelf. As Miro said, record each mic to a separate track.
 
Chili said:
I was thinking to place the violinist near the base of the ladder facing towards the bookshelf.
Click to expand...

That too.
I was facing it the other way only because of the idea of the two mics above in the loft...so they would also be out in front of the strings...but the would still pick up even if a little behind, being up at that height.

This to me is the fun kind of shit...spending a couple of hours moving mics around, doing a couple of passes...moving them again...etc...etc.
I'm sure there are gong to be at least a couple of decent spots in that space for a nice lively strings track
 
miroslav said:
I'm sure there are gong to be at least a couple of decent spots in that space for a nice lively strings track
Click to expand...

I think so too. Spend a few hours experimenting. The loft area could be beneficial or detrimental. We'll never know until he tries it out with the violinist. I'm betting it will add a nice ambience to a recorded track.
 
Sorry for the late reply guys, work has been really busy! So a close mic and a stereo either consistent or near coincident pair would be good for the ambience? Do you not think placing a mic or two in the loft space would sound a little odd considering the shape of that space?
 
Captain Whisky said:
Sorry for the late reply guys, work has been really busy! So a close mic and a stereo either consistent or near coincident pair would be good for the ambience? Do you not think placing a mic or two in the loft space would sound a little odd considering the shape of that space?
Click to expand...

You're still thinking about it? :D

I would think by now you would have tried out at least a half dozen mic positions, picked out the best one, and laid down the tracks.
 
Well...you should try and find out which mic positions work best before the session.

You could use an acoustic guitar as your instrument...just to see what kind of room sound you get with different positions.
 
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