Recording orchestral instruments

B

bassoon

New member
Between me and my two friends we play every instrument of a standard orchestra so we decided it would be fun to try and record all the parts of an orchestral piece (we choose Ravel's Rapsodie Espagnole-II mov.). While learning all of this music has proven to be a challenge we also realized that none of us have any recording experience. I have some equipment (one Zoom H4n, two MXL V63m condenser mics, three willing musicians, and almost two dozen musical instruments) and i know how to operate it.

I just was hoping for some advice as to the best methods of recording acoustic instruments to get a warm organic sound.

If it helps, here is the list of instruments that we are recording.

Piccolo
Flute
Oboe
Cor anglais English horn)
Clarinet
Bassoon
Soprano saxophone
Tenor saxophone
French Horn
Trumpet
Trombone (bass)
Tuba
Snare drum
Various percussion (triangle, castanets, cymbals, etc)
Piano
Violin
Viola
Cello
 
If you're trying to replicate the sound of an orchestra there are two big things to consider.
One is the physical relationship between the instrument and the mic.

If you mic each instrument at the same angle and distance each time, it won't be realistic because in a real orchestra all the instruments can't have the same relationship to a single mic.

The other is the mass of the bodies and instruments in the room.
A solo violin in a room will sound different to a solo violin in a room full of people.

I don't know how much you can do about the second point, but you can certainly play around with the first one.
Maybe set up a fixed mic then record each instrument where it would be in relation to that mic, if there was a full orchestra in the room.
 
Ok. Any ideas as to distance of mics from instruments, placement, and so on to give the best sound? I want a really rich, full sound; warm and organic.
 
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Check these links out for a few ideas for stereo mic techniques

MICROPHONE THEORY
Orchestral recording basics


If you have the ability to map out where each instrument would be placed in an orchestral setup, place the performer at that spot when recording.
You're going to have to rely heavily on sending all tracks to a common reverb in order to try to create the blend that normally occurs when all instruments perform together.

Hope it all comes together well. Sounds like an awesome project!
Dags
 
Add reverb after you have tracked all your instruments, or else you can't undo it later if you don't like it.

Even if you have a fairly reverberant space to record in, by tracking one instrument at a time you're not going to get the wash of sounds mingling and interracting with eachother that happens when all instruments are performing together. You're going to have to trick the listener into thinking it was a performance :)

Dags
 
okay, thank you so much for your help! I think we will start the project over as we were practically sight-reading the parts the first time we recorded. This has all been very helpful and I can't wait to start working on it!
 
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