Micing string quartet with limited mics...

[SteveMcB]

Hi all,
I'm planning on recording a string quartet (amateur friends) from my church with my Roland VS840EX + Mackie 1402 setup, and was wondering if anyone had any pearls of wisdom about micing them, given the limitation of my available mics/pre's. I want to track them all at the same time (4 tracks recordable at once).
Mics are:
2xRode NT1
Fairly unlimited supply of sm57's and 58's
Peavey 520i large diaphragm dynamic
2x cheap (and crappy) sony electret condensors (omni)

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated, as I've never even come close to doing anything like this.
Thanks,
SteveMcB

[drstawl]

I'd just use the two NT-1 mics in a stereo pattern.
If you can cut out the "middle man" (Mackie mixer) by supplying phantom power some other way (don't know if the VS stuff supports that) even better.
Only if you had two more nice mics and lots of isolation between the players would I recommend trying to individually mic this quartet.

[SteveMcB]

Thanks drstawl
The low-end VSes like mine don't have phantom power, and their preamps are crap (which is why I have the mackie). I had just wondered whether adding in a little of the dynamic mics might warm things up a bit.

Would you recommend an x-y pattern with the NT1's?
Thanks,
Steve

[Sabith]

Yeah, a properly setup X-Y or other stereo technique can help you aviod those phase probs and give U quite a nice sound at the same time. Goto

http://www.dpamicrophones.com

for more info, then goto their mic university then to there stereo techniques section.

Hope U find that useful,

Sabith

[Prism]

I agree. The simple stereo setup is best for orchestral stuff. It's also great for choirs. It's perfect because you want to record basically what you'd hear in real life, so individual miking isn't really necessary.

Isaiah

[kristian]

no, whats that funky setup called..... 110 degrees 17cms apart at the capsule or something like that.. well, something like that. its way better then XY for stereo micing strings in a room. really.

[dobro]

It's called ORTF. Here's what Bruce Bartlett says about this one: "Usually this method gives accurate localization. That is, instruments at the sides of the orchestra are reproduced at or very near the speakers, and instruments half-way to one side are reproduced about half-way to one side."

That's nice, of course, but I know of a guy who records chamber works all the time, and sometimes he opts for a Blumlein arrangement (XY coincident pair angled 90 degrees apart and facing the left and right sides of the group). So I don't think it's fair to say that the ORTF is better always.

[kristian]

blumlein is better, but its not just XY coincident. you have to also have figure 8 pattern mic (hence my slobbering over KSM44 and AKG414), with the XY, that makes a whole difference. I think you would find that XY wouldnt leave enough stereo imaging. Of course, there is nothing wrong with mono-ish images.