Live recording and atmosphere . .

[Clement]

Well, this is the first time I have subscribed to this board.
I have just made quite a heavy investment in some new equipment, ie, recorder and microphones etc . . .

Really, i'm into live recording trying to capture the atmosphere. Generally jazz and such like . .

I am interested to share some of this material and get other opinions of it, in general (sound quality wise) . .

Thanks for reading this message . .

[The Green Hornet]

Yo Clement of Thomas Hardy Country:]

"Atmosphere?" Well, man, when you mix your recorded tracks, that's where you help create the atmosphere.

Basically, a good reverb box will be a big assist, as well as good mics when recording, a mic pre amp, etc.

You can record reverb when doing a track/tracks; however, most boxes that record digitally will let you hear the reverb without recording it. This helps singers when they do the vocals -- a rich sound through the cans.

Of course the room in which your record has a bearing on atmosphere. But, placing sounds, left/right, using varied reverb and not using it for certain tracks will help your create "Atmosphere."

May the air stay clean.

Green Hornet

[Clement]

Hi Mr Green Hornet . .

Thanks for your reply . . I would attached a small MP3 format file
for you to cast your ears over . . But for any kind of quality
the duration would be way too short and not a good example.
Perhaps you could recommend a way of placing some of
my material on the web so that other can access it and make
a judgement?

Interested in your comments . .

Look forward to hearing from you again . .

Bye for now, Clem . .

[The Green Hornet]

Yo Clem which could be Clym from Thomas Hardy's novel, RETURN OF THE NATIVE:

I'm not hip on the Mp3 stuff and files as I do not record using a PC.

However, I don't know what gear you are using to put down your sounds.

Suggestion: best to mix down to a CD and use "sound" enhanced by A/D D/A converters.

I sent a digital to analog tape to a friend in Canada and he mixed the tape to CD. Very nice sound improvement because the CD mix is in that 16 bit, 44 ect. arena.

So, maybe someone who has a studio in England can help?

Thomas Harday, by the way, was about the best writer of fiction in the world.

Kind of an opinion like Yorkville speakers YSM-1's are very very good for the money.

Green Hornet

[jgourd]

I do live recording almost exclusively. To get room tone or atmosphere there are many ways to go about it depending on the basic nature of the recording technique.

If what you are trying to do is simply capture the performance and the room it was recorded in, in stereo use a stereo mic setup. This can be done in a few ways.
1. X-Y micing with cardiods.
2. Left and right stage omnis
3. Mid-Side recording (this is how stereo mics work)
4. Binaural (can really only be played back properly on headphones)

By far the best of these is the Left and right stage omnis mic setup. The problem is, that to do this properly, you need a matched stereo pair of very good mics. $600-$3000 is about what you will have to spend for a pair of new well matched omnis. (You can pay less and you can pay more, but this is the average range)

The X-Y setup also uses a pair of matched mics, but you use cardiod type. Basically you criss-cross the mics so that they form an "X" and aim the pair at the stage. The problem with this is cardiods have funky off-axis response and depending on the microphones chosen, this can muddy up the sound and or the stereo image.

Mid side requires out board processing unless you use a simple stereo mic. I have a few recordings I have made with my AT 822 stereo mic and overall the sound was OK, but not great.

Binaural recording can create extremely realistic recordings at the expense of only being able to listen to them properly only on headphones. I have made some very good "environmental" recordings with binarual mics that still blow me away some times. Many years ago I wandered around Harvard Square in Cambridge MA with a Sony Walkman Pro and my binaural setup recording the various street musicians.

If you are more interested in getting a nice clean recording with close mics, but still want the natural sound of the room there are also a few ways to do this.

1. Close mic everything and place a stereo mic somewhere over the audience facing the back wall of the performance hall.
2. Make an impulse of the performance hall and apply it to the finished mix.

Both methods work better if you are multi-tracking.

With the stereo mic, you mix some of it back into the main mix until you are happy with the ambience.

With an impulse, you need a sofisticated setup where you can record a frequency sweep being played back on a flat monitor on stage and record it with a flat omni microphone. You then process the recording in software to make a "print" of the room which you can then apply to the mix as if it were a reverb. This is not for the faint hearthed.

[Clement]

Hi again . .

I didn't actually expect so much information . . Excellent!

Equipment I genereally use here . .

AKG C1000 S's x 2
AKG C2000 B's x 2
Tascam DA-20 MkII (DAT machine)
Sony MDSJB-930 (minidisc)
Sharp 702 portable (minidisc)
Behringer MX1604A (desk)

To be honest it's all quite modest but I have managed (on
occasion) to produce some really startling results!

Even the Sharp portable has produced some surprisingly
good recordings . .

I download the stuff, via SPDIF onto the PC and then
play to my hearts content.

A 4 track recorder would be better (the desk is 4 bus) but havn't
really looked into any kinda recorder as such yet . . Perhaps
you guys could recommend something?

At the end of the day it's a hobby for me and could become
expensive . . (even more lol)

Have a booking to record the "Brixham Male Voice Choir" in
October . . Should be exciting?! Brixham is in south west UK,
Devonshire south coast . .

Anyway, this may sound like "I'm blowing my own trumpet" but
that's not my intention . . I'm just interested to share my experiences and interest with others . .

Look forward to any further comments . .

Clem (of Thomas Hardy country lol) . .