Acapella recording

B

BigKahuna

New member
Hi guys
I've got a date coming up where I'm going to record about 10 singers. It's going to be a remote session (6 hour drive, ugh ... long story), so it'll be straight to 2 track.
I can probably come up with a mic config that will work out OK ... but I wanted to bounce this off you guys to see if you had any ideas.
Here's the mics I have to work with ... I don't really intend on using more than 4 mics for this deal ... since I don't want to take that many away from home.
AT4050
Shure KSM32
SE Z5600
Neuman KM184
AT4051
Oktava Mc012 (2)
I'm not sure if using dynamics for this will be as effective, so I'm only considering condensors for now. I was actually thinking of using the 3 LD condensors with the SE set on omni ... while the performers sing in a circle surrounding them. Then again, maybe an omni pattern wouldn't be wise considering this is not gonna be in a soundproofed and controlled room. I was also thinking of having the group in a half-circle and doing a MS set up with the SE in figure 8 and either one of the other LD mics or maybe the Neuman as the middle mic. Heck, for simplicity's sake maybe I should just do an XY with the Oktavas and be done with it.
OK, that's it, my head hurts now.
The room where this session will occur is pretty large ... about 20' x30' .
Anyway, if anyone has any ideas for mic usage/placement ... I'd appreciate your input.

Thanks much
 
The MS setup with the KM184 as the center should work well, as would the 012s in XY (or ORTF).

The biggest thing with a capella folks: let them set up they way they are used to. Move them around in the room if you need to, but don't muck with how they stand with respect to each other: they are usually very sensitive to where they are within the group for tuning and synchronization. If you need to move their risers to get a better overall sound, that's fair game- but don't try to change the shape of the group (doing a circle if they are used to a half-circle), or the placement of voices within it. You probably won't get their best performance if you do.

Simpler is better with these deals: you want to capture their sound in the room. You may find that you really like ORTF, but MS captures such a nice soundstage... You'll have a lot of fun with this!
 
Acappella Recording

Hi there BigKahuna..
I was a member of a Rock-a-pella quartet for about 6 or 7 years. Here's what we all found from our experience.
This is no joke. We didn't record demo's in a studio. We actually managed to get access to a concrete lined (ceiling too) room. We set up 2 EV357's along with 2 EV457's.
The sound was unbelievable.
 
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