Concert hall ambiance: How high the stands?

[Brackish]

.............

How high do the mic stands need to be
not to pick up individuals talking but
instead get just ambiance of the room?

 

[tubesrawsom]

You prolly won't get a straight answer for this b/c there is none. Ambience is everywere.

 

[Brackish]

You prolly won't get a straight answer for this b/c there is none. Ambience is everywere.

The key factor I'm looking for is to avoid picking up
individuals but instead to record the audience
as a group.
I tried a mic on a 6-foot stand and it mostly picked up
the persons sitting in the chairs right in front of the
mic.

 

[Halion]

You're gonna have this problem if you wish to recording lots of people with just one mic. Your best bet would be some way of hanging multiple omni mics above the people, a couple of feet away. 1 mic is not gonna pick up a whole crowd, but generally, the further away, the more equal a sound you'll get.

 

[Brackish]

Hanging is not an option -- I have to use mic
stands or light stands.

 

[SpotlightKid83]

It's not a matter of how high or low, you're dealing with nearfiled/outerfield issues.

For example, if a guitar is 3ft long, everything within 3ft of the guitar (all around, like an imaginary bubble) will be the guitar's nearfield, and everything outside that 3ft barrier will be the outerfield.
As long as you place your mic in the nearfield of the guitar, depending on where you place your mic, it will have drastic changes in the sound you will pick up.
If you place your mic in the outerfield, you will get a more general sound and the changes in the mic's positioning will be less noticeable.

It also depends on the mic you are using, some mics are more directional than others, depending on the mic pattern. But as a general rule, if the group of people fits within a 20ft diameter circle, place your mic AT LEAST 20ft away from them.

 

[RAK]

It's not a matter of how high or low, you're dealing with nearfiled/outerfield issues.

For example, if a guitar is 3ft long, everything within 3ft of the guitar (all around, like an imaginary bubble) will be the guitar's nearfield, and everything outside that 3ft barrier will be the outerfield.
As long as you place your mic in the nearfield of the guitar, depending on where you place your mic, it will have drastic changes in the sound you will pick up.
If you place your mic in the outerfield, you will get a more general sound and the changes in the mic's positioning will be less noticeable.

It also depends on the mic you are using, some mics are more directional than others, depending on the mic pattern. But as a general rule, if the group of people fits within a 20ft diameter circle, place your mic AT LEAST 20ft away from them.

This is basically what I was going to say. It's not a vertical issue, it's a horizontal one. You need to move the mic back. Are you only using one mic, or do you have a stereo pair? Another option is to take 3-5 mics (depending on the size of the ensemble) and intersperse them across the group.

 

[Halion]

True, but if the crowd is say, 20ft wide, and you are placing the mics in front of the crowd, then you will pick up more of the front people instead of the back folks. That's why I suggested micing from above, where the outerfield rule is much more relevant.

 

[RAK]

True, but if the crowd is say, 20ft wide, and you are placing the mics in front of the crowd, then you will pick up more of the front people instead of the back folks. That's why I suggested micing from above, where the outerfield rule is much more relevant.

That would be what I would have suggested as well, but he said micing from above was not possible.

Omni mics might help to not pick up one area over another, plus you'll get a lot of the room ambience.

 

[MessianicDreams]

It's not a matter of how high or low, you're dealing with nearfiled/outerfield issues.

For example, if a guitar is 3ft long, everything within 3ft of the guitar (all around, like an imaginary bubble) will be the guitar's nearfield, and everything outside that 3ft barrier will be the outerfield.
As long as you place your mic in the nearfield of the guitar, depending on where you place your mic, it will have drastic changes in the sound you will pick up.
If you place your mic in the outerfield, you will get a more general sound and the changes in the mic's positioning will be less noticeable.

It also depends on the mic you are using, some mics are more directional than others, depending on the mic pattern. But as a general rule, if the group of people fits within a 20ft diameter circle, place your mic AT LEAST 20ft away from them.

real intersting stuff man! very informative.