Engineering help for choir recording

[blinddogblues]

I am recording a church choir that consists of about 55 vocalists and one piano. For reasons I will not bore you with, I must record this with 3 microphones, 2 A-T ATM 11 (small diaphragm condensors), and one Marshall MXL-V67. The mics will be run through a small Behringer mixer and then straight to DAT. My feeling is to just space the 3 mics evenly and position them as overheads, 7-8 ft. high, angled downward at 45 degrees. The choir will be in at least 3 rows and very spread out. The piano is actually an Alesis keyboard and will be run through a separate PA, so I must also capture this with the 3 mics. Any suggestions on how better to do this?

 

[Harvey Gerst]

Buy a Y cord from Radio Shack (about $6) and take your own feed from the keyboard to your mixer - don't depend on the PA to get a good balance. The 3 mics across should work fine. Set the two outside mics about 1/4 of the way in from each end and center the V67G. Best mic distance from the choir will be about 1/4 to 1/2 the width of the choir. (e.g., if the choir is about 40 feet wide, set the mics about 10 to 20 feet back from the choir.)

Try to listen to a rehearsal if possible. and see if you can move that one damn high soprano (who sticks out like a sore thumb) to a back row, on the end. Every choir has one. My own personal recommendation is to shoot them, but so far, I've always been voted down.

Other than that, it should be a lotta fun. Don't crank the V67 up too much; you will get some center fill from the two outside mics. Start with getting a good sound from the two small condensers, then bring the V67G up until you just begin to hear a change in the overall sound - that should be about right!

Have fun, and don't get too crazy over this - most choirs can self-balance themselves. Except for that one damn high soprano.