Equalizing a choir... well, kind of...

[choirmandan]

Hi - I need some help on EQ for a choir...
I've recorded before, but this time wanted to get some more bass sound that I was lacking in previous recordings... so I boosted the bass on my mixer and lowered the treble. And now I have a lovely bass sound, and no higher end 'presence', 'life' etc. So, I need to get that back. See, I say 'kind of a choir' because it's actually 4 parts recorded separately, i guess in more of a jazz choir method. Anyhoo, I'd like some advice on how to boost the presence, how to get the words more understandable - just what frequencies on an EQ handle what. How do I get the soprano sounding better, and tighten up the overall mix?
Anyhoo, thanks a bunch for any help you can give me. I've mixed some songs about 5 times and still can't get it right... arrrghhhhh...
Dan

 

[TexRoadkill]

Dan, step away from the EQ. The only thing you really need to do on the EQ is cut a bit of bass now and then unless you have some really nice EQ's handy.

Start with your sources. The singers, room, mic and preamp. What is going on there? That's where you really want to address the tonal issues and then use EQ as a last resort.

Reaching for the EQ first is like trying to use paint to repair your foundation.

 

[skippy]

What Tex said. I've spent a lot of time recording really big (~150 voices) choirs, and the best work I have done has been tracked and mixed dead flat- no EQ at all. If you have to grab the EQ knob, the tracking really wasn't right. The most likely thing to attack will be the mic choice. If you go with a cardioid that rolls off up high at low levels (like a lot of dynamics do), you can never get the sound you really want. If you have the right room, use nice, flat small-diaphragm condenser mics, and really _work_ with the mic placement, you can get excellent results.

The mic placement is every bit as critical as the voice placement on the risers. Directors spend hours placing voices so that they do the most good as an enemble, so you can expect to spend about the same about of time trying to get the mics into the places where the sound is the best. It is *incredibly* room-dependent.

The CD I just did for that large chorus (150 voices, 6 rows deep on the risers) was tracked with 6 mics, all Oktava MC012s with the cardioid capsules. Four were set up in a convex semicircle on stands up at about 8' high, 10 feet in front of the chorus- following the curve of the risers. The other two were set up as an ORTF pair about 8' high, but about 2-3' behind and above the director's head. The mix ended up being about 80% the ORTF pair, with just enough of the overheads to firm up the bass and some of the sibilants. Needless to say, this was done in an exceptional room. I could have just used the ORTF pair and been done with it! If I'd wanted even more bass, I'd have gone with the omni capsules for the overheads: they roll off an octave lower than the cardioids do.

Vocal music never seems to sound right with EQ or similar processing. You can make it sound _different_, and perhaps better in some measure, but it will never sound _right- especially to the performers. If there's ever a place to tread very lightly with the processing, this is it...

Like I said, I'm with Tex. What are you using for mics?