Help on Mic Set-Up for Quartet

[Hermel10]

Ok so here's a challenge (for me anyway):

You have the following (acoustic) mix of instruments: 1 violin, 1 viola, 1 cello, 1 guitar. At times the cello will swap out with a female vocalist but not during one session, so never mind about that for now.

You also have: a living room 3.5m x 5.5m, a PC, a mixer and audio interface, and the following mics at your disposal: 2 x AKG C 1000 S, 1 x Studio Projects B1, 1 x Shure PG57, 1 x Shure SM58. By the way I am still quite new to all this Also you should know there is a general desire in the group to create a CD, but purely (for now) to share between friends and family.

What do you reckon: best to capture all instruments with only the two AKGs in XY pattern? Or give each player its own mic, and if yes, which one? The mixer takes four XLR inputs, they are then further "submixed" to 2 inputs into the audio interface if that makes sense.

I know this sounds all a bit amateurish (haven't told you about the squeaky chairs in that living room yet . . .), but I live in the real world where people generally do not have 1000s of bucks to spend on mics or build their own studio. Grateful to hear from anybody who has some experience trying to record strings / quartets from home. Also grateful for any alternative mic advice on acoustic string instruments, but as per above please keep it to a sane (price) level of, say, a Rode NT 3, 5 or AT 4041.

Many thanks.

M.

 

[mshilarious]

What do you reckon: best to capture all instruments with only the two AKGs in XY pattern?

Yes.

See, that was easy, wasn't it?

 

[XLR]

If I was limited to the mic's you've got I'd do a sound quality comparison test first. I'd put up an XY pair of the C1000s a few feet out from the ensemble, record them playing, then put up the single B1 in the same spot and have the ensemble play the same passage again. Of course the XY pair will give you a sense of the L/R soundstage that a single mic won't but the C1000 is a pretty screechy mic, and I wouldn’t use one for a violin in a small room.

I bet the single B1 would give you a better recording overall.

If they're really wanting a CD of any sort to give out, get a good sounding inexpensive pair of small diaphragm condensers, like the MSH1-O, and record the ensemble in a church or other very large room.

Tim

 

[jnorman]

if your recording space sounds very nice, you might be able to get a decent recording with the pair of C1000s in XY or, preferably, ORTF. however, from my experience, a typical living room is not going to give you a good ambient sound, and the result will sound amateurish. even though you really do not have the correct mics to do this well, i would suggest (against the opinions of many other engineers) that you individually close-mic each instrument, mix it later and add the best digital reverb you have. you may need to use your mics slightly off-axis to reduce the high-end some. since you are using a DAW, i would also suggest that you download a convolution reverb plugin, such as SIR, with some nice impulses from a medium sized chamber type room (not a cathedral or large hall). roll off the high end of your reverb returns to make the reverb warmer. if you can consider some additional mics, the AT4041s are not too bad for many things, but they are a tad hyped in the high end for strings. try to find some mics that have a very flat freq response curve (not that easy these days, especially in the less expensive range) - you may want to consider some of the new chinese ribbon mics, or even a some of the decent dynamic mics ike the senn 421 or 441. another inexpensive alternative is the DPA 4060/4061s (or 4090/4091s). i use akg C480/ck61s for strings and woodwinds which are very flat and smooth. good luck.

 

[BigRay]

keep it simple...1 pair. (c1000) ortf. pan hard right and left in post.

SIR will work well IF you dont overdo it..reverb is easy to muck up and seem distasteful....
dont compress. dont limit. set levels so you hit , at the PEAK -10..no higher(if 24 bit)

dont spot mic....just the one pair. cup one hand over an ear and walk until you get in the area where it sounds the best....I personally despise spot micd chamber type instruments in a group setting, and can tell immediately when that is the case. the sound should come from the main pair, ..the one pair will allow all the instruments to BLEND and sound like an ENSEMBLE..


you can do fine with these mics...just gotta work at finding the right spot to put em..

 

[XLR]

The room's only 15 ft by 10 ft. Thinking of the physical setup of a quartet, you're probably going to end up mic'ing from the midpoint of a semicircle, or something similar. Well, unless you close mic each instrument, which I wouldn't do either. While I like ORTF more if out a few feet in front of a source, personally I'd prefer XY when in the midst of a group like that.

Tim

 

[lumbago]

Seat the violin and viola together, and mic with one AKG C 1000 S, pointed more to the violin than the viola. An overhead is probably the best bet here, about 3 feet from the violin and viola bridges, from behind.

Seat the cello separately, and mic with one AKG C 1000 S, set up opposite the cello bridge, about 15 inches away, on a small stand on the floor (under the cellist's music stand).

Studio Projects B1 for guitar - 12 inches from 12th fret.

SM 58 elsewhere in the room for ambience, or for vocal.

The section will self balance, but the guitar will get lost without its own mic, and the cello on a separate track offers the ability to balance the bass part EQ with the rest of the players.

You'll also find that reverb (and subtle chorus?) on the cello, and reverb on the viola/violin will be different amounts, as will EQ be different.

Distance mics will capture more of the room than the players - not always desirable. It all depends on the quality of your players, too. If you seat them they will move less. But have the vocalist stand up (or else they will tend to sing flat).

 

[TragikRemix]

you could check out MShilarious's mics, just to have a few more, for penny's.

$55 for a pair of mics that people say are nice on acoustic instruments... can't lose really.

then you could individually mic everything, which might be easier for you, since, i'm guessing, your living room isnt treated, and you don't have any gobo's lying around or anything like that.

 

[Hermel10]

Many thanks for all the feedback and suggestions, some widely differing answers so I will experiment, starting with the two AKGs only as stereo pair, trying both ORTF and XY. I will then compare this to an individual mic set-up as well. The room is untreated by the way.