Cruizer said:
I was thinking perhaps recording the pipes and drums seperately...(i.e. different times) would this be a good idea?
or just stick to the "record the whole thing live" format.
i've heard so many Pipe & Drum Cd's that lack definition between the drums and the pipes (i.e. overtones from the snares walking all over the pipes and vice versa) just trying to avoid that happening.
I think that goes to your stage setup. Recording halves of a large ensemble separately would be unusual. A few more comments:
- That first link talked mainly about recording a single set of pipes. I don't think they really went far enough out--pipes have a huge sound, and two feet out ain't gonna do. I think I'd start with six feet for a single set pipes, and further for the ensemble, maybe 12 feet, maybe more. Walk around and use your ears to find the sweet spot.
- Still, that's only a single set of pipes. You aren't recording twelve sets of pipes and eight drums (or whatever), you are recording a band. You use between two and maybe five mics to do this, not twenty. The more mics you add, the less likely you are to succeed.
- The reason other recordings might have muddy drums: this probably has a lot to do with the room, and second the recording techniques. I don't believe the solution is tracking them separately, the solution is getting a good sound at the right place in a good room.
- Earlier I said I thought you might need a spot on the snare, and here's why: drums are usually placed to the rear of an ensemble. That's because they are loud, and by moving them further back, it makes them quieter to the audience. However, as they are further away, that means they are delayed in reaching the audience with respect to the rest of the ensemble. That's OK, our ears expect that, it matches what our eyes see. But in a bad hall, it means that the reverbations arrive very close to the attack, which makes an acoustic mess. But that isn't particular to recording: if it sounds bad live, it'll sound bad recorded.
- Now, back to recording: if you use a spot mic on drums, then you get a clear attack, but it will lead the attack in your stereo pair. That might be the sound you hear when drums walk all over the pipes: poor application of close mics. The solution is to delay the spot mic in phase with the stereo pair, and only blend in enough as is necessary to get that attack without overwhelming everything else.
- That minidisc link, I dunno, sounded like they were having problems with a compressed format. I don't do minidisc, but the moral of the story: don't record to compressed formats.
