Overhead Miking

[eswan]

Hi,
I have a question about overhead miking techniques. I'm recording a jazz quartet with a couple of cardiod condensors in an X-Y pattern. The mics placed about at eye's height facing the group.

But I know my school records all of its concerts with a pair of hanging overhead mics that are suspended from the ceiling (maybe 15 feet from the floor, I'd estimate).

So my question is: How far overhead should "overhead" miking be? And what are the advantages of having mics so far off the ground? Does it capture more detail of the group or the room? The guitar amplifier seems pretty directional, so it may not sound too good if the mics are far overhead. Since my boom stand only goes so high, I'm not able to test the various techniques.

Thanks,
Erik

 

[Cloneboy Studio]

Typically overheads seem to average about 6' for isolated kits. You may want to make this more like 5'... depends if you are going to mix it much or not.

 

[Track Rat]

I typicly go about 5' or so. Higher would catch more of the room and if the room is a decent one, add ambience. But as stated, I'd keep 'em lower if you plan to multitrack for the isolation.

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

In addition to the solid advice given by these guys... I suggest you try ORTF on the mics too... very nice imaging provided by that configuration. I find I prefer it to the more common X-Y.......

 

[mshilarious]

One big variable is the ceiling height. In a room with high ceiling, you can go a little higher. 15' sounds excessive though, unless it's a real big ensemble in a really nice room.

 

[strmkr]

In addition to the solid advice given by these guys... I suggest you try ORTF on the mics too... very nice imaging provided by that configuration. I find I prefer it to the more common X-Y.......

Hey Bruce,I was thinking about trying ORTF on the kit tomorow night. When you set it up, do you break out a ruler and protractor for the distance and angle, or just eyeball it?

 

[screws]

Are you talking about overheads on drums? Orchestra? Choir? All different.

On drums I use a broom stick to measure from the center of the snare to each mic to get rid of phasing issues. I guess that's about 4 feet.

 

[strmkr]

I was going to try the ORTF on a drum kit. I've been experimenting with minimal miking techniques. ORTF calls for a spacing between the mics of 17 cm. and the capsules angled at 110 degrees. The 17 cm is supposed to approximate the distance beteween the average human ears. I've read about the technique, but neer used it, so I didn't know if it was something that's supposed to be very precise or whether there is some "wiggle room" on distance and angles to feel it into place in different applications.

 

[MadAudio]

Yeah, I'm interseted in ORTF, too. Seems like it might suit my small studio space. Bruce, can you give us some guidelines?

 

[eswan]

Thanks for the ideas, everyone. I think I'll experiment with an ORTF configuration next time. I neglected to mention that I'm doing the whole group with just two stereo mics; its not just drum overheads. I put sax and guitar on opposite sides of the X-Y configuration with bass and drums in the middle.

Erik

 

[knightsy]

All these measurements and stuff - you guys could always try listening first right? I mean you still have to figure out where to put the ORTF pair.

 

[jeff5xo]

Go to www.dpamicrophones.com/ and look under stereo techniques.

 

[Han]

ORTF can be very nice, a realistic stereo image, but DIN or NOS can be very nice as well.

DIN is 20 cm apart, 90 deg angle.
NOS is 30 cm apart, 90 deg angle.

Like always, you must experiment, listen to the mic pair with a decent headphone and close your eyes, if it sounds real and natural, you're on the right track.

Take the time to do the right thing, explain why and people will understand.

The result will be better and that's what counts.