Recording a 100 piece choir??

[mshilarious]

Won't I have to deal with the phasing problem. If so, how do I tackle that on my D.W.S?

No, because you'll be using a spaced pair and observing the 3:1 rule. Edit: if the two mics are hard-panned (which may or may not sound good), it wouldn't matter anyway, but mono compatibility is rarely a bad thing.

Also gtrman's suggestion to put the wedges on stands is very good. I would also consider a low-cut around 250Hz in the wedges to keep the CD out of your recording.

Try to borrow or rent a pair of condensers, ideally small diaphragm, as they typically have more uniform off-axis response, and better rear rejection than large diaphragm mics.

 

[easychair]

EQing lots out of the wedges may help. You can eq it so it is essentially a kind of click track, and practice any tricky parts.

 

[Kasey]

That is still worth a shot. What kind of mic would I use?

hmm... well like someone said earlier it probably wouldnt work too well because of all the reverb (although in theory it should kill the initial soundwave). I said it'd only work with one microphone, but actually i think it should still work if you have an X-Y stereo pair of small diaphragm condensers. Of course, this may cause even more room for error. but, if you could pull it off... well it'd be brilliant. The mics would have to be cardioid too. or hyper cardioid or whatever. as focused as possible to pick up as little of that reverb as possible

 

[gtrman_66]

Well at least I won't have to deal with a soloist at that time. Is a SM57 a cadiod mic? We have AUDIX for vocals, would that work too? I'm planning on borrowing my friend's large diaphram condenser mic (OCTOVA??) how about mixing that as well?

Yes, an sm57 is a cardiod, but not the one I would choose for this job. I guess everybody has their own tastes and preferences, but I'd be tempted to use a pair of SM-81s fo this one.

 

[AGCurry]

You're going to have some bleed. You are in a reverberant hall. However, to minimize it, use cardioid microphones, with the back of the mic pointed straight at the monitors. This means it will be angled up at the choir, instead of down like you really want. You'll lose some of the sound from voices in the back ranks.

Another approach is to embrace bleed and aim a monitor out at the stereo pair, and record the CD playback along with the choir.

The null of a cardioid mic is not directly behind it. Generally it's about a 120 degrees off axis.

Some thoughts come to mind:

1. How about just giving the conductor the accompaniment mix in headphones?

2. The only mics I would want to use in this situation are small-diaphragm condensor mics, due to their greater sensitivity vs. dynamics and better off-axis response vs. large diaphragms.

3. Put the choir in the middle of the room or on the long wall - not in a corner or on the short wall.

4. The fewer mics you can get away with, the better.

 

[mshilarious]

The null of a cardioid mic is not directly behind it. Generally it's about a 120 degrees off axis.

No, that's a hypercardioid.

 

[easychair]

1. How about just giving the conductor the accompaniment mix in headphones?

Beat me to it! I thought of that last night. I think I've seen that before.

 

[maestro04]

Beat me to it! I thought of that last night. I think I've seen that before.

What about pitch referrence? How does the choir hear the pitch and stay with it?

 

[mjm620]

What about pitch referrence? How does the choir hear the pitch and stay with it?

Its a big choir, so I'd expect most everyone to stay within reasonable pitch and tempo. Try using a pair of SM-81's and be sure to post clips.

 

[Alexbt]

No no no.

I've sung in choirs for years.

Choirs will always go out of tune, no matter how many singers or how good they are. There are always people who can and will bring it down.

 

[Kasey]

No no no.

I've sung in choirs for years.

Choirs will always go out of tune, no matter how many singers or how good they are. There are always people who can and will bring it down.

i think if an entire choir were to be entirely in key and tempo and everything it wouldnt sound nearly as cool.... just a thought. Actually i know it would, i do a lot of layering of two or three voices in recording to make big choirs, and one time it was me and another guy and we sang the whole the "perfect" each time, and it didnt sound like there was nearly as many of us - it kind of sucked putting all that effort into it bouncing 16 tracks of the two of us just to end up with it sounding like there were only 4 or 5 of us singing... what were we talking about again?

 

[Alexbt]

If singing out of tune sounds "cool", just kill me now.

Obviously multiple tracking of two voices isn't going to get you very far. You don't have as many variations in your voice as 100 voices would.

 

[Kasey]

If singing out of tune sounds "cool", just kill me now.

Obviously multiple tracking of two voices isn't going to get you very far. You don't have as many variations in your voice as 100 voices would.

very true, and i acknowledged this when we did it, but as for my post i was just going off in a random direction rambling.

 

[maestro04]

How do I prevent feed back into the monitor?

Here's what we have: VS1824 (accompaniment tracks), MX3242X Mixer, Monitor wedge, and 2 condensor mics.

Here's my set up:
I connect the monitor output of the VS1824 to the CD line in of the MX3242X mixer. The Mixer will pump out the accompaniment tracks to the monitor wedge. I directly connect the mics to the VS inputs.

What next? As I start to record the choir, will the vocals be outputed the same time as the accompaniment tracks? i.e Is there a way to just hear the accompaniment track through the wedge instead of both vocals and accompaniment while I record?