Vocalist and Accompanist

[LP2006]

Ok I've run into a situation I am unsure about. I have someone who is going to apply to college as a vocal preformer, and needs to send in recorded pieces/a demo/whatever. Personally I was slightly confused because I thought most music schools required an audition rather than a recording (unless you can't make it to the audition I guess?). Anyways, she needs to record herself and an Accompanist. She has the spot picked out, a church which she claims: "has pretty good accoustics." Instantly I think Omni-mics. (which I don't have any). I could order some but I'll list the stuff at my disposal and specify what I need to know:

Stuff I have access to:

Multitrackers:
-Fostex vf-160
-My PC with Delta44 interface and Sonar 3 Producer

Pre-amps:
-2 art tube MP's (these are in the process of being sold so they won't be around for long)
-2 Onboard Pre-amps on the Fostex
-6 Behringer ULN pres (from a eurorack mixer)

Mics:
-1 shure sm58
-2 shure sm57
-1 ATR30
-1 Seinnheiser 421
-1 mxl 990
-1 mxl63m
-2 AT3035

(As you can see no omni's here. The first thing I'm gonna try to do is rent some omni mics. But lets say that I can't rent. My next thought is a pair of ecm8000's but I'm worried about the high noise floor. Would a B3 be a good alternative? The Behri B2 is only about $100 now, but I've heard less than fantastic things about it.)

Anyways my questions are:

-What mics should I use?
-Placement?
-any neccesary compression techniques?

thanks,
Alex

 

[mshilarious]

You don't need omnis. Use your 3035s in a near-coincident pair, also called ORTF. Do a web search for a picture, or look on the DPA microphone site at the "Microphone University".

I assume the accompaniment is a piano? Grand or upright? If it's a grand, put it on half stick and put the singer in front, unless she prefers a spot with better eye contact, then you'll have to work on a good position for balance. Upright, you actually want the back of the piano facing the mics at about a 45 degree angle, treble side closer, and again singer in front. Start yourself about ten feet away (assuming she is right about the quality of the space), and walk back and forth until it sounds good. Put your mics there.

I would not sweat preamps too much, it is a demo recording, and 3035s are hot enough that it won't be critical. I would probably just use the Fostex pres unless for some reason they sound horrible.

Compression or other processing is a big no-no in classical music, especially on an audition tape you don't want to turn in something that sounds processed--they might suspect you used Autotune!

 

[bigtoe]

that's really awesome advice. X/Y works well as well.

my rents are music profs...they weed out the applicants with demos or they'd be auditioning for the full year...amazing how many people want to go to college for music so they can become waiters.

Mike