Anyway....so forgive me for posting a blog-like entry on this board
Friends of mine have been doing this a capella group for 10 years now, and they were calling it quits. They did a farewell concert, and I was asked to record them. (A referral from a mutual friend, whose project I'm still finishing 7 months later, so he doesn't hate me entirely. Yet.)
Years earlier, I recorded the same group at a museum function, and back then I just did a mono NT1 into a mono-mode minidisc via a Mackie 1202. Way humble setup, but not a bad sound all things considered. (Actually, I realized how much I like the NT1 as a room mic).
Now, as much as everyone has been ragging on equipment choice questions (myself included), I found the guidance to my questions a year ago to have panned out nicely. After a few threads and a few polls, I decided on an Alesis HD24 and a couple of RNPs. So, I wheeled in a rack and a couple of Rubbermaid totes full of cords to a college hall.
I bought a pair of NT5 for this gig, thinking that if they worked, I could make some money on the side to help defray my gear purchases. I plugged in the mics, placed them in an ORTF configuration, right in front of a low stage. I then had set up my monitoring and recording rig outside the house right door....
.... until the college hall manager went up to me and said that I couldn't place my gear there. I was blocking the handicap entrance. I wasn't happy (the singers told me to set up there- note to self, next time ask if they cleared it with building management), but I had no choice. They told me to set up in the green room (which was directly behind the stage).
Had I not brought all of my cabling, I would have been screwed. Fortunately, I brought my recording snake along, and between the mic cords and the snake, I was able to reach back. The college actually had some cord covers, so nobody would trip on the cords. Beautiful! (note to self- buy a couple for the equipment tub).
Given the new monitoring location, I had to abandon my idea of using a third mic for the room. I managed to get everything set up, but not before I really had a chance for a sound check. Oh well, I'll have to try to get it on the first song.
So, the show went on, and I kept my fingers on the gain knobs of the RNP. I decided to plug the outs straight into the HD24, and used my 1202 as a headphone monitor. The audience was way loud, and the singers were a bit softer. Damn, forgot to patch in my RNC to limit it. So, I had to choose. Boost the singers, or lower the audience. Can't change the gain cleanly (they're stepped by 6dBs). I decided to boost the singers. If the audience clipped, I don't think it would be that big of a deal.
It took me 2/3 of the concert to figure out why the audience was so loud. I forgot that the some of the audience were actually seated on stage to accommodate the extra crowd. Since I was in the green room (out of sight) I didn't visually see that, althought I had heard it.
At intermission, I checked the ORTF, and it had shifted to one side a bit (the stereo bar). No big dea. BTW, I had a straight stereo bar, which would have worked great for a coincident XY, but I wanted to do the ORTF because this was in a nice concert hall, and I wanted to hear the hall ambience. At the last minute, I bought a second stereo bar, where the two ends were jointed. A lot easier to line up the mics in the ORTF configuration. The article in the current TapeOp helped me figure it all out (thanks Larry!).
Some notes while monitoring:
* Damn, ORTF sounds nice. You can hear the location of the singers. Having seen them perform in the past, I knew they switched positions. And I could hear it in the stereo field. How cool is that!
* NT5s with the RNPs sounded great. Now, most people would have picked a "faster" (Sytek) or "cleaner" (Grace) preamp if given a choice, but I was very happy with the RNP. Why? The musical content was really sweet (I've seen the word "euphonic" to describe both the mics and the preamp, and I would have to agree. Very clear, yet very rounded.). And, even though the other preamps would have been more "accurate", I think the only things you would notice more are the climate control fans and people coughing and wheezing.
* One nice thing about the HD24 is that you can pick anywhere from 2-24 tracks. With my brand new 40GB drive, 2 tracks translated to 42+ hours. Not having to worry about space- that's a new experience for me!
* Overall sound quality- I have to add a post later about the mixdown, but I'd listen to it on public radio... reminded me of classical concerts that I would hear on the radio growing up. Only thing I'm concerned with is that because I had to place the mics so close to the stage (both in distance to the front, and proximity to the stage floor) I'm a little worried about some weird comb filtering. I think I heard some on the higher (and loud) soprano passages. Stay tuned....
For the cheapskates on this site: getting decent gear does help. I've heard some great bootlegs done on stealth mindiscs, but they do sound like bootlegs. A full setup does sound a bit more polished.
For the pros on this site: don't automatically shoot down the questions about gear or fundamental technique. I for one have benefited greatly from my newbie questions, and hopefully I can represent as someone who became a halfway decent recorder because of TapeOp.
I'm liking this location recording deal. Every gig (this goes back to my theater tech days) teaches at least one new trick or tip.
More later when I mix the damn thing down. Hopefully you all weren't bored to tears with this thread.
