Unusual recording gigs and new experiences- share your stories

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floid
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Re: Unusual recording gigs and new experiences- share your stories

Post by floid » Thu Oct 25, 2018 4:25 pm

digitaldrummer wrote:
Thu Oct 25, 2018 11:06 am
I recorded this one a few years ago....

https://jaapblonk.bandcamp.com/album/north-of-blanco

it is of the "noise genre" so rather than describe that, just listen for a minute and you will get the picture.
Good stuff.
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Re: Unusual recording gigs and new experiences- share your stories

Post by winky dinglehoffer » Thu Oct 25, 2018 5:18 pm

I saw Jaap Blonk perform many years ago--he was impressive! I can unequivocally say that he's the best Dada tone poet I've ever seen perform.

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Re: Unusual recording gigs and new experiences- share your stories

Post by Magnetic Services » Fri Oct 26, 2018 10:11 am

winky dinglehoffer wrote:
Thu Oct 25, 2018 5:18 pm
the best Dada tone poet I've ever seen perform.
A high honor!

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Re: Unusual recording gigs and new experiences- share your stories

Post by wren » Fri Oct 26, 2018 3:09 pm

I think I posted about my most unusual one on TOMB when it happened:
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=84630&p=686510

Still my most unusual one, I'd say. But I've since done a few that were a bit of an odd challenge and maybe a little more technically interesting.

An acquaintance wrote a musical and had the opportunity to quickly record all of the songs with the help of a group of community actors. We had a very limited amount of time to do it - every song was 3 takes max, and I didn't have time to change the setup at all between the songs. The songs ranged from full-on chorus numbers to solos to duets to numerous characters singing at each other from opposite sides of the stage, etc. - all the different musical theater tropes - and I wanted to capture all of that appropriately, if I could. We had 30-odd performers (including a few kids), one piano accompanist, and a medium-size rehearsal room for about 8 hours to record over 20 tracks. And I had about the same amount of time to mix it - she was on a budget and couldn't afford to have me spend too much time on it. She basically just wanted a demo to use to "sell" the show for further development, so it could sound like it was a work in progress (which it was) but we also wanted it to sound as good and professional as possible.

What I ended up doing was basically a bunch of area mics in different configurations. I can't speak to exact mics and pres, but I believe I had a spaced omni pair; a couple SDCs in ORTF or NOS (probably NOS upon reflection - no pun intended - to control reflections a bit); a close LDC for solos/duets; an LDC back with the stereo pairs and up high-ish, 7-8', aimed down at the center of the stage; and a sort of combination M/S thing made up of the usual figure 8 side mic with the choice of 2 different mid mics, one cardioid or one omni. And a DI for the clavinova and a mic for the narrator, and I think something like a PCC for the "children's corner". It was kind of crazy, but it actually worked really well: when mixing, I'd just toggle through all the different options and go with the one that sounded best for that song - there was always a clear winner. There were only a couple songs that totally sucked, and a lot of it ended up sounding way better than it had any right to.
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Re: Unusual recording gigs and new experiences- share your stories

Post by Recycled_Brains » Mon Oct 29, 2018 11:15 am

Recorded a live comedy set a couple weeks ago. Pretty neat actually. Used a splitter to take a feed off the handheld mic without interfering with the FOH dude. Wide spaced pair of SDC's on either side of the stage and a 4050 in omni down low/center stage for audience mics / ambience.

Had to really be on the ball and ride my preamp gain for the main mic. It's pretty unreal how much dynamic range she had during her performance. Every time I thought I had enough headroom to cover in case she yelled, I had to pull back real fast to keep the channel from overloading (sytek preamps don't sound too good when they hit red, IMO). In retrospect, some light / fast peak limiting would have been more ideal, but in the end, it sounds like a real comedy record. Was able to really simulate an "I am in the room" feeling with the spaced pair. Josephson makes a hell of a microphone.

We're going to do round 2 soon. She wasn't happy with her delivery on a couple of the jokes, so she wants to get a 2nd take, then it's off to her producer to arrange the thing.
Ryan Slowey
Albany, NY

http://maggotbrainny.bandcamp.com

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Re: Unusual recording gigs and new experiences- share your stories

Post by A.David.MacKinnon » Mon Oct 29, 2018 12:32 pm

Recycled_Brains wrote:
Mon Oct 29, 2018 11:15 am


Had to really be on the ball and ride my preamp gain for the main mic. It's pretty unreal how much dynamic range she had during her performance. Every time I thought I had enough headroom to cover in case she yelled, I had to pull back real fast to keep the channel from overloading (sytek preamps don't sound too good when they hit red, IMO). In retrospect, some light / fast peak limiting would have been more ideal, but in the end, it sounds like a real comedy record. Was able to really simulate an "I am in the room" feeling with the spaced pair. Josephson makes a hell of a microphone.
I do a lot of comedy recordings these days. The dynamics are crazy. I usually split the stage mic 3 ways. One for FOH and two for me. Then I run two preamps. One set normally and the otherset 10 db lower. It's saved my ass a bunch of times.

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Re: Unusual recording gigs and new experiences- share your stories

Post by TapeOpLarry » Mon Oct 29, 2018 8:28 pm

A.David.MacKinnon wrote:
Mon Oct 29, 2018 12:32 pm
One for FOH and two for me. Then I run two preamps. One set normally and the otherset 10 db lower. It's saved my ass a bunch of times.
It's such a simple trick but so good! I learned it from a FOH/club guy a few years ago, I was like, "Duh!"
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Re: Unusual recording gigs and new experiences- share your stories

Post by Recycled_Brains » Wed Oct 31, 2018 11:32 am

TapeOpLarry wrote:
Mon Oct 29, 2018 8:28 pm
A.David.MacKinnon wrote:
Mon Oct 29, 2018 12:32 pm
One for FOH and two for me. Then I run two preamps. One set normally and the otherset 10 db lower. It's saved my ass a bunch of times.
It's such a simple trick but so good! I learned it from a FOH/club guy a few years ago, I was like, "Duh!"
Holy shit, dude, that's a HOT tip. Elegant. Def. doing that next time.
Ryan Slowey
Albany, NY

http://maggotbrainny.bandcamp.com

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Re: Unusual recording gigs and new experiences- share your stories

Post by MoreSpaceEcho » Fri Nov 02, 2018 1:15 pm

yep that trick is a classic.

I've mastered a few comedy records and indeed the dynamics can be crazy

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Re: Unusual recording gigs and new experiences- share your stories

Post by Recycled_Brains » Sat Nov 03, 2018 7:36 am

MoreSpaceEcho wrote:
Fri Nov 02, 2018 1:15 pm
yep that trick is a classic.

I've mastered a few comedy records and indeed the dynamics can be crazy
"What's the deal with dynamics?"
Ryan Slowey
Albany, NY

http://maggotbrainny.bandcamp.com

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Re: Unusual recording gigs and new experiences- share your stories

Post by vvv » Sat Nov 03, 2018 9:49 am

Recycled_Brains wrote:
Sat Nov 03, 2018 7:36 am
"What's the deal with dynamics?"

They are embodied in the title, here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1NDd9MFU6I
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