Recording solo cello

[joel hamilton]

I have almost killed myself with a coles that had grabbed a few razor blades....

I recordeda good cello with a U67 in cardioid, about a foot and a half back from the bridge. Good balance of fur on the bow, and nice rich, wooden tone.

That was with either a 1073 or a V76.

[@?,*???&?]

Every cello I've recorded has been with a Neumann CMV 563 w/M7 capsule. Once I combined that with a Neumann U47 fet. Best preamp combination seemed to be the API 312 preamps. These counteract the boominess of the instrument. Sweetness. That's that sound from 'Mockingbirds' on "Mighty Joe Moon" by Grant Lee Buffalo. fyi

[bigtoe]

i got a really great mono cello sound with an AT4051. perfect combo of bite and body and clarity.

Mike

[logancircle]

If you have the option (please say you do) of doing M-S, do it for God's sake. There's your room and direct to play with, and it SOOO fun and full-sounding. Since it's solo cello, you can get away with wide stereo, even though this technique get's messy if you have other tracks. If not M-S, try an XY out in the room with an omni as your close mic--it blends together really nicely. I've tried all these and in a good-sounding room M-S is the bizomb, but the other is very good, too. Solo cello is such a pleasure to be part of.

[sixteenthletter]

Thanks for the great tips, keep em comin! Yeah, Logan- getting a rich, full recording using room and close up would be more my style but this guy is pretty insistent about keeping it very dry and non-roomy, no wide stereo either! So I think I'm going to simplify and just go ribbon thru clean pre in mono.

The mic placement will be interesting because I agree about too much bass if you get too close, but as an Brokenchairs' reply stated "UNLESS he is playing tunes by Morton Feldman". And I had to laugh because here is a snippet from his bio:

In Winter 2004 he gave the West Coast premi?re of Morton Feldman's Cello and Orchestra with the La Jolla Symphony under conductor Harvey Sollberger.

So it should be interesting but I was heartened by the earlier comments about cello being very easy to make sound good. This guy is such a virtuoso that I'm sure all I have to do is stay out of his way and capture the performance and it will be golden

[logancircle]

Dude, he doesn't know what he's talking about. I'm sortof kidding of course. But even if you do M-S you can easily use all 3 mics and turn it into mono or just use the front-facing mic in mono if you really don't want the room. I don't know how much music you guys are doing, but if it's not too much, a few songs, you could make dry mono mixes with the front mic and then make stereo mixes (don't need to be TOO wide) with the M-S and give that to him and see what he thinks.

[sixteenthletter]

Yeah, that's an option. He's playing one, 30 minute piece so I will approaching it as capturing a live performance. Get a good sound and just roll. There's something about the simplicity of one mic that appeals to me though. I'm such an ass.

[jajjguy]

You know what to do.

But if it doesn't cut it (and since he has a specific sound in mind), say "let's try this" and put the mic right in front of his face, looking down at the bridge of the cello. Ok, move it until it's not in his way, but the idea is to get the mic to hear his instrument the way he does. The sound will likely be brighter and have more bite and punch, which may be his idea of "dry".

I've been the fussy cellist before, and this worked wonders for me one time.

[sixteenthletter]

Now that is kind of idea I wouldn't have had but it makes perfect sense.
Thanks jajj, great advice.