I've been trying to determine the best microphone setup for recording saxophone quartet in a recital hall (think really boomy). Does anyone have some good tips for this? I have a decent amount of recording equipment that I can use as of right now but mic placement seems to generally favor the soprano. Problem is, in such a large hall, you can end up with some pretty bad phasing between the mics if they are offset too much. Thanks for tips and tricks!
We've always recorded with two hanging choir mics. We put them close together, and hang them low....probably 10-12 feet apart and 12-14 feet off the stage floor. Here's where you will get your best recordings ---- layout. How you 4 are standing in relation to each other and the mics.
Try playing a lyrical passage in different formations and record it. We always record standing in a square, facing each other, playing inward, almost like 4 people sitting at a dinner table. The other key is to make sure your bells are pointed in. Our most favorable recordings were done: (if you're in the front row of the theatre looking at the stage) :
Bari - front left (note, bell facing toward back of stage)
Soprano - rear left
Alto front right
Tenor - rear right
However, I can remember doing some old traditionals that were AATB and we switched to
Bari - front left
second alto - rear left
tenor - rear right
first alto - front left
Just try some moving around. And of course, practice with a trained ear in the auditorium...=)
That recording technique looks like it would work really well for us. I have a matched pair of Røde NT4s that will work great with that. I will give that a try this week!
NT4s already have two capsules, configured XY coincident. If you use one of these (one stereo pair), you should get a nice representation of your quartet.
If you have some matching omnis at your disposal, you can try spaced omnis - either 2 or 3, not more than 5 feet apart, about 10 feet back and 7-10 feet up.
Decca tree is another 3 mic setup worth considering.
If you like these clips, they were done with a Crown SASS-P stereo boundary mic. It was a fairly small dry church it was recorded in.
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