Quick sample and some thoughts

Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 2:00 pm

Hey guys and gals -
I just did a recording last night with some new gear and I thought I'd share. The recording was Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto (along with King Stephan Overture and Symphony No. 4 as well) - the pianist was absolutely phenomenal even if the piano was only mediocre.

Anyway, the main mics and the piano mics were new to me but I had a very positive experience with them overall. The overheads were Sennheiser MKH8040s and the piano mic the AEA R88. The outriggers were Schoeps CMC 6 MK2s and the wind spots were Royer SF12s. The mix is raw, no reverb added (>6sec RT60 time in this hall...) and the horn section is made up of me and a friend/colleague of mine. (I selfishly put up a post with both the piano and the horns shown off... Embarassed

)

Anyway, I thought I'd share the clip and my experiences with the mics. I'm very pleased and quite shocked to see/hear what Sennheiser has done with these new mics. The available detail in the lower midrange is something I'm not used to. Also, the depth on the piano mic is awesome. If only it weren't so friggin huge!

BTW - the clip is 24 bit 44.1kHz Wave format, so it's short but a large file. It's a clip derived from the 2 track live mix into DSD. Thankfully, my highly qualified assistant was running the mix from back stage!

Enjoy

http://www.sublymerecords.com/samples/beetpiano.wav

J

(BTW -
If you happen to hear a little low-frequency rumble, the recording was done during a tropical storm that was hitting us yesterday afternoon with 50mph sustained winds and heavy rain...)

Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 2:12 pm

Well now, no HACK T-shirts for you...

Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 3:25 pm

wow...I don't know much about recording, but I like what I hear. That is about as accurate a recording as it gets!

Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 5:15 am

Jeremy, wonderful rich orchestral sound, but I found the piano mic a bit too prominent or too close. What an excellent hall by the sound of things. Nice one.

Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 7:26 am

I definitely agree. I made a compromise and it wound up focusing too much on the piano (most of what you hear in this recording is actually from the main pair - the piano spot was turned way down). It can be a pretty tricky balancing act sometimes.

Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 12:33 pm

Such is perfection.

Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 3:09 pm

Great sound, Cucco !

I am a piano and sound recording amateur. I would like to add a stereo ribbon microphone in my microphone cabinet (2 Shoeps MK 21, 2 AKG 414 XLS, Beyer M 160 and M 130 etc. ) for recording my grand piano at home. Do you think that the AEA R88 is a better choice than the Royer SF 12 ?

Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 3:38 pm

BTW: I hadn't actually listened to it when I made that comment. It was in regard to the "it can be a pretty tricky balancing act" comment.

Now I've listened, I won't say anything other than my ears/cans/headphone jack/DA's aren't doing it justice.

This is curious - I recorded a piano yesterday. Using a DI box, a pair of line outs and a PC. More of a keyboard than a piano I guess.

Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 5:06 pm

Didier wrote:

Great sound, Cucco !

I am a piano and sound recording amateur. I would like to add a stereo ribbon microphone in my microphone cabinet (2 Shoeps MK 21, 2 AKG 414 XLS, Beyer M 160 and M 130 etc. ) for recording my grand piano at home. Do you think that the AEA R88 is a better choice than the Royer SF 12 ?

Thanks!
I can't really comment on the differences of the SF12 and R88 specifically on piano. In fact, it wasn't my intent to even use the R88 on the piano. I had originally planned to use the R88 over the ensemble and the Sennheisers on the piano to use the R88's inherent null pattern on the bottom to help cancel the piano and then use the directional senn's to pick up the piano with a little extra clarity. (Afterall, I think Beethoven concerti require a little extra bite than say a Rachmaninoff). That simply didn't work in this room - way too much reverb.

However, since I haven't directly compared the two yet, I'd hesitate to comment. On the other hand, the R88 has a bigger bottom end without the boominess. Not to say that the SF12 is boomy, but if the room blooms a bit, the SF12 can get away from you. The R88 seems to be able to take all the low mid you can throw at it without getting absurd.

I will hopefully be using the two rather heavily over the next season. The only thing that holds me back from using them more often is that the acoustics of the room have to be pretty ideal. The 6 second decay obviously didn't work. (Although, I did use the R88 quite successfully on a chamber concert earlier in the day with a Beethoven quintet, trio and sonata in the same venue.)

Cheers-
Jeremy

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