[Frank Stearns]

"Peter Larsen" writes:

PStamler wrote:

Hee's the problem with doing that in classical music: you're paying
75-100 musicians scale for being there. Under those circumstances time
is money, lots of money, and you don't have the luxury of doing the
experimentation with mic positions that good simply-miked stereo
requires.

I do not understand the point made here, the mic adjustment time for a main
pair is between 0 and 10 minutes, only rarely more. You'll get tired and
confused if you don't get it done in that time.

Typically closer to 0 minutes. (Plus, I really don't want very much fussing around
from my end to distract the group. Do too much of that and they wonder if you know
what the hell you're doing. This might make them "hold back," second guess what
they're doing, et al. I NEVER EVER want to distract their flow. They are the stars,
not me.)

If you do have 10 minutes, often it's the warm-up, and it's likely you're not
getting a "real" performance from them anyway. This can throw off what you think
you're hearing. And, in the field, you'll likely not have optimal monitoring.

More than that, though, in the "herding cats" mind-set that can be taking place
*you* will not be in the correct head-space to make optimal decisions
on-the-spot (no pun).

I like to be at least 2-3 weeks past the tracking session before making any
dialed-in decisions. The many different worries that go through one's mind the day
of tracking are no longer distracting you/fooling you; you can come at it with a
clean sonic palette.

That said, experience will be on your side (both in general and specifically with
the group and room). Many hours of pre-production work is on your side as well,
including getting to at least one rehearsal, perhaps two. Rehearsals for session
work can be slightly less helpful than those for live performances, but they're
still well worth your time.

To this day, with all the gigs I've done (many with the same personnel or the same
group after many similar sessions/events), there hasn't been one time when a
rehearsal has failed to alert me to something that the conductor/players forgot to
tell me, or didn't think was worth mentioning.

On session day I'll be on site several hours early to get EVERYTHING set and tested
based on a plan I drew up, thought about, and ran by the conductor many days
earlier.

Then, even before the group arrives, I'll have preliminary levels set based on
my knowledge of my kit, the room, and what I heard them do dynamically in one of
those rehearsals.

You have to get something, nail it down, fast, and get those
musicians out of there while you still have some cash left. Multiple
spot mics are the quick'n'dirty way to get something usable fast.

Strictly no, spot mics are generally about being able to change ones mind,
but some of the time necessitated by other setup logistics such as
impractical physical placement of soloists. A simple example: they are
usually needed for an oratorio type reoording with soloists near the
conductor, but you can forego them if you instead place the vox soloists
centered in front of the choir. If the event is a ooncert then you can
expect little or no say in where to put them, you _should_ have some in case
of a recording. Some of the time the soloist wants to be next to the
conductor, and then the spot mic gets essential.

Agreed.

Think of it like this. You're directing an epic movie with the climatic scene that
needs to be shot -- the stars will all on set, huge numbers of extras, one-time live
effects, animals etc.

One take is all you get. You're sure as hell not going to plunk down just one
camera. Capture it from many angles, then use good judgement in post as to how to
cut it all together (an homage to the scene, rather than some editor's ability to
make several annoyingly dizzy cuts per second -- but I digress).


Choir pair or not is also a geographic issue, including whether there is
real estate to put it on.

And a pair might not be practical if space is tight (you can't get an appropriate
acoustic mix if you're right on top of them). Times like this I'll use 3-4 choir
microphones or, as is the case with some of my groups, two pairs on the main poll: a
50 cm A/B pair somewhat low for the orchestra, with an ORTF using hypercardioides
set up higher to "reach across" the orchestra and give me a fuller choir sound.

Frank
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