[Ray Thomas[_2_]]

"David Grant" wrote in message
...
I'm doing an opera recital recording for my client's audition cd. I have
the option of doing the recording in my not-so-hot sounding livingroom
with an acoustic baby grand or at a local church with nice acoustics but a
roland digital piano.

Since the vocalist is the feature, the obvious choice would seem to be the
church, but as I have no past experience doing opera in my livingroom or
recording digital pianos I'd love a bit of reassurance!

Thanks,

Dave

There are churches and there are churches...I've recorded in modern ones
which are so overly damped and dry as to be like recording studios (home
project studios even !) or at least like modern theatres. The older the
church the more likely it is to have a suitable ambience, but beware of
carpets and drapes hanging .... a lot of churches seem to actively dislike
the reverberance of old (maybe they no longer have choirs associated ?) and
rely on PA systems for propagation. Take the singer to the church and give
him/her a trial sing....10 to15 seconds will be long enough to determine
conclusively ! I agree with the others about the necessary live interaction
between singer and pianist...but another option could be to record the
acoustic baby grand at home solo, and then play it back via good speakers in
the church and have the singer accompany the recording, if they are cool
with that ? You'd then capture a good piano in a good acoustic and the
singer could really let fly...for as many takes as necessary, knowing that
the piano accompaniment is unvarying. It takes one element of variation out
of the equation...but then in recording a 'live performance' that may not be
considered a good thing ? More work for you too, recording the piano twice
in effect, but you might also get the best of both the scenarios you mention
!

Ray