Recording High School Band - horns question

[Michael W. Ellis]

I recently attempted to record my son's smallish High School Band during a
football game. The Band was seated in a section of bleachers and I was at
ground level in front of them. For mics I used two MXL2001 condensors
oriented at 90 degrees from each other and spaced 6-8 inches apart. The
mics were on an extension pole to get them up and in front of the band.

At some points in the recording the high brass has some kind of phasing
problem. The problem appears individually on each track, so I'm not just
hearing a phase difference between the two tracks. Is this something that
is commonly encountered when recording horns? I'm trying to figure out if
the problem was something in my setup or if it is simply the interaction
between closely tuned (but slightly off) instruments.

--
Michael Ellis
first initial last name at pesa commercial account

[P Stamler]

>I recently attempted to record my son's smallish High School Band during a
>football game. The Band was seated in a section of bleachers and I was at
>ground level in front of them. For mics I used two MXL2001 condensors
>oriented at 90 degrees from each other and spaced 6-8 inches apart. The
>mics were on an extension pole to get them up and in front of the band.
>
>At some points in the recording the high brass has some kind of phasing
>problem. The problem appears individually on each track, so I'm not just
>hearing a phase difference between the two tracks. Is this something that
>is commonly encountered when recording horns? I'm trying to figure out if
>the problem was something in my setup or if it is simply the interaction
>between closely tuned (but slightly off) instruments.

More likely the latter. By the way, two questions, not necessarily related to
the phasing problem. Were the microphones, spaced apart 6-8", pointed outwards?
If not, they should be. (I've seen recordings made with microphones at 90
degrees, spaced, pointed *inwards*, and from this you get corned beef hash.)
Second, did you have windscreens on the microphones?

Peace,
Paul

[Michael W. Ellis]

"P Stamler" > wrote in message
...
> >I recently attempted to record my son's smallish High School Band during
a
> >football game. The Band was seated in a section of bleachers and I was
at
> >ground level in front of them. For mics I used two MXL2001 condensors
> >oriented at 90 degrees from each other and spaced 6-8 inches apart. The
> >mics were on an extension pole to get them up and in front of the band.
> >
> >At some points in the recording the high brass has some kind of phasing
> >problem. The problem appears individually on each track, so I'm not just
> >hearing a phase difference between the two tracks. Is this something
that
> >is commonly encountered when recording horns? I'm trying to figure out
if
> >the problem was something in my setup or if it is simply the interaction
> >between closely tuned (but slightly off) instruments.
>
> More likely the latter. By the way, two questions, not necessarily related
to
> the phasing problem. Were the microphones, spaced apart 6-8", pointed
outwards?
> If not, they should be. (I've seen recordings made with microphones at 90
> degrees, spaced, pointed *inwards*, and from this you get corned beef
hash.)
> Second, did you have windscreens on the microphones?
>

Yes and yes. To mount the mics I used one of those adapters that you mount
on a standard mic stand to hold two (or three if you mount a clip at the
center) mics. I attached the mics using the shock mounts that came with
them and used the windscreens that came with them as well (see
http://www.zzounds.com/item--MSEPROPACK). The mics were turned outwards
from each other at roughly 90 degrees total. I assumed that turning them
inward would cause one mic to interfere with the other's pickup pattern.

The more I think about the phasing problem the more that I think that you
are right. The only thing that makes sense is comb filtering caused by
slightly out of tune horns.

--
Michael Ellis
first initial last name at pesa commercial account

[ScotFraser]

<< At some points in the recording the high brass has some kind of phasing
problem. >>

Given the context of a high school band I'd say it was probably a pitch
problem, nothing to do with phase.


Scott Fraser

[Scott Dorsey]

Michael W. Ellis > wrote:
>
>At some points in the recording the high brass has some kind of phasing
>problem. The problem appears individually on each track, so I'm not just
>hearing a phase difference between the two tracks. Is this something that
>is commonly encountered when recording horns? I'm trying to figure out if
>the problem was something in my setup or if it is simply the interaction
>between closely tuned (but slightly off) instruments.

Was there a large flat surface nearby that would cause some reflection
problems? Doing this stuff outdoors can be nightmarish because of slap
echoes.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Michael W. Ellis]

"Scott Dorsey" > wrote in message
...
> Michael W. Ellis > wrote:
> >
> >At some points in the recording the high brass has some kind of phasing
> >problem. The problem appears individually on each track, so I'm not just
> >hearing a phase difference between the two tracks. Is this something
that
> >is commonly encountered when recording horns? I'm trying to figure out
if
> >the problem was something in my setup or if it is simply the interaction
> >between closely tuned (but slightly off) instruments.
>
> Was there a large flat surface nearby that would cause some reflection
> problems? Doing this stuff outdoors can be nightmarish because of slap
> echoes.

Nothing close by.
--
Michael Ellis
first initial last name at pesa commercial account