[mcp6453[_2_]]

Would you consider the mic placement in this video to be good? While many people
prefer a very natural sound, this one sounds to me like it was recorded on the
camera mic.

Live At Clevelands - Lucky Luke "Fast Train Blues"
http://youtu.be/YJC3k6EEL5Y

[Scott Dorsey]

In article ,
mcp6453 wrote:
Would you consider the mic placement in this video to be good? While many people
prefer a very natural sound, this one sounds to me like it was recorded on the
camera mic.

Live At Clevelands - Lucky Luke "Fast Train Blues"
http://youtu.be/YJC3k6EEL5Y

The reason it sounds like it's recorded in a bathroom is that you're hearing
a lot of close-in reflections from the vocal which makes a very boxy kind of
sound.

Watching the video, there's a tiled wall behind the performers as well as
tiled walls on either side. So the room probably sounds like a bathroom
because it's built like a bathroom.

My guess is that if they'd used the on-camera microphone, the words would
be totally unintelligible, and my guess is also that if there was an
audience in that room, they probably wouldn't be able to make a whole lot
out either.

A little foam hung right behind the singer, combined with a 441 in front
of him, could really fix this up. The fiddle can be miked from behind
the fiddler's shoulder so the reflections off the rear wall are in the
null of the fiddle mike. Of course, the audience is still getting the
same thing but at least the tape feed sounds good.

Another useful trick is to add a little reverb in, with some pre-delay.
This means that instead of having a few little ugly slaps arriving right
after the initial sound, you get those ugly slaps and then you get a nice
low level reverb coming in and fading out after the slaps finish. You
can get rid of a lot of the "closet" sound this way without making things
too reverberant, if you're careful with the levels and times.
--scott

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

[Frank Stearns]

mcp6453 writes:

Would you consider the mic placement in this video to be good? While many people
prefer a very natural sound, this one sounds to me like it was recorded on the
camera mic.

Live At Clevelands - Lucky Luke "Fast Train Blues"
http://youtu.be/YJC3k6EEL5Y


Could be *much worse*, considering the room that I could see. (From a video/visual
perspective, the microphones are horribly intrusive.)

There is an element of "boxyness" from the room, most of it likely introduced by a
slap off that back wall. The post on this included some 2.5-3 second reverb to put a
little "pancake makeup" on the room blemishes.

This mic placement would probably work well in a larger space. In this room, I might
get a bit closer, perhaps put some sort of intermittent treatment on that back wall
-- not to completely kill it (that might make for a less enjoyable live experience),
but to strategically remove slap into my instrument mics.

I'd also solo through to see where the worst leakage problems occurred, then
possibly do a little time adjusting.

This would likely be a complete mess if a PA and monitors were in use. Didn't
see or hear any in this clip. If something was on, it was pretty low, thankfully.

My US$0.02

Frank
Mobile Audio

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