I will be recording a 60+ piece concert band next month and would
welcome any suggestions on best mic use and placement. I have up to 16
tracks of "retired" ADAT I can bring to the gig, a mackie 1604 VLZ
mixer and A variety of mics including 2 Shure SM 81s, an akg c-414 an
akg c-3000 and a variety of dynamic mics including a pair of akg d112s,
7 sm 57s and 4 sm 58s. Mixing and editing will be done in my DAW.

The room is a fairly large auditorium, about 80'-100' from backstage to
the back doors. The room is fairly live. The stage is hardwood
flooring and about 50 feet wide. A reflective sound shell will be
placed behind the band.

The director tells me the quietest section is the clarinets. Brass and
percussion tend to dominate. My initial thought is to place my SM 81s
in an x-y configuration in front of the band on a tall boom and to use
another condenser (the 414) in a hypercardioid pattern, also on a boom
and directly in front of the clarinet section.

I can probably borrow a couple of pzms and place them on stage right
and left to capture anything that the xy pair doesn't pick up. Does
this sound like a good idea, or overkill? Any ideas on best mic
placement with the tools I have are welcome.

"more_cowbell" wrote:
I will be recording a 60+ piece concert band next month and would
welcome any suggestions on best mic use and placement. I have up to 16
tracks of "retired" ADAT I can bring to the gig, a mackie 1604 VLZ
mixer and A variety of mics including 2 Shure SM 81s, an akg c-414 an
akg c-3000 and a variety of dynamic mics including a pair of akg d112s,
7 sm 57s and 4 sm 58s. Mixing and editing will be done in my DAW.

The room is a fairly large auditorium, about 80'-100' from backstage to
the back doors. The room is fairly live. The stage is hardwood
flooring and about 50 feet wide. A reflective sound shell will be
placed behind the band.

The director tells me the quietest section is the clarinets. Brass and
percussion tend to dominate. My initial thought is to place my SM 81s
in an x-y configuration in front of the band on a tall boom and to use
another condenser (the 414) in a hypercardioid pattern, also on a boom
and directly in front of the clarinet section.

I can probably borrow a couple of pzms and place them on stage right
and left to capture anything that the xy pair doesn't pick up. Does
this sound like a good idea, or overkill? Any ideas on best mic
placement with the tools I have are welcome.

My suggestion, my opinion:

Use the SM81s in ORTF on the tall boom placed appropriately in front of the
band and up high (assuming you have a very high ceiling). This is the main
pair. Use the c-414 as a spot mic on the clarinets - remember to time delay
this track accordingly to the main pair and mix in carefully to just add a
little presence, not much more or it will sound out of place. That's it.
Anything more and it won't sound like a concert band should in a large
space. If the room acoustics are terrible, move the main pair closer to the
band and use a little reverb in post.

bobs

Bob Smith
BS Studios
we organize chaos
http://www.bsstudios.com