Choir miking
- Thread starter Dick Rees
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Re: Choir miking
Reminds me of the local church that got conned into buying over 60 SM58s and about 10 "custom combiner boxes" for their choir.
Reminds me of the local church that got conned into buying over 60 SM58s and about 10 "custom combiner boxes" for their choir.
Re: Choir miking
Dang!
So in people's opinions, is the micing in the vid overkill? I learnt my tech at a conservatorium (well, some aspects of it) and they were always pretty reticent to mic up anything Classical. Then down the track I met a local pro who'd been mixing Symphony under the Stars for a few years, and that's every single thing close miced and running through two massive consoles. So, seems close micing Classical stuff is probably a pretty good skill to have under the belt (I doubt many other techs in town could nail that and I bet the pay is sizable). Hmm, confused.
Dang!
So in people's opinions, is the micing in the vid overkill? I learnt my tech at a conservatorium (well, some aspects of it) and they were always pretty reticent to mic up anything Classical. Then down the track I met a local pro who'd been mixing Symphony under the Stars for a few years, and that's every single thing close miced and running through two massive consoles. So, seems close micing Classical stuff is probably a pretty good skill to have under the belt (I doubt many other techs in town could nail that and I bet the pay is sizable). Hmm, confused.
Re: Choir miking
Seems to work pretty well for these guys:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjbpwlqp5Qw
Not sure if they are using combiners or dedicated channels.
Seems to work pretty well for these guys:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjbpwlqp5Qw
Not sure if they are using combiners or dedicated channels.
Re: Choir miking
OK, I'll accept that I spoke too soon about this particular performance. I didn't take the time to realize that the vocal mics were meant for solo rather than chorus micing in this performance.
Regarding orchestra micing, IMHO close-micing is a method of last resort. I've been mixing symphonies outdoors and in airplane hangars for years, but I still go out of my way to avoid close-micing instruments that musical genre dictates are meant to create their tone in groups (strings and choirs, particularly). I don't need the absolute control that close-micing affords, nor do I want the negative artifacts that come from having too many microphones picking up too many sources from too many directions. Now certainly if I'm having to deal with a Pops situation where the guest artist either refuse to blend their performance with the orchestra and/or feel the need to have ridiculous monitor levels, then yes I'll close mic whatever I can as a natural orchestral tone is apparently not desired. But in a normal situation I don't feel the need to wrestle control over the orchestra's balance from the conductor, nor do I fool myself into thinking that mics only pick up the instruments they are pointed at.
Sorry to hijack your thread, Dick. It is a nice video.
OK, I'll accept that I spoke too soon about this particular performance. I didn't take the time to realize that the vocal mics were meant for solo rather than chorus micing in this performance.
Regarding orchestra micing, IMHO close-micing is a method of last resort. I've been mixing symphonies outdoors and in airplane hangars for years, but I still go out of my way to avoid close-micing instruments that musical genre dictates are meant to create their tone in groups (strings and choirs, particularly). I don't need the absolute control that close-micing affords, nor do I want the negative artifacts that come from having too many microphones picking up too many sources from too many directions. Now certainly if I'm having to deal with a Pops situation where the guest artist either refuse to blend their performance with the orchestra and/or feel the need to have ridiculous monitor levels, then yes I'll close mic whatever I can as a natural orchestral tone is apparently not desired. But in a normal situation I don't feel the need to wrestle control over the orchestra's balance from the conductor, nor do I fool myself into thinking that mics only pick up the instruments they are pointed at.
Sorry to hijack your thread, Dick. It is a nice video.
Re: Choir miking
A fellow with whom I occasionally work puts it this way:
Give everyone a mic. Turn on what is needed.
A fellow with whom I occasionally work puts it this way:
Give everyone a mic. Turn on what is needed.
Re: Choir miking
I did a lot of close miced outdoor Symphony work back in the day. The reasons for the close miking was pretty simple. Gain before feedback. At the venue I was working in, the PA was very close to the bandshell and the audience size that i had to cover was substantial. Think 10 to 15,000 people. Without the ability to put up delays, close miking is the only solution. It's still an inherently compromised technique, but it can work if you put the time and resources into it. And yeah, that usually means at least one large frame console if not two. And a lot of really good microphones.
As to whether the pay was sizable. Well, I don't do symphony work anymore. In fact I don't do PA work at all anymore. So you can judge from that as to how sizable the pay was.
I did a lot of close miced outdoor Symphony work back in the day. The reasons for the close miking was pretty simple. Gain before feedback. At the venue I was working in, the PA was very close to the bandshell and the audience size that i had to cover was substantial. Think 10 to 15,000 people. Without the ability to put up delays, close miking is the only solution. It's still an inherently compromised technique, but it can work if you put the time and resources into it. And yeah, that usually means at least one large frame console if not two. And a lot of really good microphones.
As to whether the pay was sizable. Well, I don't do symphony work anymore. In fact I don't do PA work at all anymore. So you can judge from that as to how sizable the pay was.
Re: Choir miking
Some instruments I've never seen before... the "double violin" with the keying mechanism, and what looks like a big, sit-down autoharp...
What are we looking at, Dick?
Some instruments I've never seen before... the "double violin" with the keying mechanism, and what looks like a big, sit-down autoharp...
What are we looking at, Dick?
Re: Choir miking
Tim....
That's a Swedish nyckelharpa or "key fiddle" similar in concept to the hurdy-gurdy in how the tangents stop the strings to make the notes. They use a short bow instead of the wheel of the hurdy-gurdy. Four bowed strings and 12 sympathetic strings.
Nyckelharpa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The harps are the Finnish kantela. They vary in size from the five string up to 30 or 40 some strings. They are of the same family as the bandura, zither and other harps which have the strings stretched over the sound board rather than the "concert" and folk harps which have one end of the strings fastened to a sound box.
Edit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zs3aUCM8BX8
A German fellow with a modern composition showing the tonal possibilities.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dwjnk7FOlY
A Swedish "harpa" club.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pR9Fi9j47o
The kantele used in the group "Loituma".
This is some of the music and instruments I featured on my weekly "Northern Voices" radio program for 15 years. Think "tip of the iceberg".........
Tim....
That's a Swedish nyckelharpa or "key fiddle" similar in concept to the hurdy-gurdy in how the tangents stop the strings to make the notes. They use a short bow instead of the wheel of the hurdy-gurdy. Four bowed strings and 12 sympathetic strings.
Nyckelharpa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The harps are the Finnish kantela. They vary in size from the five string up to 30 or 40 some strings. They are of the same family as the bandura, zither and other harps which have the strings stretched over the sound board rather than the "concert" and folk harps which have one end of the strings fastened to a sound box.
Edit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zs3aUCM8BX8
A German fellow with a modern composition showing the tonal possibilities.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dwjnk7FOlY
A Swedish "harpa" club.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pR9Fi9j47o
The kantele used in the group "Loituma".
This is some of the music and instruments I featured on my weekly "Northern Voices" radio program for 15 years. Think "tip of the iceberg".........
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