Ableton Forum

Does anywone has some advice for recording a male choir in a church

I would imagine it is damn hard due to all the natural reverb. Close mike with as many cardioid/super cardioid mics as you can afford, and one or two omni mics a couple of meters in front and one quite a bit away to capture the ambience. Record each mic to a separate track and mix to taste afterwards.

Damned if I know the best way to do it on a budget.

If you are a beginner micing, I'd prob stay away from using a shitload of mics. I'd use 4 mics tops, and preferably try to get a good sound with just two. Really just try to get a good raw sound (considering I imagine there will be natural reverb in the church) with as little gear as possible. Personally I'd prob use three mics, left, right, center.

Oh, and if you've never ever recorded something like that before, try to stop by during a rehearsal to test your setup. You'd be saving very possible disasters by walking in blind and expecting everything to run smoothly. Abide by murphys law to the fullest extent.

Not sure if you have your own mics but you are probably best to rent some Neumanns... Go to your local library for a book on micing techniques or browse the net... Use good mics and you should get some good results...

I've never been in charge of it myself - I'm not that experienced but I've watched the BBC people do it a couple of times.

you dont mic each person, thats like miking up each guitar string - wrong idea there. You aim to capture the 'group sound'. Although the BBC were doing churchy stuff, in a cathedral - so this is based on that sound ('medieval')

What they do is have tiers, they have a set of mics about 15 feet or so in front (I think there are about 3 mics there although I may be wrong) those count as the 'close up' mics - they allow a little dispersion of the individual voices.

they also have a couple hanging above the choir - probably for some ambience as they were about 30 to 40 feet up.

about 60 feet back from the choir , about 15 feet high, above the audience were another set - certainly must have been pretty ambient in those although I didn't hear them through the cans.

There may well have been another super ambient mic somewhere, this being the BBC.

I didn't get close enough to see exactly what mics they were using. I would expect some sort of expensive large diaphragm as the front mics, quite possibly omnis overhead and at the back. although the backs could have been more directional.

BUT - the Beeb may also have been using Calrec Soundfields for the overheads, my favourite mic of all time.



I say - try to find and hire a Calrec Soundfield mic.
If you are lucky enough to be rich I say to buy one. I love those mics.

Don't look them directly in the eye.

For a simple but effective recording use a Stereo Pair of cardiod mics in an X-Y configuration (http://mis15.ncarts.edu/film/yewdall/We ... miking.gif). You can use a small capsule mic for an application like this.

During rehearsals walk around the room and figure out where the best balance between the direct (the choir) sound and the ambient (church) sound. This will generally be directly in front of the choir about 1/4 to 1/3 of the distance to the rear wall. This is where you should place the mics, pointing at the choir at about head height or a little higher.

Obviously there are more complex ways to do this, however given your stated lack of experience this is an almost "can't fail" technique.

If you want to get into this further PM me.

PB