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Topic: Groundbreaking Recording Technique |
Dave Grafe
From:
Hudson River Valley NY
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Posted 15 Jun 2005 9:44 pm |
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How's that for a catchy topic title?
Heres the groundbreaking part: We needed to produce a quality learning aid for us to learn a rather large book, most of it previously unrecorded original material, and we had to do so with a dozen rehearsals or less. We tried taking a line from the sound system but all we could really hear was vocals, even when we pointed one mic at the middle of the room.
The solution was to take two Audio-Technica AT831 cardioid lavaliere mics and clip them to a music stand facing 180 degrees apart, splitting the room equally. Because I use them with wireless body packs, there aren't even any wires and I can set the receivers and the recorder up anywhere at all, right next to myself or entirely out of the room.
It's not the cheapest way to go -- at almost $500 per wireless unit it's gonna be close to $1000 plus the recorder, but because the wireless units have preamps built in, this system requires NO MIXER, just plug the receiver outputs into the recorder inputs for perfect stereo and super high fidelity!
It ain't exactly rocket surgery, but we can hear everything good enough to keep track of the arrangements, plus for live gigs it's the ultimate in simplicity. The quality of the results are dependent entirely on mic placement.
So, my friends and countrymen, here are a couple of clips from last week's rehearsal recorded in this fashion (and subsequently ripped to shreds so that us slow-modem-types can actually do something with them) - please be kind and bear in your mind that we only recorded it as a learning aid because we still need one. If you don't hear a lot of bad notes you're not listening hard enough.
Nothing Left to Lose
Utah
If you've got a fairly fast connection here is a short sample of the original 44.1KHz 16 bit recording.
[url=http://www.pdxaudio.com/nothing sample.wav]44.1KHz 16 bit Sample - 3.2M[/url]
Now if we could just learn these songs....
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 Dave Grafe - email: dg@pdxaudio.com
Production
Pickin', etc.
1978 ShoBud Pro I E9, Randall Steel Man 500, 1963 Precision Bass, 1954 Gibson LGO, 1897 Washburn Hawaiian Steel Conversion
[This message was edited by Dave Grafe on 16 June 2005 at 02:38 AM.] |
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Eric West
From:
Portland, Oregon, USA, R.I.P.
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Posted 16 Jun 2005 4:58 am
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Soo..
What are you recording on?
I've been thinking of getting an IRiver, as I don't think Sony ever Un-queered their format for minidiscs.
EJL |
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Jay Ganz
From:
Out Behind The Barn
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Posted 16 Jun 2005 5:46 am
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Hey Dave,
Yeah, that 16 bit recording really highlights
the good quality of your simple setup.
Actually, you could make that sample a bit
longer since with a high speed connection it
loads in fairly quick. |
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Mike Neer
From:
NJ
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Posted 16 Jun 2005 10:02 am
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| I've been recording onto a Sony DAT TCD-D8 with a binaural pair of mics (Core-Sound) clipped at 180° on a music stand. So far, a very natural sound--actually very scary when you think the voices you're hearing on tape are in the room with you. [This message was edited by Mike Neer on 16 June 2005 at 11:03 AM.] |
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Dave Grafe
From:
Hudson River Valley NY
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Posted 16 Jun 2005 1:39 pm
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Eric - I'm using a Sony CDR-W33 CD recorder with an optical link to a Sony MDS-E10 MiniDisc Recorder. After rehearsal I leave the CD's with Keeter to copy for the guys who live near him, I take the MD home and put it on my studio HD to remove silence, bad jokes, bad starts, etc. and burn copies for myself and Kenny S., who lives nearer to me.
Jay -- You're probably right,unfortunately it's ME who has the slow connection. What do you recommend as a good file size for high-speed? I'll work it up and re-post tonight when I don't need the line for anything.
Yeah, Mike, gotta be careful if you're listening with headphones on...the voices in my head are telling me to....
One nice aspect is no connection to the PA at all, the mics pick up the sound of the monitors and if that sounds bad we should have fixed it anyway.
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