Re: Recording jazz brass in club setting?


<vdubreeze@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:31f40e67-374c-4515-a70c-8264530c11ae@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Bob, what's that goal? I think a live small club recording and a live
stage one have totally different sets of possibilities.
Theoretically, if the performance sounds good from the audience, a
great stereo mic placed well would yield a satisfying recording. But
in reality sometimes the best it gives you is a great recording that
sounds like a bootleg, or audience recording, not something that you'd
listen to and think it was releasable. For a snapshot of the band
it's not a big deal. But my personal experience with stereo mics in
a small jazz room is that I always wanted just a touch more, even
under pretty good circumstances.

I agree. In my past club recordings, I spotted everything except the brass,
who played carefully to the ORTF pair. But everything except the brass was
stationary, and either separated by a few feet, or spotted with a DI. But
this is different. Six or seven guys, shoulder-to-shoulder. Since I don't
have clip-on instrument mikes, spotting is tantamount to putting a row of
mikes in front of a row of performers. In terms of the 3:1 rule, as well as
general tendency of standing players to drift around, it doesn't make sense.

Aside from the obvious consideration of the music/band/instruments,
you have to consider the audience. On a stage you have a better
chance without spot mics, but if it's a small club you really can get
a kind of "noise floor" that's not recording noise, just club noise.

I think this will be a club situation. Manhattan is so crowded, the clubs
are tiny, and stages are rare.

If it's above a certain level it puts the recording more into that
bootleg sound, no matter how great the band sounds. Of course some
great classic live recordings have lots of audience, but if yours
simply doesn't doesn't sound good you can't control it like you can
the band's relationship to the mic. You might be fortunate. Hard to
tell. But unless it puts your hassle factor into the stratosphere,
you may have to cover all your bases. Two differently placed pairs
and all the spot mics that make sense and don't hamper the band.


I floated that idea earlier in this thread. Here it is again:

1. Two XY coincident stereo pairs at 3 feet, separated horizontally by 6
feet. My Rode NT-4's are 90 degree crossed cardioids, a convenient mike for
this.

2. An ORTF pair (or NOS, as "audioaesthetic" suggests) at 6-7 feet out. In
Manhattan, one typically doesn't have
more room.

Your opinion would be appreciated.

TIA,
Bob Morein
(310) 237-6511


.

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