Bets Way to Record Orchestra Samples

[composer22]

I was reading an article in SOS today on James Lock and his engineering treatment of Pavarotti's 1972 recording of "Nessun Dorma".

Some takaways...

Kingsway hall had perfect acoustics - up to 2.5 seconds in the bass and tailing off to 1.2 to 1.3 seconds at the top end.

5 omnidirectional Neumann M50s placed 5 feet in front of the orchestra - half left, center, half right...with two set to pick up sound outside of the orchestra.

Spot mikes were used on sections as needed...two on ww...two on brass and percussion etc. Neumann KM56s, KM64s, KM84s.

...Which brings me to questions

How do we set up our VSL Ensemble and DAW to emulate this sort of reality?
Are we approaching it a bit incorrectly by feeding instruments one at a time back into the daw and adding specific reverb at this level?

Or should we just bus different sections to emulate sectional mikes, and have three buses for the tree with some reverb on those?

Basically, are we recording too studio like...?

silly thoughts for the day

[Angelo Clematide]

To me recording in the concert hall is somewhat mundane. Your problem by trying to emulate reality is that this technique totally eliminates sonic fantasy from the recording process.

 

Things get really exciting for me when I record sonic images that existed mainly in my imagination and using the stereo space to take the listener into a new reality that did not, or could not, exist in a real life acoustical environment.

[composer22]

Thanks. Thats all very noble and very creative, but doesn't answer my question or goal though. For some of us consider the authenticity of the space as important as the authenticity of the orchestra sounds we use and want to work this way. Trying to find a way to reduce the faders and channels on the board and use busses to control the mix for sections and overall sound. Not sure best way to achieve this.

[Angelo Clematide]

If you want to emulate a particular orchestra recording with samples, then you have to know following parameters of the real recording, and apply them in the mix :

Size of the music group

Ensemble angle

Stage width

Microphone technique

Angle of acceptance (stereophonic pickup-angle)

Distance factor

Angle between microphones

Stage width pickup angle

Sound localization

Localization accuracy

Room size

Position of the ensemble on the room

Stage depth

Reverbrance

Decay time

Spatiality

Sound intensity levels

Level and amplitude difference

A good start is to get a floor plan of the Kingway hall, determine size, volume, distances of the instrument groups to the walls and arrival of reflexions at the microphone position, then dial this parameters into your reverberator.

.

[composer22]

An excellent list, Angelo. Thank for the tips!

[Dietz]

[URL]http://vsl.co.at/Player2.aspx?Lang=13&DemoId=5050[/URL] :-)

[Peter Roos]

I want that vocal library!!!

PS: excellent performance and mix!!!

[Dietz]

@Peter Emanuel Roos said:

I want that vocal library!!!

 

PS: excellent performance and mix!!!

Thanks for the kind words, Peter. BTW - We still work on the duplication-process of this Vocal Library, which resides on a unique biological memory-unit right now. 8-)