RAP5/3/1-2 Mike Clayton

[Carey Carlan]

"Wie Lieblich Sind" by Rheinberger

- I hear a "grainy" distortion throughout this track. Is there a bad noise
reduction effort going on here? Not a microphone sound. Could be preamp
or ADC.
- This is an artifact of the hall, but the organ is much to distant and
"out of the picture". It could make a real contribution but does not.
- The girls' articulation needs to be much stronger in the church. I have
to strain to tell what language they're singing.
- Harp far left is not disconcerting.
- I don't think you recorded this in the Cathedral.

"Sad Flow the Streams" by Brahms and the Bel Canto choir

Much smaller room, much closer recording. Brings out much more detail in
the performance. This is what I expect from a quality recording of a high
school chorus. A cappela makes it easier, too.

What's with all the room racket on this cut. Are they on noisy risers?

I guess you added reverb on the Brahms. Nice feel. Nice tails.

[Mike Clayton]

In article <Xns93D9B564C9405gulfjoehotmailcom@198.99.146.10>, Carey Carlan
<gulfjoe@hotmail.com> wrote:

> "Wie Lieblich Sind" by Rheinberger
>
> - I hear a "grainy" distortion throughout this track. Is there a bad noise
> reduction effort going on here? Not a microphone sound. Could be preamp
> or ADC.

No - see below.

> - This is an artifact of the hall, but the organ is much to distant and
> "out of the picture". It could make a real contribution but does not.

That's exactly where it was placed - not a proper organ but a typical
roland type keyboard thing on church organ 1 setting set stage left. I
recorded the job with AKG 480b hypers and a Buzz preamp.

> - The girls' articulation needs to be much stronger in the church. I have
> to strain to tell what language they're singing.

'Twasn't a church! See below.

> - Harp far left is not disconcerting.

Again, that's where it was placed and furthermore it was a real one!

> - I don't think you recorded this in the Cathedral.

Right!

>
> "Sad Flow the Streams" by Brahms and the Bel Canto choir
>
> Much smaller room, much closer recording. Brings out much more detail in
> the performance. This is what I expect from a quality recording of a high
> school chorus. A cappela makes it easier, too.

Right on - different room, in fact an oval shaped plaster lined church.

> What's with all the room racket on this cut. Are they on noisy risers?

No, they are a bunch of kids with noisy footwear, and I think the
conductor lady had some swishy clothing on.

> I guess you added reverb on the Brahms. Nice feel. Nice tails.

Here's the below bit! The Brahms is the one without the reverb and the
Rheinberger is the one with. And the reason it's grainy is that I used the
D-Verb audiosuite plug in that came with Pro Tools 5, because that's all
that I had at the time. They asked me to add some reverb to the
Rheinberger to make it sound like the tracks recorded in aforementioned
church.

The Rheinberger was recorded during a concert in a very dry auditorium
which the school had built at great cost. It works well for drama and
poetry, but it is too dry for any sort of music. Shame, they went to a lot
of trouble about getting the rest of the complex right.

Thanks for listening and reviewing Carey.

PS got some more organ stuff done with the new Schoeps omnis. Have a look
at www.nzorgan.com for more details. The bottom end we get from this beast
is incredible!

--
Mike Clayton

[Carey Carlan]

m.clayton@it.canterbury.ac.nz (Mike Clayton) wrote in
news:m.clayton-1708031926520001@mcl47.tacacs.canterbury.ac.nz:

> Here's the below bit! The Brahms is the one without the reverb and the
> Rheinberger is the one with. And the reason it's grainy is that I used
> the D-Verb audiosuite plug in that came with Pro Tools 5, because
> that's all that I had at the time. They asked me to add some reverb to
> the Rheinberger to make it sound like the tracks recorded in
> aforementioned church.

Got me. I heard the reverb in the Brahms and thought, "That's too
perfectly balanced with the voices to be real." I heard the distant organ
in the Rheinberger and thought "That's a real pipe organ recorded so far
away that the reverb times have to be real."

> The Rheinberger was recorded during a concert in a very dry auditorium
> which the school had built at great cost. It works well for drama and
> poetry, but it is too dry for any sort of music. Shame, they went to a
> lot of trouble about getting the rest of the complex right.

That's typical around here as well. I can't think of any new construction
with any hang time. I guess it's good for amplified bands as well, but
terrible for any non-electric performance.

> Thanks for listening and reviewing Carey.
>
> PS got some more organ stuff done with the new Schoeps omnis. Have a
> look at www.nzorgan.com for more details. The bottom end we get from
> this beast is incredible!

I'll check it out.

How do you separate it from the phantom stuff I always pick up with my
digital gear? I roll off just about every recording, even have to apply a
bit of LF NR to organ concerts to remove that "loud to 2 Hz" rumble that
digital provides.

[Carey Carlan]

m.clayton@it.canterbury.ac.nz (Mike Clayton) wrote in
news:m.clayton-1708031926520001@mcl47.tacacs.canterbury.ac.nz:

>> - The girls' articulation needs to be much stronger in the church. I
>> have to strain to tell what language they're singing.

One more thought. If the hall is as dry as you say it is, is it the reverb
that washed out the diction?

[Mike Clayton]

In article <Xns93DA5CEA66FB6gulfjoehotmailcom@198.99.146.10>, Carey Carlan
<gulfjoe@hotmail.com> wrote:

> m.clayton@it.canterbury.ac.nz (Mike Clayton) wrote in
> news:m.clayton-1708031926520001@mcl47.tacacs.canterbury.ac.nz:
>
> >> - The girls' articulation needs to be much stronger in the church. I
> >> have to strain to tell what language they're singing.
>
> One more thought. If the hall is as dry as you say it is, is it the reverb
> that washed out the diction?

I'll have to have a careful listen before I comment Carey. Stand by...

--
Mike Clayton

[Mike Clayton]

In article <Xns93DA5CA89ACA7gulfjoehotmailcom@198.99.146.10>, Carey Carlan
<gulfjoe@hotmail.com> wrote:


> How do you separate it from the phantom stuff I always pick up with my
> digital gear? I roll off just about every recording, even have to apply a
> bit of LF NR to organ concerts to remove that "loud to 2 Hz" rumble that
> digital provides.

This particular organ is in a well isolated auditorium (seats 3200,
basically oval shape) and during the recordings the HVAC is turned off.
That leaves the blower noise from the organ, which, being a modern
instrument, is acceptably low and free of any low frequency rumble.

Different story in the local Cathedrals though. I have to use a bit of
subsonic filter judiciously there, mostly to get rid of traffic and tram
noise. Even on a quiet night the city hums away to itself. And if there is
a noisy car doing the rounds it's wait time until it goes away.

--
Mike Clayton