Equipment for recording String Quartett
Posted by: jpk73 on 20 September 2002
Hi!
I am thinking of recording String Quartett by myself. I need microphones, mic-preamps, ADCs and a digital interface for my laptop. It is intended to be an audiophile recording...
1.) Which microphones are perfect for Strings (e.g. Sennheiser MKH800)?
2.) What about Daniel Weiss ADC with inbuilt mic-preamp? Or Apogee ADC with Avalon Design mic-preamp?
3.) Are there any disadvantages if I record to a computer or should I use a DAT?
Jun
I am thinking of recording String Quartett by myself. I need microphones, mic-preamps, ADCs and a digital interface for my laptop. It is intended to be an audiophile recording...
1.) Which microphones are perfect for Strings (e.g. Sennheiser MKH800)?
2.) What about Daniel Weiss ADC with inbuilt mic-preamp? Or Apogee ADC with Avalon Design mic-preamp?
3.) Are there any disadvantages if I record to a computer or should I use a DAT?
Jun
Posted on: 20 September 2002 by Mark Dunn
Hi Jun:
I only have experience of recording string quartets with analogue tape recorders but the microphones we used were the very excellent AKG C24 with a tube stage (!) mic amp. The mic amp was built by Dr. Mike Gluyas at the University of Salford, Manchester, England around 1980.
I just did a search for "Mike Gluyas" on Google and got 3 hits. One is a .pdf document that shows the good doctor (now looking like Gordon Lightfoot) still connected with scientific academia and the description of his lecture is vintage MG.
If you do contact Mike about the tube pre, also ask him about cardioid crossed pairs at 120° and not 90°. Seems odd but is far superior in most cases in my experience.
For the record, Dr. Gluyas and I recorded many small ensembles at Salford Library Hall with the AKGs and a somewhat modified Revox A77. BBC Radio Manchester broadcast several of these *direct* from our recordings (which either says something for the skill of MG or the ease with which the Beeb can be bribed with free air-time material ;-)
Hope this helps,
Best Regards,
Mark Dunn
I only have experience of recording string quartets with analogue tape recorders but the microphones we used were the very excellent AKG C24 with a tube stage (!) mic amp. The mic amp was built by Dr. Mike Gluyas at the University of Salford, Manchester, England around 1980.
I just did a search for "Mike Gluyas" on Google and got 3 hits. One is a .pdf document that shows the good doctor (now looking like Gordon Lightfoot) still connected with scientific academia and the description of his lecture is vintage MG.
If you do contact Mike about the tube pre, also ask him about cardioid crossed pairs at 120° and not 90°. Seems odd but is far superior in most cases in my experience.
For the record, Dr. Gluyas and I recorded many small ensembles at Salford Library Hall with the AKGs and a somewhat modified Revox A77. BBC Radio Manchester broadcast several of these *direct* from our recordings (which either says something for the skill of MG or the ease with which the Beeb can be bribed with free air-time material ;-)
Hope this helps,
Best Regards,
Mark Dunn
Posted on: 21 September 2002 by Rockingdoc
an "audiophile" recording to a laptop???
Blimey, I am out of touch these days.
Blimey, I am out of touch these days.
Posted on: 21 September 2002 by NaimDropper
If you are new to recording (and I will presume that you are), it is a complete world unto itself.
So many choices... So many ways to get it wrong...
You've got a huge number of considerations for your recording and, IMhO, the recording medium will have less to do with other choices that you make.
Envionment
Mic Choice
Mic Placement
Pre Amp
EQ
Compression
# of channels available
Mixing environment
MONITORS and amplifier
Mastering
And many more.
Each of these require the utmost attention to detail to get it "right".
You can make really good recordings to computers, DAT, stand-alone studios (like I have) but "audiophile" recordings? I don't think so. Too many things to get wrong in an affordable computer based system. Just consider the simultaneous sampling of the channels. Or the clock stability. Or in the case of a PC, the Windows (or Mac) OS getting first dibs on computing power.
I'm not trying to discorage you, but if this is your first or even 100th time to do this, don't expect an "audiophile" recording result.
Have A REALLY GOOD TIME recoding stuff and learn from every step along the way. You'll be amazed at how good you can get it with a bit of practice, but you won't have a Deutsche Grammophon (or better) result without a team of engineers, 100 years of collective experience and more equipment value than a very nice house.
I really enjoy what I do but I'd never consider anything I've done to up to that level. Nor do I think I'll ever get there.
It's really more than the gear, it's thinking with your brain rather than your wallet. And that thinking comes only with a great deal of experience.
Why don't you find someone with a set up like you're considering and ask (or pay) them to do it for you the first time so you can learn from them? Just a thought.
There are some incredible resources on the web. My favorite is http://www.vsplanet.com where all things having to do with Roland VS recorders are discussed.
Good luck and have fun with it!
David
So many choices... So many ways to get it wrong...
You've got a huge number of considerations for your recording and, IMhO, the recording medium will have less to do with other choices that you make.
Envionment
Mic Choice
Mic Placement
Pre Amp
EQ
Compression
# of channels available
Mixing environment
MONITORS and amplifier
Mastering
And many more.
Each of these require the utmost attention to detail to get it "right".
You can make really good recordings to computers, DAT, stand-alone studios (like I have) but "audiophile" recordings? I don't think so. Too many things to get wrong in an affordable computer based system. Just consider the simultaneous sampling of the channels. Or the clock stability. Or in the case of a PC, the Windows (or Mac) OS getting first dibs on computing power.
I'm not trying to discorage you, but if this is your first or even 100th time to do this, don't expect an "audiophile" recording result.
Have A REALLY GOOD TIME recoding stuff and learn from every step along the way. You'll be amazed at how good you can get it with a bit of practice, but you won't have a Deutsche Grammophon (or better) result without a team of engineers, 100 years of collective experience and more equipment value than a very nice house.
I really enjoy what I do but I'd never consider anything I've done to up to that level. Nor do I think I'll ever get there.
It's really more than the gear, it's thinking with your brain rather than your wallet. And that thinking comes only with a great deal of experience.
Why don't you find someone with a set up like you're considering and ask (or pay) them to do it for you the first time so you can learn from them? Just a thought.
There are some incredible resources on the web. My favorite is http://www.vsplanet.com where all things having to do with Roland VS recorders are discussed.
Good luck and have fun with it!
David
Posted on: 22 September 2002 by jpk73
an "audiophile" recording to a laptop???
Mic --> Mic-preamp --> DAC --> FireWire/USB/AES/EBU --> Computer/DAT/CDR
Does it make any difference whether storage is HDD, DAT or CDR...?
Envionment : Very nice concerthall!
Mic Placement : Somebody with experience would help me with that.
EQ : Do I need EQ in a good hall...?
Compression : "audiophil"...?
# of channels available : 2~3
MONITORS and amplifier : Why not my naim...?
Mastering : Cut/edit with Software.
- Jun
Mic --> Mic-preamp --> DAC --> FireWire/USB/AES/EBU --> Computer/DAT/CDR
Does it make any difference whether storage is HDD, DAT or CDR...?
Envionment : Very nice concerthall!
Mic Placement : Somebody with experience would help me with that.
EQ : Do I need EQ in a good hall...?
Compression : "audiophil"...?
# of channels available : 2~3
MONITORS and amplifier : Why not my naim...?
Mastering : Cut/edit with Software.
- Jun
Posted on: 22 September 2002 by NaimDropper
That's about all the advice I can give you here.
I will recommend getting a couple of good books on recording and search the web. There's so much more to it than good mics, preamps and some sort of recording medium.
David
I will recommend getting a couple of good books on recording and search the web. There's so much more to it than good mics, preamps and some sort of recording medium.
David