Monday, May 30. 2011
I wasn’t able to record the second concert by the Khachaturian Trio myself, since that was the day I went into hospital for my eye operation and the hospital wanted to keep me in overnight just to make sure things were OK, which they were. So my son David did the honours for me, and did an excellent job into the bargain. So we ended up with quite a bit of material – 65 gigabytes of sound files.
What was immediately apparent was the quality and clarity of the sound coming from the two PianoMics. It was almost as though it was a studio recording – which of course is to expected given the proximity of the microphones to the pianos and the minimal ‘bleeding’ of one piano into the second piano microphone. For the two piano works, the stereo split for each PM40 was quite clear, and I was able to mix the two pianos left and right to great effect.
What was also apparent was that the two Neumann microphones capturing the stage and ambient sounds were nowhere near as clear. As would be expected, the stereo split was much less apparent, and the clarity of the sound compared to the PM40s was much less. That’s not to say it wasn’t good – for a stage sound it was quite acceptable but compared to the PM40 sound it wasn’t. In fact it turned out in practice that mixing the Neumann and PM40 sounds did not give good results. I suspect there were at least three reasons for this.
Firstly, the microphones have vastly different frequency ranges – the Neumanns from 20Hz-20kHz, but the PM40s from 9Hz-40kHz. Secondly, the Neumanns were recording ambient sound which has more reverberation than the close-miked sound of the PM40s. Thirdly, the PM40s capture a very clear stereo split for each piano (this is inherent in their design) which, directionally, is from the back of the stage to the front. The stereo split of the Neumanns, such as it is, is from left to right across the stage. So you have two totally different recording paradigms and sound characteristics from the PM40s and the Neumanns. What I found was that trying to mix the two just didn’t work at all.
Mixing the Neumanns into the PM40s destroyed the clarity and positional characteristics of the sound. Mixing the PM40s into the Neumanns resulted in an uncomfortable closeness of the piano sound which was totally at odds with the ambience of the Neumann sound. It was suggested to me that perhaps one could mix a small amount of the PM40s into the ambient sound, and that may well be possible although my attempts to do this didn’t seem in my view to improve matters much.
So effectively for the piano works (solo, duet and two pianos) I only used the PM40 sound. For the piano trio works and also some soprano voice performance which was part of the second concert, I only used the Neumann sounds. Not very satisfactory I suppose, but anything else would have seriously compromised the sound and that was something I didn’t want to occur.
The solution, I suspect, lies somewhere in the middle. There is no doubt that the best piano sound comes from the PM40s – that was what they were designed for. For any other acoustic instruments, then these should be miked as closely as is possible without distracting the performers or the audience. I would love to try the Earthworks QTC50’s, which run from 3hz-50kHz (!) but that will need to wait for a while. The whole setup will need some careful thought and experimentation but it has distinct promise, and will enable, uniquely one suspects, as close as is possible a studio quality recording from a live performance venue.
More thought is required, but I’m sure I’m on the right track.
Sunday, May 29. 2011
As a scientist, I’ve always held the view that the simplest approach to a problem is normally the best way to start, and very often, to end. When recording my piano, I’ve tried all sorts of microphones, numbers of microphones, recording stereo, surround sound, ambient pickups, close miking…the list goes on and on.
Ultimately, I found, at least to my ears, that the best approach was a single pair of microphones placed just outside the piano – any further in was a bit bassy and any further out sounded too distant. Now I’ve attended concerts and recording sessions with Stuart pianos where it seemed as though the recording engineers (who obviously are very skilled and knowledgeable in what they are doing) literally throw the kitchen sink at the piano so that you can’t see the wood for the microphones, as it were. The results are undeniably impressive, but it left me to ponder the difference in my approach (minimalist) to theirs (maximalist).
The PianoMic is specifically designed to record grand pianos, and the philosophy behind the microphone is to show that no other extra microphones are necessary to produce a (very) acceptable recorded sound. My initial recordings with the PM40 began to bear this out, and then I had the opportunity to put this into serious practice.
The Independent Theatre in North Sydney has long been a supporter and promoter of Stuart & Sons pianos, and they have just acquired a gorgeous looking 102-note 2.9m piano (veneered in Tasmanian Back Heart Sassafras, which is stunning) to join their other 2.9m and 2.2m pianos on stage. The theatre played host to the Armenian chamber group, the Khachaturian Trio, who performed two concerts featuring not only piano trios, but also some two piano four hand and piano duet works. Wayne Stuart was keen to record the concerts, and so he asked me if I could bring my gear along and help.
This was no problem in principle, except that I had only just received the preamp and A/D converter, and had no real knowledge of how this was going to come out. The good thing was we would have a chance to record using two PM40s, and well as being able to use two very good Neumann microphones as stage and ambient mikes. So, got the gear on Tuesday, recording on Thursday. Talk about a steep learning curve…
In fact, it turned out very well and we got some very good recorded sound from some excellent performances. In particular, a two piano Armenian Rhapsody by Babadjanian was spectacular live and recorded. We (and especially I) learned a lot, and I got a very good feel for how the sound was coming out and how we could record both the piano and a ensemble effectively in what is a very good performance environment. I will continue this anon…
Saturday, May 28. 2011
…yes, I know it’s a cliché, but we did have a rather wet April, and May is getting rather cold.
Everything was going quite swimmingly until my right eye decided that anything my left eye could do, it could better, particularly when it comes to retinal detachments. Firstly the vitreous detached itself from the retina, which itself is not that much of a problem, but there is an increased risk of a detachment, and that is what happened two weeks later. Fortunately, I was in the city at the time and a quick trip to the Eye Hospital followed by an equally quick operation by my trusty eye surgeon (thank you yet again…) saved the day, not to mention my eyesight. The eye is now fine, although I will need a slightly revised glasses prescription in about a week’s time once my eye has settled down.
On the music front, I have completed the next stage of my piano recording setup, and acquired a professional quality eight channel preamplifier and a 24bit/192khz analogue to digital converter. Allied to the Earthworks PianoMic PM40, the results are truly out of this world.
More about that in the next blog entry. I have to put some drops in my eye and rest up a bit.
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