Recording Leicester Symphony Orchestra

On the 21st of May, Dickie and I recorded the Leicester Symphony Orchestra at the De Montfort Hall, assisted on-stage by the theatre’s sound engineer, whom was introduced to us as “Scooby”. The recording was conducted using 4 mics, swung from a lighting bar in the following manner:

·      A spaced-pair of two AKG C414 with Omni patterns, hanging approximately 8 meters above the orchestra and in-line with the front of the stage.

·      A coincident pair of Neumann KM184’s, center stage and again hanging at the same height and in line with the other mics.

Basking in the glory of the moment!

Our recording rig consisted of a Focusrite Liquid Saffire 56 and a Macbook Pro running Logic Pro 9. With the session being recorded at 24-bit, 176.4kHz (Sample Rate), I was wondering whether my little MacBook would live up to expectations, but she did us proud and ran without any signs of stress.

Now I'm certainly a fan of classical music, but this was the first time I had ever witnessed a 70-piece orchestra live and for Richard and me to be the only other people present in the auditorium during their practice, was an insanely brilliant feeling. There were two practice sessions before the show, so this gave us a chance to set our levels and ready ourselves for the evening performance.

Me Watching Levels (with an immense looking side-parting)

The program for the night included:

·      Elgar’s  Polonia

·      Elgar’s  Cello Concerto, Featuring guest cello soloist David Cohen

·      Saint-Saens Symphony 3 (Organ)

With this being the first (of hopefully many) occasion that we have recorded an orchestra, we were slightly anxious about our levels clipping given how dynamic an orchestra is. But the recording ran smoothly and it was certainly an awe-inspiring sight to see the orchestra in all their glory.

The Orchestra during a practice session

Listening to the recordings once getting them home, they sound amazing and I’ll be posting some samples as soon as we get clearance. So a big thank you must go to the Leicester Symphony Orchestra for allowing us to record the show, it was certainly a great opportunity for us.  

So now it’s on to the next challenge, which is to conduct a recording in a church or cathedral and hopefully capture some immense acoustics.

(Two posts in two days! I’m getting better)

Time to snap out of my online laziness!!!!!!!!!!

It's been a while since my last post, admittedly I have been busy but that's no excuse for not keeping this blog updated.

So what have I been up to.

Well, the past couple of weeks I've been running the sound for Billy Liar at the Little Theatre. The show was fairly simple to run, with there only being 14 sound cues during the show. But the experience was invaluable and i'm looking forward to running another. Here's a review!

More exciting recording news as Ricardo Wheelband has just secured us an opportunity to record the Leicester Symphony Orchestra at their upcoming show at the De Montfort Hall. So we're super excited and currently planning how to conduct he recording.

Educational wise, my college class is currently working together to put on a CD launch party for a compilation album, containing bands that members of the class have recorded. I was voted into manage the project and it certainly seems a hard task with each meeting turning into a riot. But it's certainly fun and the project is being to pick up pace. Check out Peter Collins and Jake Brennan's blogs to view their side of the project and also to see design plans.

Check out these:

Right as for now, time to watch a bit of the horrific England Cricket display, then it's off to college, before crewing for the tech run for Three sisters at the Little Theatre tonight. So a long day ahead!

Laters Potatoes