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)

The Barbershop Chorus Recording

After weeks of planning, last thursday finally saw Rich and I orchestrate the recording of a barbershop chorus. Overall the session was a success, the chorus were brilliant and we managed to capture 12 tracks in a two and a half hour session. A few initial problems included the theatres PA speakers pouring out a horrid hiss and the kick drum of a band practing next door almost breaking down the walls, but they were quickly overcome. Unfortunately there are a few issues of spill on the recordings produced by suffering feet. But short of carpeting the theatre and stealing the shoes of the chorus members, there was very little we could have done about it and i'm sure the final production will be great.

The session was recorded using an X-Y pair, an A-B pair, four spot mics, a large diaphragm condenser with a figure-eight polar pattern and an omni mic, so ten mics in total. As i mentioned above, we managed to lay down 12 tracks so theres plenty of mixing and mastering to be done over the coming days. I've posted a quick mix of one of the tracks below to help give an impression of what the session was about. I've also posted a time-lasped video of the evening for one and all to enjoy.

As for the rest of the week.It's been one of continual research for potential business and website opportunities and a touch of music making with Alley Barber. I also discovered the sounds of Atticus Ross, the gentleman was responsible for the theme music of the film "The Book of Eli" as well as other great songs, so go listen.

As for now, it's time for a drop of wine and some Super Bowl Sunday!!!

Yesterday - Barbershop Choir by Paulie_h3

This week I have.....

Well it's been a busy week again. The main focus this week has been planning a recording session  for a Barbershop choir of 25 strong. After multiple e-mails, phone calls and a meeting with the choir's secretary, all is about in place. It looks set to be an exciting session, with it giving Rich and myself the opportunity to use our own recording rig.

This week i have also realised that i need to get back to grips with playing guitar. Having mostly listened to Placebo's debut album this week, i awoke Thursday morning feeling positive and hungry to pick-up my guitar again. However, these feelings were short lived when my Marshall DSL100 literally blew-up.

Thankfully Arron and Alastair (the band) where round on friday, so i managed to get a guitar playing fix. We're still trying to get things together as a band, having still not written any material and still being unsure of the direction we want to take the band in. But we are ever so slowly chipping away at the project and hopefully we'll make a breakthrough soon. 

The highlight of the week came when I came across a remix of Bloc Party Vs Katy Perry, so click on the link to have a listen.

Toodle-oo