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Tape Trail Reel to reel, cassette and other analogue tape formats. |
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Tape Trail Reel to reel, cassette and other analogue tape formats. |
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In Reply to: Live Recording for the Novice - Help Needed posted by 3Fates on October 19, 2006 at 14:51:59:
Hi, 3Fates:Where shall one start?
Replies to your series of questions, first:
1) No, but without these essentials, there is obviously no resultant recording, is there!
2) The microphone preamps in most consumer tape recorders typically suck. They tend to be quite noisy, in fact. If you use microphones with XLR connections and ones requiring phantom powering, an outboard mixer or mic pre is going to be necessary--at least in most cases.
2a) If you find a pair of dynamic microphones with phono plug termination at one end, this might work well enough on your Tandberg, especially on the cheap. The big essential thing is to be able to plug them into the inputs of your recorder.
3) See below. Shop around for the best price on a pair of Octava 012's or those really inexpensive Chinese-made Behringer B-5 mics. I personally do not like Behringer products, but these particular microphones tend to be SUPER CHEAP and widely discounted these days.
4) You need to research basic recording technique and experiment. See below.
If your Tandberg is up to snuff, and depending upon your luck, then you should have NO difficulty making nice sounding recordings of the violin.
I am not familiar with this particular model of Tandberg deck, but I assume that you should start out by acquiring a pair of microphones, such as the affordable Russian Octava 012. For any quality, at minimum, you will need a pair of cardioids which (if they are 012's) will also require PHANTOM powering. For this, you will need some sort of a microphone preamp with that provision. A Mackie 1202 should do fine in that area. Conversely, you can take a look at the various mic pres which are sold under the ART name. Nearly all of these provide phantom powering. If your tape recorder accepts balanced XLR inputs, great. But, if not, you can run the signal from the Mackie mic preamp/mixer via RCA outputs to the RCA inputs of your Tandberg.
Minimally, you will need to acquire a mic stand and then use a "T"-bar on the top to hold your microphones. The microphones need to be housed in shock mounts to isolate them from vibrations.
A Brazillian company named Sabrasom manufactures a range of good universal isolation shock mounts (SSM1) and accessories, as well as a really nice looking "T"-bar (ST2)
For starters, look up the standard "ORTF", "X/Y" and "A-B" microphone configurations and familiarize yourself with them before you experiment with their use. Obviously, careful placement is very essential in order to avoid running into any harsh sounds resulting from poor mic placement on the instrument.
An old an curious technique is to put one finger in an ear and walk around the room listening to the instrument. When you find the "sweet" spot, that is approximatley where you might place your stand and microphones. Believe it!
A good basic description of various kinds of mic technique and pick-up characteristics is covered here:
http://www.xowave.com/doc/recording/mic-pair.shtml
You could try using a pair of omni capsules on the 012's and space the individual stands several feet apart. If the violinist moves about while playing, the sense of placement will be VERY exaggerated. This is only one drawback of this technique, but it generally provides a good sense of overall sound and space, if those things matter to you.
A good room with some damping at one end and reflective surfaces at the other may also help.
Obviously, many books have been written on the subject of recording, particularly in the home environment. Church chapels are an alternative, just as long as they are away from street noises of one sort or another.
I have been making location recordings using digital equipment for a long time now, and once used a ReVox A-77 in the "old days". I NEVER EVER used the built-in mic preamps on those decks because unless they had been modified to some extent, they were horrible sounding, just plain dreadful!
In my personal opinion, using open reel tape for this in the present day and age seems a bit anachronistic, but I see where you are coming from. I trust that you already have the means to transfer your open-reel recording to CD or other media for demo purposes? In such a situation, it helps to normalize the recording for sufficient level upon playback on conventional loudspeakers.
In the meanwhile, please read up on technique, get some good advice about inexpensive but good sounding microphones and go for it!
Richard Links
Berkeley, CA
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Follow Ups
- Re: Live Recording for the Novice - Help Needed - Marantzguy 17:05:39 10/19/06 (2)
- Thanks - 3Fates 05:34:55 10/20/06 (1)
- Re: Recording the violin - Marantzguy 10:34:06 10/20/06 (0)
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