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How I Record Steelpan and Why I Use this Technique - Microphone Placement

   

On Stage Large Boom Stand with Spaced Omni Microphones, Brooklyn Christmas Steelband ConcertOn Stage Large Boom Stand with Spaced Omni Microphones, Brooklyn Christmas Steelband ConcertMicrophone Placement:

Correct placement, spacing, and for other than omnidirectional microphones, aiming of the microphones is critical to getting a good recording.  With orchestral recording, the intent is for the microphones to pick up a good blend of all the instruments, similar to what you hear with your ears.  For this to occur, the microphones must be located some distance in front of the orchestra.  If you place the microphones too close to the front of the orchestra, your recording will contain far too much of the instruments nearest to the microphones.  If you place the microphones too far away, you will likely get too much of the room acoustics (reverb, noise).  If there is a live audience present, you may well hear too much of the audience in the recordings.

For recording steelbands I typically try to set the microphones 10 feet or so in front of the orchestra, closer if the acoustics aren't ideal and/or the number of musicians is small and they are close together, further back if possible if there are a large number of musicians, like a Panorama side.  I often end up closer than I would like, due to space constraints or the presence of an audience sitting close to the orchestra.  If patrons are sitting very close, I may ask people not to sit in the immediate area of the microphones, if the people running the event are agreeable.  It is not their physical presence that is the issue, it is that they all too often will start a private discussion in the middle of the recording, or will develop a sudden bad cough!

When making scheduled recordings during what otherwise are rehearsals, such as "panyard" recordings, I will typically block off the area for some distance around and for the width of the band in front of the band, sometimes with caution tape.  One or two people in this space will have a negligible effect on the recording as long as they don't talk, but a crowd will soak up the high frequencies.  Your front line will sound very dead.

For spaced omnis, my usual technique as I explained above, I typically place the two microphones two feet apart for a small sized ensemble, four feet apart for a full sized orchestra.  The trade off here involves distance to the different sections.  If the mikes are close together and the orchestra is "wide" with, as is common, the bases at the far sides, your recording may have weak bass, due to the distance from the bass pans and the microphones.  If you place the mikes too far apart you will get a "hole in the middle", you won't pick up the instruments in the center of the orchestra well.  There are variations to the spaced omni technique to avoid this (beyond the scope of this article), but the simplest solution is to move the microphones further back, making the distance from the microphones to the different parts of the orchestra more equal.  Another solution I use on occasion, particularly at panyard recordings, when there is no space to move the microphones is to suggest to the arranger or bandleader that we move some of the bases (or whatever is weak) closer to the microphones. Since they want a good recording, most are amenable.

The next issue is the height of the microphones.  I try to position the microphones relatively high, around 9 to 10 feet above the musicians if possible.  This is for a very practical reason, not for better sound.  If someone walks or stands directly in front of one of the microphones, the high frequencies disappear, it sounds muffled.  It's like putting pillows next to your ears.  If the microphones are up high, no-one can step in front of them.  If someone steps directly in front of a pan, the sound is muffled, but only from that pan.  Unless that is the only pan playing that part, you are unlikely to hear the difference.  A secondary benefit if there is an audience, the mikes are a little further from the audience and you are less likely to have an issue with private conversations, coughs, etc.

In New York, I have a couple of stand options described above.  In either option, I use a junior boom arm on the top, "T" shaped, crosswise parallel to the ground.  I have some extra stand pipes, threaded on both ends, and some couplings.  So I can use my regular tripod junior boom stand with an extra pipe to add to the height, or the heavy duty tall On Stage boom stand, which will go up over 10 feet.  As explained above, with either stand the mikes are from two to four feet apart

In Trinidad I try to borrow a pair of stands from a friend.  If all else fails, I improvise.  I have used pan racks, a ladder with a 2X4 taped crosswise to the top, the fence around the panyard, whatever is available to hold the mics.

One other item involving the mics, unless it is dead calm, use windscreens (available from DPA)  Even though omnidirectional mics are less subject to wind noise, you will have a problem even in a light breeze.