Circumstances Under Which Orchestral Recording Will Present Difficulties and Quite Likely Will Fail to Give a Proper Capture

• When the acoustics of the space are unsatisfactory.
  
  
• When there is significant "foreign" noise present: Airplanes, traffic, nearby DJ's, noisy machinery, and other sounds that may not be anticipated.
  
  
• When amplification is being used for sound reinforcement, unless great care is used in the selection of the orchestral recording technique, and in the speaker location and volume level of the sound reinforcement system.  It is vital to keep any "spill" from the sound reinforcement system from being captured by the orchestral microphones.  Such "spill" will almost always result in a very poor sounding recording.
  
  
• When the orchestra cannot be positioned such that the instruments will be captured in the directional locations desired in the soundfield.
  
  
• When there is insufficient space in front of the orchestra to allow the microphones to be placed so as to properly capture the acoustically mixed sound of the orchestra.
  
  
• When a live audience is not controlled and crowds into the space in front of the microphones, and/or carries on private conversations that are captured by the microphones along with the music.
  
  
• When one or more instruments are not balanced with the rest of the orchestra.  If the instruments are too loud, and cannot be played more quietly, it will be necessary to move them significantly further from the microphones.  If too soft, it will be necessary to either move the instrument(s) closer to the microphones or use additional close-miked "spot mics" to capture the instrument(s).
  
  
• When there are solo vocalists present, you most likely will find that you have to employ spot vocal microphones to capture their voices, particularly for pop music.

Most recordings of large orchestras or choruses are typically based on one of the orchestral recording techniques, often with some additional spot mics.