Surround recordings done in a bar

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krkier

Do It Yourself
Since 2002/2003
Joined
Nov 15, 2003
Messages
432
Location
Germany
I don't know if I'm right here, but since this threat is about
recording...

My pub of choice had a re-opening party last weekend, and one of the
many local cover bands played there. I decided to record them like I
did many times over the last year. I use a cheap surround microphone
from Zoom, the H2 for it.

I also took some photos, here are two where you can see my device
doing guerillia stealth recordings:

Bild 001 klein.JPG

Bild 002 klein.JPG

(Noooo, I'm asking if I can tape them, and usually I get permission.)

Like I said, cover bands.... Sheeesh, not Smoke On The Water again...

But some bands are really good, I managed to record at least three
bands which were exceptional. One of them was a german Genesis cover
band named The Path Of Genesis, who did many songs from the
seventies, and not the easy ones.

The other two were Doc Heyne because of his unique style and doing
his own stuff, and a band from ex-yugoslavia with a famous singer (at
least in yugo, I've never heard of him before) which name escaped me
at the moment. They were especially funny because the singer wore his
stage clothes from the seventies, tiger trousers and glitter jacket,
and all. He also played guitar, but he cranked the volume so much up
that his amplifier broke down from overheating every five minutes,
leaving the band without guitar and vocals. Great fun for us in the
audience.

This is probably the best sounding bar in my hometown, you can even
listen to the music at the counter without boomy sound. It's because
the ceiling and the floor are made of wood, which gives a very warm
and dry sound.

Too bad there's usually not much "stereo" from the front. I don't know why,
but every band using speakers is panning voices and instruments
equally on both speakers. Why they're all using two of them on each
side of the stage is beyond me... Maybe because they're only
musicians, methinks....

I usually set the device to 24bit/44,1kHz for the surround
recordings, which keeps file length small without interruption after
2GByte. Nearly all bands take a break after an hour or so, where I
can stop the recording and beginning the next when they had their
beer (or two).

Experimenting the right position of the microphone reveals an optimum
around 1,5m in front of the PA speakers. I once tried a closer miking
toward the band (the Genesis one), but found out later at home that
the voice of the singer is then too low because the microphone
couldn't get the PA speakers properly then. (But got a fat drum sound
instead. And this guy could play his drums...)

One disadvantage when placing the Microphone like I do is: Once the
band started to play, and me climbing a stool to start the recording,
there's no way back to adjust the recording levels...
Advantage is no one can touch the device, and no one bumps into it
either. Hooray!

-Kristian
 
Thank you very much Kristian for your detailed report about recording Multi-Channel in a live situation. This is exactly the right section to post. Hopefully we can all share information, tips for recording Multi-Channel live, equipment, etc.

From my own experience playing live, it's a miracle one even gets any type of recording, let alone a Multi-Channel one. The acoustics 9 times out of 10 are just down right terrible. The loud sounds from Amps/PA tend to want to blend everything into Mono. That's why MC recording of a live performance can give a more accurate representation of what the club/theater was like as opposed to just 2 mikes. It can even make a difference whether there's an audience in a club or not in regards to sound.. Heh, we once played at Tower Records in the book section and the books helped "dampen" the sound for a better recording. Ironically, I got fired at the same store when I worked retail there 20 years earlier, but that's another story.. ;)

Thanks again for your report.
 
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