Live Recording a String Trio For Dummies

[spacelordmother]

Hi.

I'm really new to recording much of anything with microphones, but have been trying to step up my game and learn the ways. I am getting married in a little over a month and we are having a string trio play the first hour so I thought "HEY, I SHOULD RECORD THIS WHAT COULD GO WRONG." I've been reading a lot about types and placements and it seems like I might be able to get a decent result -- it's not like I am trying to release this, it would just be nice to have to listen to through the years, you know? I don't have a ton of equipment, and since I am just learning I have cheaper (read: really cheap) gear so I accept that I might just end up with garbage. I don't have access to other gear really, and as I have been paying for a wedding I don't have the money to get anything new. Also: for the sake of the musicians, and the fact that I will be pretty occupied with the proceedings, I need to keep this as simple as possible.

In my head so far the plan is thus:

String Trio: Cello, Violin, Viola -- Sennheiser e609 silver on the floor angled up a few feet from the cello player, and then a stereo pair of Behringer C2 SDC's in an X/Y pattern about head level to the (seated, in a semi-circle) group about 6 feet away. I will be running the mics into my NI Komplete Audio 6 interface (which has always given me great results while running direct in) into my laptop running Ableton.

Questions for any and all:

- Does this seem like it would work?
- What should or could I do differently for better results?
- For the stereo pair -- are they better on their own channels, or together on a stereo track?
- Should I run any limiting, compression, etc on the channels while recording? I figure a group of this type is going to be pretty dynamic in volume throughout so I want to prevent clipping, but also that I get a loud enough signal.
- What parts of this equation am I missing??

All ideas and feedback are greatly appreciated!

[DRodriguez]

- Does this seem like it would work?
Yup, should work nicely. Usually when I work with a small string section I do something very similar.

- What should or could I do differently for better results?
Make sure that the c-2's are plugged into the mic inputs of the interface, I'm sure they will be the primary part of the mix, so make sure they are in the nicest pre's on the interface.

- For the stereo pair -- are they better on their own channels, or together on a stereo track?
Generally record everything mono, it gives you more control for the mix. Later on, however, mono can be converted to stereo and vice versa.

- Should I run any limiting, compression, etc on the channels while recording? I figure a group of this type is going to be pretty dynamic in volume throughout so I want to prevent clipping, but also that I get a loud enough signal.

Not for the recording, just eats up valuable processing power and increases the chances of an error. Do that during mixing. That's all digital anyways, so anything done with compression, limiting, etc can just be done afterwards. As far as loud enough signal.

Before the wedding, have someone ask them to play a loud section at full volume. set the levels to not be clipping, but somewhat loud. Then turn down the gain a bit from there. Musicians almost always play louder when a crowd is there or during a real take. Good rule of thumb is to aim for the mid to upper yellow for gain.

- What parts of this equation am I missing??

You're missing me. Send me the multi-track audio after the wedding and I'll sweeten it up a bit for ya. Nothing too crazy since I'm not actually working for ya, but I'll give you a nice little mix and master.

Enjoy the wedding!

[spacelordmother]

Wow, man -- that's too incredibly nice of you!!

Thanks so much for the feedback -- glad to know I'm on the right track. Pro tip on volume gains with an audience, makes total sense. I posted this on GS as well in order to get as much feedback as possible and someone suggested using ORTF for the C2's instead of X/Y. I will definitely be experimenting between now and then, but have any feedback on that?

I also completely forgot to mention the room! It's a long open space with exposed ceilings, brickwork, and large windows. I'm thinking that the musicians will be where the red dot is. Our ceremony will be to the right between the columns and wall. We're keeping things super small!

[DRodriguez]

Yeah, ortf should work well too. You introduce phasing and having to think about that, but it should not be a major issue. You basically have the option between a cleaner more accurate sound with the X/Y; or a wider, more stereophonically exciting, but have a little more phasing in the sound. room should be nice, strings always sound better in rooms that resonate and have reflections like you will get from a big room with brick and glass. Just keep the back of the mics away from a wall if possible, or a wall farther from the sound source, because then you'll get the reflection of the sound in the mic too in the opposite direction.

[spacelordmother]

All good to know! Mics will be somewhere along that column line facing the windows so back reflections shouldn't be an issue. The C2s arrive tomorrow and then experimentation will commence!