Re: [ARSCLIST] How not to mike an orchestra

[Bob Olhsson <olh@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

-----Original Message-----
>From Michael Shoshani: "...Yeah, funny how the NBC Symphony had to make do
with a SINGLE RCA 77 or 
44 (depending on the time period), suspended from the ceiling above 
Toscanini so it basically heard what he heard..."

I got hired around ten years ago to record a woman who turned out to have
played flute in both the NBC Symphony and the New York Philharmonic where
she met her husband who played clarinet. Before leaving, we sat down with
the couple and had a conversation about the recording and broadcasting of
those orchestras. After some wonderful anecdotes about Toscanini and
Stokowski, I was shocked to hear them say they believed "recordings improved
so much after the modern technique of using lots of microphones instead of
only one started to be used."

It's very important to understand that the use of lots of microphones to
pick up an orchestra generally isn't the engineer or producer's idea. One
reason a lot of early stereo sounds so great is the fact that the conductor
was mostly involved in the mono version while a separate team experimented
with stereo. 


Bob Olhsson Audio Mastery, Nashville TN
Mastering, Audio for Picture, Mix Evaluation and Quality Control
Over 40 years making people sound better than they ever imagined!
615.385.8051 http://www.hyperback.com