Day Six: F-Horn and T-Rumpet
Ed, one of 7th Kind's 3 trumpeters, had smashed his front teeth out a month or so ago in a bicycling accident, not the most convenient injury for a trumpet player. He is still recovering and waiting for his new teeth to "set." So, the remaining 2 guys were planning on overdubbing his parts after we got their tracks down.
So, Justin and I arrived at the 7th Kind Space and I immediately began setting up and getting headphone mixes. He warmed up the horn a bit and Eric showed up shortly thereafter. We told Eric the story of our amazing travels, and he made an interesting point: It took the bus an hour to travel 3 miles. Most of the time the traffic prevented us from actually "traveling" at all. We could have walked that distance just as fast, and we could have been moving the whole time! Well, the blog isn't for bitching about the Chicago Transit Authority, so I'll move on.
We decided to track the French Horn parts for the song "Job 40:8" first and then move on to trumpets.
For the mic setup on the French horn, I wasn't all too sure where to begin, so I decided to give myself a few different choices by recording 3 separate tracks from 3 separate mic's in different positions. I don't plan on using all three of the tracks, instead I'll be choosing one from them depending on which allows the horn's sound to sit in the mix most effectively. The only real clues I had were based on my knowledge of recording other brass instruments. I was also aware of the fact that in an orchestra setting, the French horn is often placed at the back wall, where the horn's sound reflects and creates a full wash of sound. If the horn is being recorded, the mic would probably be placed facing the same wall as the horn. That full, reverberant sound is a bit much for some of the quick bouncy parts written into this song. 7th Kind is a tighter, more rythmic band, so to get that tighter sound, I decided on a more direct mic placement.
For the mic placement, I chose:
A Dynamic mic:
-Beyer m-88 placed about 1.5 feet from the bell, about 45 degrees off axis.
A Large Diaphragm Condenser with a Figure 8 pattern:
-Audio Technica AT4040 place about 4 feet away from the bell about 45 degrees off axis
A Ribbon Mic with a Figure 8 pattern:
-T.Bone RB500 placed about 8 feet away, 6 feet off the ground and aimed at the bell of the horn.
The figure 8 pickup pattern on the last two mic's will hopefully capture a little bit of room sound, as well as some of the direct horn. The final tracks ought to have a nice balance, giving a nod to some of the reverberant, orchestral french horn element, while maintaining the direct, punchy sound at the same time.
These mics were all going through the Sytek mic pres. The Ribbon through Channel 1 and the Beyer and AT4040 through the Burr Brown Channels 3 and 4, respectively.
So, Justin and I arrived at the 7th Kind Space and I immediately began setting up and getting headphone mixes. He warmed up the horn a bit and Eric showed up shortly thereafter. We told Eric the story of our amazing travels, and he made an interesting point: It took the bus an hour to travel 3 miles. Most of the time the traffic prevented us from actually "traveling" at all. We could have walked that distance just as fast, and we could have been moving the whole time! Well, the blog isn't for bitching about the Chicago Transit Authority, so I'll move on.
We decided to track the French Horn parts for the song "Job 40:8" first and then move on to trumpets.
For the mic setup on the French horn, I wasn't all too sure where to begin, so I decided to give myself a few different choices by recording 3 separate tracks from 3 separate mic's in different positions. I don't plan on using all three of the tracks, instead I'll be choosing one from them depending on which allows the horn's sound to sit in the mix most effectively. The only real clues I had were based on my knowledge of recording other brass instruments. I was also aware of the fact that in an orchestra setting, the French horn is often placed at the back wall, where the horn's sound reflects and creates a full wash of sound. If the horn is being recorded, the mic would probably be placed facing the same wall as the horn. That full, reverberant sound is a bit much for some of the quick bouncy parts written into this song. 7th Kind is a tighter, more rythmic band, so to get that tighter sound, I decided on a more direct mic placement.
For the mic placement, I chose:
A Dynamic mic:
-Beyer m-88 placed about 1.5 feet from the bell, about 45 degrees off axis.
A Large Diaphragm Condenser with a Figure 8 pattern:
-Audio Technica AT4040 place about 4 feet away from the bell about 45 degrees off axis
A Ribbon Mic with a Figure 8 pattern:
-T.Bone RB500 placed about 8 feet away, 6 feet off the ground and aimed at the bell of the horn.
The figure 8 pickup pattern on the last two mic's will hopefully capture a little bit of room sound, as well as some of the direct horn. The final tracks ought to have a nice balance, giving a nod to some of the reverberant, orchestral french horn element, while maintaining the direct, punchy sound at the same time.
These mics were all going through the Sytek mic pres. The Ribbon through Channel 1 and the Beyer and AT4040 through the Burr Brown Channels 3 and 4, respectively.
posted by MWM at 11:58 PM
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