Bagpipes, sadly I am serious

[ajazzie]

I have always bagged bagpipes(excuse the poor pun), yet I have just been asked to record a few tunes for a festival. There are drums, a bass and of course those wretched pipes. Any ideas where to start and an approach to this session?
I understand its hard to be serious on this one but it is a genuine question.
Put the pipers on a click, then add the rest in turn?
Could be a nightmare.
Help please, AJ

[Tweakhead]

1. They are LOUD.
2. Get a good room where you can put some distance between bagpipes & microphones.
3. Don't bother with click tracks....it is unlikely that a bagpipe player could follow it.
4. Record them as an overdub if possible rather than with the rest of the band. If not then find a BIG studio with serious isolation between rooms or they will spill into everything.
5. Newcastle Brown Ale.

[Paul Turpin]

We did some just the other day. But, luckily for us it was solo - no click - no headphones - easy. We just put up some nice omni's and it was easy.
Are the player's experienced in studio recording? If not - you may have to record them all at once to get a good take. What kind of bass? If its acoustic bass, I'd seperate him first. What kind of drums? If its a field snare, its really really loud too. So, even if you had full seperation, their cans would have to be so loud that it would hurt AND bleed out into the mics. I'd face the bagpipe and drummer opposite eachother with good directional condensers (and maybe a dynamic of the snare too) and try to isolate the bass (DI if its electric). Sorry if it all sounds too obvious - it all seems kind of obvious - but I can't help more without more details.

[ajazzie]

Thanks guys, the Newcastle ale is a great extra I am sure. Is it worth going with some 57s o\head , medium distance due to the loudnes of these things.
I was thinking along the lines of doing 1 piper and drummer simultaneous, then dubbing on top 3 or 4 more pipers. Condenser to each in the rough vacinity with a couple of 57s closer to handle the volume. ?

Brown ale again.
Thoughts?

[Tweakhead]

Hmm, I'm not sure the 57s will capture the low frequencies that well at a distance. They will certainly handle the level. If it is a nice room then maybe some Neumann 67s or M49s into Neve 1073s etc at a good distance from the players. Try both the shures and neumanns, maybe two stereo pairs of tracks....close and distant.

Otherwise it sounds like a good plan.

Good luck with the session.

[ajazzie]

Tweak,
Thankyou for the help and input, if nothing else it will be a challenge.
Ill rip one to mp3 and post it when I finish, should be a good talking point.
Thanks again, good comments,
Ill let you know the results.

AJ

[CPettigrew]

Originally posted by ajazzie:
Tweak,
Thankyou for the help and input, if nothing else it will be a challenge.
Ill rip one to mp3 and post it when I finish, should be a good talking point.
Thanks again, good comments,
Ill let you know the results.

AJ

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Being a Scot, I have two things to say: The pipes, if played properly and in a proper context, can be incredibly moving, even beautiful.

Secondly, if any Scot, after the session, offers you a home cooked meal of haggis, politely decline, and then run in the other direction as fast as you can.

Craig

[loudist]

I would say.... record them all live, as they depend on each other for feel, tuning and performance. The sound of multiple pipes mixing in the air is way different than recorded seperately and mixed together electronically. The sound of the whole pipe band is a moderately distant one ie: they don't sound great up close, too many harmonics.

[RetroBoy]

Dear Sir,
I have had quite a lot of experience recording celtic pipes (Uillean, Scottish, Gallician) over the years. If it is a featured solo instrument you could try two Neumann 87s etc head to head (one up and one upside down) on the chanter (the pipe that the melody is played on) and a stereo pair (KM 84s etc) over the drones (the ones sticking up in the air).
If it is not featured a pair of DPA 4006 mics about six feet in front of the player should suffice.

[studiojimi]

the are they smelliest instrument aren't they?

what is that bag made of anyway?

you would want to be too close to them so neither should the mics be

put a good mic where your own ear can tolerate them....