Help micing a Choir

[kCmCg]

Micing...Miking....Lets call the whole thing off...

Im assisting a friend who owns a Vocal Studio who mostly does demos and such on his digi001. He has a 28 person choir coming in and im somewhat torn on the best way to mic them. The mics at my immediate disposal are just a pair of AKG C2000's, but obtaining more of whatever type is easy. Would you recommend some sort of spaced pair, or you think an X/Y would preform better with a Choir that size? Anyone have any experiance with a choir this size that can shed some light on the best way to do this?

[iplaymusicsoftly]

Some people like X/Y for this, but when I miked up an international choir, I did the following, and it worked pretty good:
1. The choir is in an open semicircle.
2. Draw an imaginary line across form one end to the other.
3. find the centre of this line.
4. divide the line in half again, placing the mics at the 1/4 and 3/4 positions, on high boomstands angled slightly downward.
5. now move the mics away from the choir until any 'standout' voices blend.

This worked very well for me, and I recieved compliments on the sound. Headphones really help with choirs because they will show up those 'standout' voices really well. And if you have shockmounts, use them, Choirs LOVE to tap feet and dance!!!

Have fun with it, and good luck!

[iplaymusicsoftly]

OH, I forgot. If you can use Omni pattern mics, I strongly suggest using at least one for room sound, or Omni for all if possible!

[Stone Knife]

That's funny, you should address the miking thing -we just had a good go-round about that over at Craig Anderton's 'open mic' forum.

For de-micing, a hungry kitty-cat does the job purrr-fectly.

[Calvin]

I don't know if this is the best way to do it, but when I went into the studio with our local highschool jazz choir, we stood in a semi circle around a XY pair of AKG 414 TLII. It turned out pretty good. However I am not a big fan of the guy that engineered it.

[Nashville Bass]

I usually to a spaced pair of 414s about 8' in the air and depending what sound you get as far as how far from the choir. You get nice separation and great tone.

[Brad Ferguson]

What I've done in the past that worked out pretty well for me is.. (this was for a 150 person concert choir)

Separated each section into sopranos, sopranos 2, altos, tenors, basses.

Threw two mics on each, except for the tenors and basses (just one on them), and multi-tracked it to eight tracks.

If you have any more inputs, room mics are great too

[harry smit]

Omni stereo pair in A-B (spacing about 20 cm)
positioned 1 meter behind the conductor and
1 meter higher than his/her ears to overcome any
shadow probs.
Point the mikes slightly over the heads of the singers of the last row.
Or try the Jecklin-disc with omni pair instead of
A-B.
Listen (if you can) during the rehearsels whether
you want the mics in parallel or somewhat angled
outwards.

Mics:
Bruel & Kjaer 4006 (silver grid)
Sennheiser MKH-20 (high up)
Budget: Sennheiser MD421 in (selector ring in M).
Or any good sounding omni pair.

Happy recording!

Harry

[harry smit]

Forgot...

The mics have to face down.

The bigger the choir the higher the mics.

During the recording of a Mathaus Passion, choir
was standing behind the musicians, with just one
stereo pair B&K 4006 the mics went 4 meters above
ground.
Even the soloists in front of the orchestra came
through perfectly.
I have to say that all the performers were first
class and knew how to balance.

Harry

[darrylnb]

I have a friend who does lots of location stuff for the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation). Choirs and instrumental ensembles mostly. Typically he uses B&K's in the omni A-B config mentioned above. Even used 414's before getting his hands on the B&K's.
He mentions decent stereo, but not unnaturally wide like some set-ups, and convenience as major factors.

darrylnb