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Hello all,

My dad sings in a small semi-pro choir ensemble (8 people, mostly 4 voices (SATB), 2 for each voice, sometimes 8 voices). They sing baroque and renaissance church music (josquin, lassus, de monte, ockeghem, dufay, compere, clemens non papa). A while ago they found a nice small church which is far enough from everywhere to not have the sound of cars racing by, and it has a nice reverb to boot.

The question simply is: what would be your preferred (set of microphones) / (technique) to record this type of music.
How far would you put the people from the microphones?
What microphones would you use?
What recording technique?

I would prefer a setup where we can balance the direct-sound versus the reverb afterwards. As this is a live recording I would prefer to be able to "tweak" it afterwards as it will be very hard hearing/tweaking the result "on the spot".

Any additional hints would be very welcome!

- Bram

Hello Bram,

there is different ways to record that sort of ensemble.
Personaly, I prefer to record singers by group of 4 poeple with a microphone in the middle, so, if you have 12 singers it means 3 groups of 4 singers with 3 microphones.
I prefer to have voices dry because when you have record to much natural reverb you can't put it off !
I use to work with Neumann but you can also try with Beta 58 Shure it depends of the voices and the sound of the area.
Be careful with the directivity because the natural reverb of the chapel.
You can also try with Beta 58 Shure it depends of the voices and the sound of the area.
Try to have good pre-amplifier, it is important.
For the distance the better is to try, listen and adjust.
There is others techniques for example 2 microphones (in a good position) in front of the group (a little bit higher) but the voices will be mixed with the natural reverb !
You can also put the microphones not far from the singers and use additional microphones just for the natural reverb so you can mix after…
Good work

If place has nice reverb i prefer to record it - the best ways is 2 omnis 10 metres or more from choir - min 5-6 m distance between microphones. If you will decide to record in church audition use close mikes (cardioid - you can use dynamic mikes for each voice) but use far mikes too for each voice (about 2-3 metres distance - condenser cardioid). Record stereo track containing whole choir - 2 stereo mic condenser cardioid with xy configuration) You can test recording this track with AB configuration using 2 x omnis condenser. Just listen and try !

A purist might use a Blumlein pair to record the ensemble you describe. However, this setup would not give you any control over the amount of reverb during editing (although it will give a very nice, accurate stereo image).

Taking Robinhood76's and Zurf's ideas a bit further, try using a M/S setup quite close to the ensemble (perhaps 8-12 feet away, depending on to what degree the singers like to stand in a semicircle). Then add a pair of widely-spaced omnis somewhere much further back in the church. Of course you will need four separate channels to record this simoltaneously.

Recording the "close" mics in M/S will allow you to control the degree of stereo separation during editing. So, you can decide later whether you want a close perspective with discernible separation between the voices and less ambient reverb, or a narrower, more distant perspective on the ensemble as a whole with more reverb from the omnis.

Controlling reverb in a church will be tough, so move around and listen while the choir is performing so you can hear any areas with excessive "boominess". Keep the omnis out of such areas.

As Zurf said having good preamps is a priority and also a pro quality recorder/computer interface. Individual mic choice is always personal.

Let us know how you decide to do it!

Bram,
is that location in Belgium? Or nearby? If yes, what would you charge for recording a choir? I might know a choir that also wants recordings.

So,

I guess the best would be to have an M/S setup plus two omnis + record in 4 channels for editing afterwards.
That way I can control the stereo field + the amount of direct <-> reverberation...

So I would need:

1 figure-8 mic for the Side
1 cardioid condenser for the Mid
2 omnis

4 channel preamp + recording

NemoDaedalus: I'm in Belgium/Ghent. I have NO idea how much I would charge for this! But, considering I'm not a pro at all... I need to rent all the gear anyway.

- Bram

I guess the best would be to have an M/S setup plus two omnis + record in 4 channels for editing afterwards.
That way I can control the stereo field + the amount of direct <-> reverberation...

Disclaimer - this would be one method among many! Just keep in mind that there will still be a substantial amount of reverberation through the M/S setup by itself. It's all a question of mic placement and taste. This combined method should, at least, provide you with some choices during editing.

This video provides a nice illustration of what M/S is capable of - listen particularly to the degree of stereo separation that is achieved compared to the presenter's movements. A downside of this demonstration, in my opinion, is it shows that the M/S configuration is susceptible to over-emphasizing room reflections (although this may be desirable in some cases).

Hey TC,
My favorite way of recording a choir is to mic each section and use a stereo micing technique called the Decca Tree.
The Decca Tree would be placed in front of the whole choir while the other microphones record each section.
The original mics for the Decca Trees were 50s but Neumann U87s work excellent. A Decca Tree is a 3-microphone configuration,
which there is a left, center, and right, mic placement. Look up the Decca Tree online, but don't waste your money on a stand.
I just get 2 boom stands, 1 mic clip, and place the clip on the opposite end of one stand. That way, that one boom can hold 2 mics at the same time.
It's a little difficult to explain, but works great.
Also, after you record the choir, I usually record the key, solo, or lead singer(s) by themselves.
Thanks a lot and hope this helps!

Find the Decca tree on Wikipedia

While I have experimented with the setup, I've never used it myself. As I was being trained to do sound for film & tv, the Decca tree isn't very practical to mount on a boom

If you had some way of synching you could use two recorders rather than one four-track one. I heard that recording with the mics over the conductor's head works pretty well.