Sunday's Classical Recording Photos

Sunday afternoon I recorded a gorgeous sounding violin and harpsichord concert and took a few mediocre photos. I thought some here might be interested in our recording chain which is very compact these days.

Out of focus shot of my microphones and the church venue to give you an idea of mic placement (the second mic tree is from the violinist who records her own work for critique):



AKG E200 microphones, with long run of Kimber KCAG for mic cable into 722 box, we use directional mics since the hall was slightly reverberant:



Sound Devices 722 which is a recording studio in a box (mic pre, A/D, and hard drive-based data storage). We record at 24/176 which is hirez PCM which adds in some fine detail. We use Grado headphones for monitoring the performance and overall balance of the recording.



Olga and Daniel tuning up for the performance:



Olga playing. She is one of the better violinists for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. The tone was just sweet and beautiful:



Once we get the data on the 722, we load into a computer for sound editing. We just lightly make edits as we are trying to just capture the performance "as is". We create both CD and DVD-Audio discs for playback.

Who will be the first to ask about styrofoam cups?

No styrofoam was used in the creation of this recording. We do use quite a bit of gaffer's tape.

Originally Posted by Manton

Click to expand...

Who will be the first to ask about styrofoam cups?

Never mind the cups. You do not want to ask about those cables. Ugh.

--Andre

Originally Posted by Andre Yew

Click to expand...

Never mind the cups. You do not want to ask about those cables. Ugh.

--Andre



This spoken by someone who was not at the recording and actually listened to the recording quality those cables provided.

Originally Posted by Artisan Fan

Click to expand...

This spoken by someone who was not at the recording and actually listened to the recording quality those cables provided.

If you actually used proper mic cables, you'd never have to worry about this:



--Andre

Seperate corners, gentlemen. I was making fun of both of you, not trying to start a fight.

If you actually used proper mic cables, you'd never have to worry about this:

Click to expand...

What do you consider proper mic cables?

Several boutique labels use KCAG as both mic cables and interconnects in their recording chain. Chesky and others are using the similar Crystal Cable. Kimber KCAG is a very highly resolving, neutral cable and suited well for recording. We also use Cardas and DH Labs Silversonic cable but we were doing three recordings at once so our preferred Silversonic cable was not available. But ultimately the sound speaks for itself and I just got a call from our mastering engineer and he said the sound was terrific.

The reason we don't use a typical pro type cable like Mogami is that we find they just don't sound as good as the more specialized cables. The lack detail and often sound a bit "cool".

One other thing. Ray Kimber who founded Kimber Kable has created his own record label called IsoMike a few years ago to help promote a new microphone baffle he has invented and some local musicians in Utah. He issues these really superb recordings on Super Audio CD and he does use his own cables for the mics, including KCAG.

If you like classical music, his Isomike recording of The Fry Street Quartet is superb and highly recommended.

A proper mic cable is shielded, which the KCAG isn't. Its braid is also too loose to carry balanced noise cancellation very high in frequency, making it susceptible to RF interference. I've worked with Kimber braided interconnects, and have suffered from this problem. They are sensitive to placement relative to power lines and other equipment, and I don't think they're a very smart design in general.

The price (at about 0.5 Matuozzo handmade shirts/meter) is also outrageous, but that's another discussion altogether.

Ray Kimber's IsoMike technique sounds good because of the mics and the physical configuration, and not because of the cable used.

--Andre

A proper mic cable is shielded, which the KCAG isn't. Its braid is also too loose to carry balanced noise cancellation very high in frequency, making it susceptible to RF interference. I've worked with Kimber braided interconnects, and have suffered from this problem. They are sensitive to placement relative to power lines and other equipment, and I don't think they're a very smart design in general.

Click to expand...

We have not had any RF problems with the cable, otherwise I would agree with you. Our normal Silversonic cable is shielded.

The pricing is high on a per meter basis but several of us get industry accommodation pricing.

Originally Posted by Artisan Fan

Click to expand...

Olga and Daniel tuning up for the performance:

Artisan Fan,

What pieces did they record?

tl,

It was an hour and a half performance by Olga Schpitko (ASO) and Daniel Pyle (Atlanta Baroque Orchestra). They performed...

Tartini, The Devil's Sonata (Sonata in G Minor No. 1, inspired by a dream of the devil playing violin)
Biber, Sonata VI in C Minor
Corelli, Sonata in A Major
J.S. Bach, Sonata No. 4 in C Minor

Originally Posted by Artisan Fan

Click to expand...

tl,

It was an hour and a half performance by Olga Schpitko (ASO) and Daniel Pyle (Atlanta Baroque Orchestra). They performed...

Tartini, The Devil's Sonata (Sonata in G Minor No. 1, inspired by a dream of the devil playing violin)
Biber, Sonata VI in C Minor
Corelli, Sonata in A Major
J.S. Bach, Sonata No. 4 in C Minor

I love this kind of music!

Did the harpsichordist improvise his part from the composer's basso continuo, or did he have a written-out arrangement?

Originally Posted by tlmusic

Click to expand...

I love this kind of music!

Did the harpsichordist improvise his part from the composer's basso continuo, or did he have a written-out arrangement?

I believe Daniel had an arrangement. What was really interesting was the Biber piece which had Biber's famous Scordatura which requires the violinist to tune the instrument for a different tone halfyway through the piece.