Blues singer and musician, Greg Brice, was up from the Cotswolds to Norfolk for a gig, and while he was here we headed over to the workshop of Luke Chapman (woodcarver and a blues musician too) to record and film a couple of songs. Greg is an up-and-coming musician, which is reflected in his three nominations in the 2023 UK Blues Awards: he was a finalist in the ‘Emerging Act of the Year’ category. The workshop, which was formerly a farm dairy, is decidedly not a music studio, but with a recent album out that wasn’t the aim. Rather we wanted to capture a couple of live acoustic recordings on location. As sharp-eyed readers of this blog may have noticed, the workshop is somewhere I have used before for recording, sometimes for mic tests and sometimes for more full-fledged recordings. In fact, Luke and I are thinking of getting many more musicians to record there in a kind of down-home NPR Tiny Desk Concert meets Gems on VHS series, but with extra sawdust on the side. So Greg was the first, and hopefully not the last, of the new ‘Milk, Wood and Dust’ sessions.
Close-up of the three-mic array, showing the angled capsules of the side-by-side MKH 8030 fig 8 mics.
The usual problem when recording a singing guitarist is to get good separation between the instrument and the vocals (to allow different tweaking of levels and other processing later), without resorting to recording them separately: overdubbing often results in a less than fluid performance. When I recorded singer-songwriter Lucy Grubb in the workshop last year, I went for a variation on double mid-side recording, with two mid mics facing forward: one upward to her mouth and one downward to her guitar, with the nulls of the mic polar patterns reducing spill effectively. It is a simple set up that also has the merit of being less visually intrusive than an LDC right in the singer’s face. There is a Sound on Sound article by Hugh Robjohns from a few years ago that discusses and illustrates the approach. It’s a bit of a clunky set up, however, and the stereo vocal seems a bit unnecessary (and potentially problematic as singers often move their heads about), so I have been thinking about another technique also making good use of the deep nulls of fig 8 mics, but aiming to get a stereo recording of the guitar and the voice in mono.
What I came up with as a solution was a Blumlein pair of fig 8 SDC mics (in this case the excellent new Sennheiser MKH 8030, which I have been testing in various blog posts: see here for part 1), combined with a super-cardioid for the vocals (I went with a Sennheiser MKH 8050). To keep it compact I placed the two fig 8s side-by-side instead of in the more usual end-to-end arrangement: now some theorists will break out in a cold sweat and say this isn’t Blumlein, but the reality is that, with capsules only at 23mm centres, the very slight non-coincidence has little impact (and, of course, is nothing compared to the spacing in near coincident pairs, such as the Gerzon array, ORTF and NOS). Equally, a bit of shadowing of the rear lobes is no big deal as they are only capturing a little uncorrelated reflected sound from distant walls. With the super-cardioid mic placed on top, the tight cluster (which I placed in a single shockmount: a Rycote InVision USM-L) was positioned around chest height and angled so this pointed upwards for vocals, with the Blumlein pair then angled down towards the guitar. This left the nulls of the fig 8s and the super-cardioid to do their work and minimize bleed from guitar to vocals and vice versa: and any bleed left was coincident and consequently sans phase issues. Now, it may well be that others have used this approach before, but I can’t find any reference to it: I wonder if this reflects that it is best suited to SDC mics and many will not have more than one SDC fig 8, if that.
I did a few tests beforehand and was happy with how the array sounded, so when Greg came over to the workshop I put it into action. Set up was easy, with the mics fairly close (the acoustic of the workshop is OK – and certainly without a ‘small room’ sound – but it isn’t the Wigmore Hall), but distant enough and off-axis so that no pop filter or foam was required for vocals, which would rather have worked against the minimalist approach. I was pleased with the results (and so was Greg), and see this as a discreet and quick to deploy array (I had the mics ready to roll in the shock-mount already), which will really suit more singer-songwriters down in the workshop or, indeed, similar recordings elsewhere on location. Have a listen and, if you think there is any merit and you have a pair of SDC fig 8s, perhaps give it a try.
Members of the City of Norwich Pipe Band arranged in two arcs, in the rather wonderful setting of Wymondham Abbey.
Introduction
In part 1 of the blog posts on recording test sessions with the City of Norwich Pipe Band (a prelude to a CD recording, with the tests focused on establishing whether recording indoors or outdoors is preferable), I covered the rationale and detail behind the microphone choices. To recap, with the band formed in both a circle and a near circle, I decided to go with a native B-format array of two fig 8s (Sennheiser MKH 8030) and an omni (Sennheiser MKH 8020), which, in terms of the required stereo end product, gave me options of mid-side with two fig 8s (i.e. decoding to a Blumlein pair), omni mid-side, and double mid-side (the latter with any polar pattern for the mid mics). And just to cover all bases, I also elected to add a spaced pair of omni mics (Rycote OM-08s). This second blog post is concerned with the recording and the results.
Location
Recording a pipe band indoors requires a large space. In the absence of a massive purpose-built recording studio (ruled out due to cost and because this was always intended as a location recording of a non-competition pipe band), I was glad to be able to arrange for use of Wymondham Abbey (many thanks especially are due to Brian Randall, churchwarden, for his help and support). The early 12th-century nave that survived the demolition of the rest of the abbey at the Dissolution (to function thereafter as the parish church for the town) is substantial, being twice the size of Abbey Road Studio One: if a small pipe band (the recording involved some members only – we had five pipes, one tenor drum, one side (or snare) drum and a bass drum) was to overwhelm the abbey church, then indoor recording would evidently be a non-starter outside a studio or concert hall.
Arranging the band
The regular formation used by pipe bands is a circle, and I could see no reason to, say, go for a more linear concert-style arrangement for recording. On the one side, recording a band in a circle is a challenge, but, as we have seen in the previous post on mic array selection, one that is solvable. But aside from the easy benefit of intervisibility for band members, this arrangement offers an additional benefit for loud acoustic instruments such as bagpipes and drums: direct sound will predominate over reflected sound from all directions. That is certainly the case if an unbroken circle is adopted, but balancing this with the array options (which included mid-side with two fig 8s) meant that these tests comprised both a full circle and a very broken circle – i.e. two opposing arcs each just under 90 degrees. With a modest contingent of the band for the test session, for the full-circle version we had the pipers occupying a little more than half the circle, which had a radius of around 2 metres. For the two opposing arcs, the pipers were all on one side facing the three drummers on the other side, with a radius of 3 metres for both arcs. We will replicate the arrangements for the outdoor test session in due course, but, evidently, any CD recording with a larger number of band members is likely to require some tweaking of the radius to accommodate everyone. That said, the band members were far from squashed together on this initial session.
Recording
Prior to the recording test session, I dropped into one the regular practices to meet the band. They hold these in the former Regal Cinema (now part of the Wymondham & District Ex-Services Social Club), so, while not a remote glen, it is far from a small room with a low ceiling. The sound of the band, however, came bouncing back from all directions and, given the reputation of bagpipes, I was a little concerned about levels before the test session. With only one pad on one of the mics (courtesy of the single MZF 8000ii filter I have – more on that soon) I was crossing fingers that I would be OK in terms of volume: with healthy max SPLs of 139dB for the MKH 8030s and 138dB for the MKH 8020, I was happy with the Sennheisers, but the Rycote OM-08 with its max of 127dB was an order lower. And then, what about levels into the recorder? Well at least with the Sound Devices 788T I had the option of using line inputs, which can still supply 48v phantom power, if things got overly hot. Needless to say, such slightly nagging concerns were entirely unfounded: with the more distant 3 metres of the two arcs I was able to set all the mic input trim/gains at 20dB, and with the shorter 2 metre radius of the full circle, I was fine with 15dB. Perhaps more reassuring too, the reflected sound in the aisled abbey church seemed much less overwhelming than the practice rooms: or was I just acclimatising!
Set up in the south aisle with the Sound Devices 788T. No overloading of mics or recorder, and I didn’t even resort to the earplugs I brought along!
The results
With the native B-format array, the options are endlessly variable, but what follows are some short clips (around 30 seconds long) from the beginning of Scotland The Brave (my request, as familiar to many: but we did record a couple of other tunes too), covering the main options.
Another view of the band set up in two opposing arcs.
Starting off, here are clips from the recordings of the band arranged in two opposing arcs:
First, we have fig 8 mid-side with the two MKH 8030 mics, which, of course, decodes to a Blumlein pair:
The stereo imaging is good for this, but the bass drum is very light. Looking at this in an FFT frequency spectrum analyser (Voxengo SPAN), the fundamental of the drum is around 35Hz, so the lack of low end in the MKH 8030 (whilst unusually good for a fig 8) is rather exposed. With a coincident omni in the array we can add this in a variety of ways, but just to keep things straightforward here is the same clip above with the bottom end of the omni MKH 8020 mixed in (with a 100Hz low-pass filter) at -6dB.
So now moving on to the omni mid-side pair itself, which, of course, has no problem with the bottom end of the bass drum. As you would expect, the drums have swapped sides (most obviously the snare is now on the left as it was in reality) as this and the subsequent clips don’t have the flipped LR stereo of the rear side of fig 8 MS and Blumlein pairs:
Leaving the various outputs of the native B-format array for the moment to compare omni-based recordings, here is the omni AB (spaced pair) of Rycote OM-08 mics at 840mm spacing (the spacing chosen to match the stereo recording angle of the Blumlein pair, decoded from the fig 8 mid-side pair, which lay behind the two opposing arcs formation):
Next up we have double mid-side. This uses forward and backward cardioid mid mics (created by mixing the omni and forward-facing fig 8 in the native B-format array) with the two resultant cardioid mid-side arrays mixed at the same level:
This might well be fine with the full band (and the low end is certainly present, due in no small part to the fact that the cardioids are created from a mix of the forward-facing fig 8 MKH 8030 and the MKH 8020 omni, so, as my preparatory tests demonstrated, have a better bass response than the MKH 8040 cardioid), but the level of the very small drum section is a bit low. Of course, we can change independently both the polar pattern of the two mid-side arrays that make up a double mid-side array and, more relevant here, can change the relative levels between the front and the rear. So here is more of the same, but with the rearward-facing component of the double mid-side array 6dB louder than the front:
And to demonstrate this flexibility a bit further, here is the double mid-side array again, but with the rearward-facing component of the double mid-side array 12dB louder than the front:
And then in a full circle, with a tighter radius.
Moving on, here are clips from the recordings of the band arranged in a full circle. Again the clips comprise the opening part of Scotland The Brave.
As before, first off we have fig 8 mid-side with the two MKH 8030 mics:
This still lacks the bottom end of the bass drum as with the fig 8 mid-side recording of the two arcs, but I must admit that the effect of the full circle (i.e. not avoiding direct sound from the side, with the consequent phasing issues arising from the fact that such sound is picked up by the front of one capsule and the rear of the other) is much less noticeable than I thought it would be. Perhaps that’s just my ears (I have been listening to a lot of bagpipe recordings over the last few days)! Anyway, I think it might still be one to steer away from and, accordingly, I haven’t included a version of this clip with added low end from a low-pass filtered omni mic.
On then to the omni mid-side pair, which, as before, has no problem with the bottom end of the bass drum. Again note that the drums have swapped sides (most obviously the single snare is now on the left as it was in reality) as this and the subsequent clips don’t have the flipped LR stereo of the rear side of fig 8 MS and Blumlein pairs:
Here is the omni AB (spaced pair) of Rycote OM-08 mics at 460mm spacing (i.e. narrowed from the previous 840mm spacing to give the wider stereo recording angle required for the full circle: 180 degrees):
Next up we have double mid-side. This uses forward and backward cardioid mid mics (created by mixing the omni and forward-facing fig 8 in the native B-format array) with the two resultant cardioid mid-side arrays mixed at the same level:
As noted in the two opposing arcs set up, the drums in the double mid-side recording here are a bit on the quiet side, reflecting the lack of tenor and side/snare drums, although, perhaps counter intuitively, they are clearer than in the equivalent recording with the two arcs, despite the pipers spreading into the rear half of the full circle. As noted before, we can change, independently, both the polar pattern of the two mid-side arrays that make up a double mid-side array and, more relevant here, the relative levels between the front and the rear. So here is the same as before, but with the rearward-facing component of the double mid-side array 6dB louder than the front:
And to demonstrate this flexibility a bit further, here is the double mid-side array again, but with the rearward-facing component 12dB louder than the front:
High-frequency loss with vertical omni
As mentioned in part 1 of the blog post, omni mics are increasingly directional with high frequencies, which is the main reason to orient the mic vertically in the native B-format array if dealing with a sound source in a circle rather than, more typically, largely in front of the mics: that is, to ensure an even response in the horizontal plane round the full 360 degrees. But, of course, it also means that this approach reduces the high-frequency response (albeit equally) in the horizontal plane. As I said in the section on mic arrays, I didn’t expect that the high-frequency losses would be hugely significant with a pipe band: indeed, it could be useful given the nature of bagpipes and snare drums. I certainly don’t feel that results are weak in that regard, but, for the sake of completeness, here is a clip of the omni mid-side recording of the band in the full circle, with the omni mic given EQ to compensate as per Sennheiser’s polar plot for the MH 8020:
Using a plugin for processing the native B-format recording: in this case the (free) Soundfield by Rode plugin.
Processing
The native B-format array offers a lot of flexibility, which is only partly explored in the already rather numerous clips provided above. These have all been produced manually in Reaper, albeit using a mid-side plug in for the MS processing. Further tools can aid the process, be that Schoeps’s double mid-side plugin or, more usefully, plugins that can use the WXY tracks of the native B-format directly. So finally, here are the WXY clips (for both the opposing arc and the full circle set ups) for anyone who wants to play with them in an ambiosonic audio processor such as the Soundfield by Rode plugin, with which I have had fun dabbling.
The verdict?
Well this may be too early to call, given that this recording session was designed to be the first of two tests to compare indoors vs outdoors recording of the pipe band. The outdoor session will probably have to wait until September, due to holidays and a flurry of summertime engagements for the band, and then we will have to juggle the vagaries of the weather. But, even before this second test, I must confess I am much happier with recording the pipe band indoors than I was beforehand: I was very much in the ‘record a pipe band outside’ camp (indeed, perhaps the only voice in this case!). The set up in the abbey worked extremely well from my perspective: OK, the part-band was imbalanced in terms of pipes vs drums (and, indeed, imbalanced within the drum line with just one tenor and one side/snare), and there are some tweaks that I would like to make when we have a fuller drum line (e.g. bringing the tenor drums forward of the snare/side drums), but the acoustic was excellent and vastly different to the practice room.
And, beyond that, this first session has been extremely useful for assessing the different means of recording the band in a circle or in a broken circle of two arcs: I am happy with both formations although, of course, the different mic arrays performed differently in the two configurations of the band. The omni AB, or spaced pairs, worked reasonably, but lacked clarity on the snare drum so would require extremely careful placement of band members to get the (baked-in) balance right, if possible: in the context of a loud pipe band with members understandably not used to protracted setting up for recording and the lack of really good (and isolated) monitoring on location, I would be loathe to go down this route. This isn’t unexpected, as I included the spaced omnis as something of a control in this test. The native B-format array was a great success in giving so many options from a three mic set-up, and producing what I think is the better sound. Using the two fig 8 MKH 8030s alone, as a fig 8 mid-side pair, underplayed the low frequencies of the bass drum, understandably, but, as we have seen (or, rather, heard), this can be supplemented by a bit of bass from the omni MKH 8020 mic. Again using just two mics, the omni mid-side (MKH 8020 and MKH 8030) pair gave a good result in both the opposing arcs and full circle arrangements. The (virtual) double mid-side array from the three mics, however, is my preference: while sharing the ability to vary the levels of front and rear with a conventional double mid-side array (say made with two cardioids and a fig 8), the fact that in this case it was derived from the native B-format array gives it additional advantages. First, it keeps the low end intact (by virtue of the increased low-frequency response of the two virtual cardioids made by combining the MKH 8020 and forward-facing MKH 8030). And, second, it has complete flexibility in post in terms of the polar patterns of the mid mics. Playing around with all this is certainly easier in something such as the Soundfield by Rode or Harpex-X plugins, and they make steering the mic arrays (not that useful in this instance) easier too. In short, I’m really impressed by the MKH 8030 and MKH 8020 native B-format array for recording musicians in a circle: I suggest that it is worth giving something similar a go if you have a comparable challenge and suitable mics to hand.
Some of the members of the City of Norwich Pipe Band at Wymondham Abbey for the recording test.
Introduction
A happy coincidence of an interesting recording project and the arrival, a few weeks ago, of a second MKH 8030 fig 8 mic from the folks at Sennheiser set me thinking. The recording was to be of the City of Norwich Pipe Band: that is bagpipes and drums (side/snare, tenor and bass). Pipe bands often play in a circle, so they can all see each other, and for this recording the plan was to maintain that approach in broad terms. The circular formation, with the band members’ backs to any audience has given the BBC’s sound engineers a challenge when recording the world pipe band championships outdoors in Scotland each year. At that event they are obliged to record outside the circle formed by the band (who, to make things yet more complicated for recording, march forward while playing before forming the circle), making the best of a difficult situation. For this recording, which was not in the context of a competition or, indeed, a public performance, I had the advantages of a static pipe band, being able to place mics inside the circle, and, also, being able to tweak that circle idea a little bit.
Both the recording of a pipe band and the recording a group of musicians in a circle, or near circle, are challenges, and in this case extra complexity was introduced since the overarching aim was to do two test sessions, one inside and one outside, as a prelude to possible recording of a CD (opinions generally are a little split on whether a pipe band should be heard/recorded indoors or, in its more natural habitat, outdoors). Rather than one overly long write up, I am breaking this down into separate blog posts: this first one explores the mic arrays used, and the second discusses the recordings from the indoor test (and includes samples of them).
Options for recording musicians in a circle
There are various ways to tackle recordings of a circle of musicians, with the end results ranging from mono to surround sound: in this case we were after stereo. Obvious options for such recordings would be a Blumlein pair or mid-side with two fig 8s; omni mid-side; double mid-side; and a spaced pair of omni mics. The last three options would work with a full circle (though omni mid-side suggests flattening the circle a little front and back, due to less sensitivity of the back-to-back cardioid pattern of the resultant, decoded, LR stereo pair). And the Blumlein pair or mid-side with two fig 8s options suggest modifying the circle to form two opposing arcs, say of 70-90 degrees each, avoiding any direct sound from the musicians in the more difficult (i.e, phasey) side quadrants. Choosing from these options is not easy as there are pros and cons. Blumlein or mid-side with two fig 8s (which mathematically decodes to Blumlein, but which inevitably sounds a little different) offer the prospect of excellent stereo imaging, albeit with the reversal of the rear side (not an issue in this or, indeed, many situations); omni mid-side and spaced omnis offer the prospect of a better low end (relevant here to the bass drum); and double mid-side offers the scope of having different mid-mic polar patterns front and rear and, more significantly, the option of changing respective levels in post (useful for tweaking the balance of the drums and the pipes on either side of the circle). Well, given that this was to be a test recording, the obvious solution was to do all of these options simultaneously. This didn’t require a proliferation of mics vying to be in the same place at the same time, but, rather, a simple set up of three mics in a pantophonic (i.e. horizontal, or 2D) native B-format (WXY) array for all the coincident mic options, flanked by a pair of omni mics to cover the spaced-pair option. So five mics in total.
Spaced pair
The spaced pair of omnis option hardly needs much explanation, as it will be familiar to most, if not all, readers: the key points here being aiming the mics upwards to get an even sound in all horizontal directions (omni polar patterns being increasingly directional at higher frequencies), deciding on setting the height (with no musicians behind others and wanting to get a balance between upwards projecting drones at the rear of the pipers and downwards pointing chanters at their fronts, and to avoid over dominance of the snare drums (or, in the first test, single snare drum), I settled on 1500mm), and choosing a spacing. For the latter, with the full circle I wanted a stereo recording angle (SRA) of 180 degrees, so that meant a spacing of 510mm or less: I went for 460mm. For the two arcs, however, it made sense to narrow the SRA to match a Blumlein pair (i.e. 76 degrees) so that meant a spacing of 840mm. And for the mics, not having two more MKH 8020s, I settled on a pair of Rycote OM-08 mics.
Omni spaced pair at 460mm (for the full circle recording) flanking a native B-format array.
Coincident arrays: Blumlein, mid-side, double mid-side, and native B-format
The native B-format set up is likely to be less than familiar to many readers. B-format components (W, X, Y and Z) can be derived from the A-format outputs of the tetrahedral (or, indeed, octahedral) arrangements of ambisonic mics, such as the Soundfield. With ambisonic mics, the W, X and Y components (we can dispense with the Z or height component here as irrelevant to our stereo end product) are derived from combining the different capsules, creating three virtual mics – forwards and sideways facing fig 8s (X and Y respectively) and an omni (W). A native B-format set up, needless to say, just uses two real fig 8 mics and a real omni mic. The combination of mics allows all of the planned coincident arrangements to be achieved and, indeed, allows the array to be steered: perhaps not that relevant in this case, though this could be handy for some circular set ups. The native-B array, which today can be found in single mics such as the Josephson C700s (for a cool £7,600), was pioneered by Dr John Halliday at Nimbus Records and is often referred to as the Nimbus-Halliday array: the two fig 8s (vertical and end-to-end) are separated by a forward-pointing omni mic. Such an arrangement wasn’t ideal for the purposes of this test: first off, in the Nimbus-Halliday array the omni is facing forwards, so the sound will be different from the rear; and, second, the mics aren’t as coincident as they could be (thinking here of comb filtering that will concern the purists) for some of the two-mic options first envisaged for this pipe band recording. For example, the two fig 8s, if used for mid-side, are separated by the omni mic, which would result in 54mm centre-to-centre spacing with two MKH 8030s: better than 68mm with a pair of MKH 30 fig 8s, but far from ideal. Taking suggestions by Daniel Courville and Paul Hodges of swapping the omni with one of the fig 8s (to remove the directionality of the omni mic at high frequencies) helps, but this can be much improved by rotating the whole array by ninety degrees, which swaps the orientation of the two fig 8s. This then gives a spacing of the omni and forward-facing fig 8 of 16mm centre-to-centre: very effective when combining these two mics to make a cardioid or, in different proportions, any other polar pattern for the mid mics in double mid-side. And the two fig 8s (thinking of mid-side with two fig 8s) become set at 27mm centres (half what they would be in the Nimbus-Halliday array if using the same mics); and, finally, the two most distant mics, the omni and side fig 8 (for omni mid-side) are at 43mm centres. Turning the omni vertical evidently reduces the high-frequency response in the horizontal plane a little, but, if required, a little high-frequency lift could be added. I didn’t anticipate this being much of an issue with bagpipes and snare drums: a little reduction in such frequencies could well prove useful. In terms of elevation of the array, this followed the height and rationale of the spaced pair.
Spot the difference! Left: the conventional, or Nimbus-Halliday, native B-format (or native 2D first-order ambisonic) array, which, top to bottom, comprises Y, W and X. Right: the revised version that I used, which, top to bottom, comprises Y, X and W. I used some thinner cables in the final version, not least as it made aligning easier when using shockmounts.
Taking the array outside: wind protection
With the pipe band test sessions being planned to determine whether any full recording session(s) for a CD should be recorded indoors or outdoors, the native B-format array needed to fit in a windshield. Inspired by ex-BBC sound recordist Roger Long’s experiment with a version of the Nimbus-Halliday array with the three mics (two MKH 30 and one MKH 20) all set vertically in a single suspension (the fig 8s side-by-side, and the omni in front), it is easy to rig the smaller MKH 8000 series mics in such a way as they fit into a normal blimp, which I duly tested (see photo below).
A very compact option for the native B-format array, fitting inside a standard windshield (in this case, a Rode blimp mk 1). I’d have been happy enough using it as shadowing effects and, indeed, any comb filtering arising from the non-coincidence on the horizontal plane are much exaggerated by the theoreticians that plague recording forums, but, given that I could fit the larger and nearer to ideal array into my DIY blimp, I decided against it for this project: but one to test more in the future perhaps as it is certainly much easier to manage in the field.
But given that use of the array in that set up means that the mics are not so well aligned in the horizontal plane, and that some will argue that acoustic shadowing results (always more theoretical than real), I thought it was just simpler and more consistent to use the same larger and more ideal array indoors and outdoors, taking advantage of my massive DIY blimp, originally built for LDC mics. A couple of welded additions by my ever-helpful friend Rob Moore, who built the original blimp basket, meant that the blimp was ready for my native B-format array.
And here’s the larger native B-format array inside my massive DIY blimp, originally built to accommodate an LDC mid-side pair for those occasions when extremely low self-noise is required: a few minor adaptations needed (thank goodness for its adaptable stainless steel construction).
Now by this point some readers may be wondering why I didn’t simply use an ambisonic mic. Well, other than not owning one and wanting to achieve a flexible approach with the excellent mics I am fortunate enough to own already, the key point is that the recording was not for surround purposes, but chiefly to determine the best approach for subsequent recording of a CD that is quite likely to involve a simpler approach. And, like many others, I have yet to be persuaded that the cheaper capsules in at least the more affordable ambisonic mics are in the same league as those of the MKH 8000 series mics. My biggest fear about the native B-format array was that the combination of mics – especially the combining of the omni and fig 8 – would fall well short of other MKH 8000 mics designed with a particular polar pattern. So at the planning stage I tested this by rigging an MKH 8020 omni and MKH 8030 fig 8 alongside an MKH 8040 cardioid, to compare virtual cardioid and actual cardioid mics. The consistency was remarkable, with the only audible difference to my ears being the slightly increased bass component of the virtual cardioid (not surprising: the MKH 8040 is no slouch in terms of bass, but it still lacks the bottom end of a pure pressure omni). So, happy with this key test, and with a workable native B-format rig, it was time to record: see part 2 of this blog post, for the first (i.e. indoor) recording session and results.
Top to bottom: MKH 8040 cardioid, MKH 8030 fig 8, and MKH 8020 omni. A simple test rig to compare the sound of the omni + fig 8 (mixed at 50:50 creating a cardioid) vs a purpose-built cardioid. This sort of virtual polar pattern creation is at the heart of the rig I was proposing, so thought a simple direct mono comparison like this a useful reality check before committing myself to recording with the native B-format array. The actual and virtual cardioids sound remarkably similar, although the additional bass response of the omni means that this is evident in the virtual cardioid: a high-pass filter could always reduce it if needed, but with the bass drum of the pipe band I thought this would be useful (as, indeed, proved the case). Changing the proportions of fig 8 and omni in the virtual mic means all polar patterns between fig 8 and omni can be created.
The Time and Mercy Band, comprising (left to right) Richard Ward, Jason French, Rob John and Kevin Burton.
Thursday evening was an inauspicious time to be heading out for a recording of a bluegrass band: it was a soggy wet evening here in rural Norfolk, with the narrow roads full of potholes lurking below rivers. It didn’t feel much like the Appalachian Mountains. Was it left, right, left, right, left and right again on the maze of roads around Mannington and Wolterton, or the other way round? And if I didn’t remember my left from my right, how on earth would I remember how to connect up the mics for some more mid-side recordings, building on my earlier comparative tests of the new Sennheiser MKH 8030?
I was heading back to The Forge, the studio of Kev Burton, where, a few months ago, I recorded Lucy Grubb and her band using a Blumlein pair of Rycote BD-10 fig 8 mics. This time it was a similar venture: a different band (albeit with the common factor of Kev on bass) – the Time and Mercy Band – and with a mid-side pair instead of a Blumlein pair. This was partly driven by only having a single pre-production Sennheiser MKH 8030 fig 8, but, also, because I wanted to test further the MKH 8030 in combination with the MKH 8040 cardioid as the mid mic, and throw the new Rycote BD-10 fig 8 and its cardioid (CA-08) sibling into the mix. Back at base, I’d decided that to compare the four mics in a mid-side array and allow any combination (but always using an immediately adjacent pair as mid and side mics), I needed a vertical array of five mics: that was BD-10 top and bottom, MKH 8030 in the middle, and the two cardioids between the three fig 8s. Getting them close together (I managed 4mm apart, which is better than many a back-to-back clip) was tricky and meant I couldn’t use individual shock mounts: but still wanting some isolation from a wooden floor and anticipated tapping feet, I then bolted the whole array to a pair of hefty (Duo Lyre 68 shore) Rycote Invision shock mounts, and, for belt and braces, put the stand on foam pads.
Heath Robinson would have been proud of this…
It was a little easier setting up than with the Blumlein recording, this time having all the musicians on one side of the mics and having no drum kit to manage in a fairly compact studio, but the principle remained very much as before – needing care to balance the different instruments and voices – for which having the studio’s control room, with its wonderful Midas desk (originally made for Frank Zappa) feeding into Logic, and Kev’s experience with it, was invaluable for reviewing each take. The primary feed from the mics was, again, to my field recorder.
We recorded three songs, but, for the purposes of this post I am going to focus on one, which the band call ‘Sugar Honey Babe’. It’s a traditional bluegrass song and has been recorded with many similar titles (and, of course, variations in the lyrics), and perhaps is most well-known nowadays as ‘Red Rocking Chair’.
OK, that’s more than enough preamble: to the results! First off, here’s a very quick and dirty video: one camera stuck on a tripod pointing towards the band and with the mics largely blocking the view of Rob on banjo. My excuse is that the focus was on the audio. The video switches between the various mic combinations and, as the previous tests showed that the two Rycotes are lighter in the bass department than their MKH 8000 series counterparts, a few options where the BD-10 and the CA-08 have some EQ: imperfectly applied, no doubt, but it reduces some of the more obvious differences between the mics. Other than the EQ on these few clearly labelled snippets, all the sound is as it was recorded: no reverb, no compression etc.
For those wanting to listen to the sound files without whatever YouTube does to them, here they are. I’ve not included the EQ’d versions as I am sure others can do better, or would at least want to try. These LR stereo files can, of course, be decoded back to the original mid and side channels, should you so wish (I’ve enabled downloading permissions on SoundCloud for them).
I’m not sure all the versions of the tracks with the Rycote mics given some EQ (as used where flagged up in the video above) merit inclusion, but here is just the one – the recording with the MKH 8040 and the EQ’d BD-10: although the EQ is fairly rough and ready, it does show the potential, should you wish it, to bring the mic nearer the MKH 8030.
And, finally, for a bit of fun, here’s a version of the video with the MKH 8040 and MKH 8030 pair throughout, rather than chopping and changing mic pairs. I’ve added a little reverb to this version.
So the verdict this time? As with the Blumlein pair recording, that’s one for others perhaps. The balance of the recording is far from perfect: we didn’t have endless time to fiddle around with placement, and, even if we had spent hours on it, it would have been hard to balance, say, Rob’s backing vocal and his (much louder) banjo. On a different note, rain can be heard on the studio window too: so not ideal. But putting the MKH 8030 into more real-world action with a largely acoustic band (there was a little bit of amplification for the bass) was useful, not least seeing how it performed with the MKH 8040 and just how much difference was noticeable when swapping out to different (and less expensive) mics, and what a bit of EQ might do to that. As before, my take is that the MKH 8030 is a first-rate mic, pairs well with the excellent MKH 8040 (as entirely expected), but that the considerably cheaper BD-10 is decent too and that, with some EQ, comes much closer to the MKH 8030 – especially when used as the side mic in a mid-side recording. As I’ve said before, it’s good to have these two new choices in the limited field of SDC fig 8 mics: happy days!
I’ve long been a fan of simple set ups for music recording, often using a mid-side pair only. That’s partly due to the fact that I like the idea of a stereo capture (rather than close-miced instruments and vocals panned across the left-right field), but also reflects the nature of what I do: location recording, with no studio and the natural tendency there – since the 1970s – to use multi-mic and multi-track recording, overdubbing and tinkering for as long as you wish. This is not to deny that there’s a hugely creative side to the typical studio recording approach, and it allows you to record instruments in ways just not possible without it. Of course, a simpler approach has remained the case with much recording of acoustic and classical music, although, even there, the number of spot mics can be vast these days. But recording of bands – with drum kits, electric guitars etc. – has been largely the province of the multi-mic and multi-track approach in recent decades, with only the occasional exception.
One such exception I have enjoyed has been John Cuniberti’s OneMic series of recordings. John is a hugely experienced engineer, with years of the studio multi-tracked approach under his belt, so it has been fascinating to see and hear his journey into a simpler approach: in his case using a stereo pair of ribbon mics, arranged as a Blumlein pair, in the form of the single stereo AEA R88. John has an excellent YouTube channel with examples of his recordings and videos, as well as behind-the-scenes videos, which are invaluable for others attempting something similar.
With a pair of the latest pre-production Rycote BD-10 fig 8 mics in hand, I was keen to try something in this vein: that is, to capture a whole band at the same time just with a Blumlein pair. Besides, what’s the point of a fig 8 mic without a good Blumlein work out? With a fraction of the skills and resources of a Cuniberti, expectations were much lower, but that’s not a reason not to have a go!
For anyone not familiar with the approach – which, like so much in stereo, goes back to the work of the brilliant engineer Alan Blumlein in the 1930s – a Blumlein pair comprises a pair of fig 8 mics usually arranged directly one above the other, so that the two mic capsules are angled at 90 degrees to each other: in that sense, like an XY pair. This gives you a stereo field in front of the mics and, with the rear lobes of the mics, to the rear: the stereo field to the rear, of course, is flipped. There’s plenty of signal at the sides of the pair, but it’s not the place for a direct sound source: at right-angles to the pair a source would be, say, on the left from the perspective of the front lobes, and on the right from the perspective of the rear lobes. Quite evidently, a recipe for a phasey mess. So, a Blumlein pair isn’t the answer to micing a group ranged in a circle around the mics, but does let you spread them in an arc of 70 degrees in front of the mic and a similar arc to the rear. Setting relative levels of different instruments and vocals is, needless to say, a question of adjusting loudness of the sources and/or distance from the Blumlein pair.
So much for the theory: the task is to translate that into action. With Lucy Grubb and her band willingly volunteering for the exercise, choice of venue was largely dictated by the need for good monitoring: with ‘mixing’ created in the setup, it was essential that the band and I could listen back and adjust the set up as necessary. The bassist, Kev Burton, happily let us use his studio – The Forge – where the band has previously recorded their multi-track releases: the wonderful Midas desk (originally made for Frank Zappa) was reduced to monitoring duties (from a passive split and feeding Logic), while the primary feed from the Blumlein pair was to my Sound Devices MixPre-3 recorder. Kev’s experience with his studio and the expert ears of the band were crucial to getting the balance right.
Monitoring in the control room, through the Midas desk, Logic and some Tannoy Little Gold monitors.
It was a tight squeeze in the small studio, with the hardest thing controlling the level of the drums, even with brushes and a special kick-drum beater: there was only so far we could move the drums away from the mics, so the drummer, Paul Weston, detuned his snare to great effect, and we put a gobo in front of the kit. The electric bass amp was placed on a chair in front of that (to get the bass central and nicely balanced with the kick drum), with Richard Poynton, on electric guitar and singing backing vocals, nearer the mic, and a little to one side. Closer to the mic, but centrally on the other side, was lead singer (and song-writer) Lucy Grubb, playing acoustic guitar (with a little amplification behind her). Left and right of her amp, were amps for Richard’s guitar and for the keyboard of Piers Hunt: all three were on chairs/beer crates to get them off the floor. Placement of the keyboard and the bass players themselves didn’t matter: it was all about the position (and volume) of their amps.
Getting distances and angles from the mic pair for lead and backing vocals was essential: Richard’s guitar amp (a Fender Champ) was at the same angle to the mics as his guitar, but on the other side of the mics, behind Lucy.
There was precious little room for any lights or cameras, but, nonetheless, a rough and ready film of the recording seemed worthwhile, so here – with a video of one of the three songs we recorded – is what I managed. The sound has seen no processing other than addition of a little reverb: there is no compression, EQ etc.
So the verdict? Well that’s one for others perhaps. But from my perspective and, more importantly, that of the band, what we got was a very faithful sound of the band in the room. Everyone was engaged in the idea of balancing or ‘mixing’ at source and I suspect we’ll be back having another go before long. Oh, and the BD-10s faired rather well as a Blumlein pair, I thought!
