#883024 - 02/04/06 04:54 PM
Recording Studio setup for Brass recording
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BrassPlayer
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Registered: 02/04/06
Posts: 14
Loc: Wisconsin
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I am working on recording a CD of myself playing trombone and I have some questions about room acoustics and recording techniques. Here is my present setup:
Mic Aphex 210 Ribbon Mic
Mic Preamp ART TPSII tube preamp
Adobe Audidion 1.5 recorder on Laptop 1.3 Gb Ram
Audio Card 24 bit Audigy Sound Blaster
Recording Trombone Solo (will use open ear headphones to hear accompaniment and myself playing)
Accompaniment Digital Piano recording direct input (not mic)
I have an unused bedroom for the recording location. Not many options here. I tried making some test recording and was not pleased with the sound. Then I took apart the bed and stood the mattress up against the wall, added a few blankets over widows and the sound was totally different. Much better but not great yet.
Here are my questions:
1) What about the location of the mic to the trombone? One pro from the Boston Symphony told me that have had good results with a mic 4 above and 10 in front of the instrument.
2) What about room acoustics? Do I go for a neutral room and then add reverb in later?
3) Should I cover all the walls and ceiling with a blanket to dampen the sound?
4) How can I determine what the room resonances are?
5) One person suggested building a tent baffle out of PVC and then draping blankets over and around this fixture. Then record inside this tent.
6) I can record at 44.1 or 88.2, 96 or higher. 16 bit or 32 bit floating. What gives the best sound? Advantages and disadvantages?
If anyone can give me any input on how to achieve a great sound recording in a home room I would appreciate your ideas.
Thanks
Dennis
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#883025 - 02/11/06 02:12 PM
Re: Recording Studio setup for Brass recording
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paully
Platinum Member
Registered: 05/25/04
Posts: 1074
Loc: Northern New Jersey
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Hi Dennis,
We now know what equipment you've got, but you didn't mention anything about what you're shooting for. Is it mellow tone(Dorsey), a growler, will it be mixed with other instruments beside the piano, and most important, what is a 'great' sound to you? Do you have examples and why they're great(artists)? You have asked a VERY subjective question, and should be able to describe what you're going for.
Totally deadening a small room is IMO a bad idea. You want as much good, natural, contructive reverberation as possible. The trick is to get rid of 'standing waves'. Cheaply(?).. cover two adjacent walls, then line the other two with every bit of chachke crap that you can find to break up/re-direct the sound. Lamps, desks with books, chairs, sofas, of mabee a huge shelfing structure loaded with books and magazines. Anything that will break up direct waves. Go to Grandma's attic as a good source of crap.  In essence, you want to break up the resonances. You don't want to kill sound, just redisburse it. Try recording positioned so that you're facing a corner(the farthest 2 corners in the room), not the opposite wall.
The higher the sampling rate, the better. 96K should be fine for bone.
10' is a long distance. May work, may not. I wouldn't go out more than 3-4' with a ribbon, unless you can get proper build-up gain from the preamp. For single and ensemble low register horns I have used the EV RE-10 for years as my go to mike. You can get it up close with excellent results.
That's all I can offer. Give us a better idea of what you want, and what's wrong with what you have now. You also might re-post at Ethan Winer's forum above. It deals with accoustics, and they'd kill for this type of question. 
Good luck, Paul
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