recording harpsichord duet

[wildplum]

Next week I will be recording a harpsichord duet with medieval percussion accompaniment. I am very familiar with the harpsichord, having built one and having lived for many years with a harpsichord player. I also have a wide variety of tools to help me do the job. Recording harpsichord is always a challenge, what with its complex radiation pattern and its (sometimes) noisy mechanism. Recording a duet, however, is a first for me and should be very interesting. I haven't settled on how I a going to approach this recording. It will be a live performance, in front of about 100 people. The room is literally a converted Laundromat (don't ask). It is about 30 feet wide and 60 feet long, with the 8 foot by 4 foot stage (4 inches high) facing the short (30 foot) wall (which has a large mirror facing the stage- yick). Ceiling is 15 feet and all walls are poured reinforced concrete. Despite the size and configuration of the room, it doesn't sound too bad (but certainly not great) when packed with 100 people sitting on homemade overstuffed cushions. BUT HERE'S THE KICKER. The place has a PA (of very poor quality) and the guy that runs the place insists that we pump some music through the PA (I am still trying to dissuade him on this- two harpsichords with percussion don't need a PA in a 100 seater; and a very attentive 100 person audience at that). How would you approach this problem? I am looking for advice for both possibilities, the one where I will have the PA to contend with and the other where I talk some sense into the owner. I am particularly interested in mic positioning recommendations, though I would be opened to both microphone and preamp recommendations (however, I am pretty much set on using some combination of Neumann USM 69, and pairs of TLM 193s and B&K 4011s or 4006s with Millennia and Great River pres- so it is mostly positioning that I am concerned with).

[Franknputer]

What's the players' layout like? And when you say "percussion", can you elaborate?

[DJDM]

I know that this has nothing to do with your quest for information but Roto posted this link in the Keyboard forum and I thought that you might get a little kick out of it ;) : [url=http://www.henrylim.org/Harpsichord.html]Lego Harpsichord[/url]

[Tom Capasso]

I have little experience (especially compared to people here), but I know a guy with a harpsichord, so.... My first though is some sound damping. Get any kind of tapestry/quilt/throw and hang it on the walls (especially the mirror). If you can get the PA speakers to be forward enough (and the rig kept low enough to just "help out a bit", maybe the PA thing is OK. As to mic placement, I would have thought suspended above, but you should do what you've done before. I give you credit for having the pluck to take this on! Tom

[wildplum]

"What's the players' layout like? And when you say "percussion", can you elaborate?" I am very curious about the layout, but, unfortunately, I won't be able to talk to the players until a few hours before the concert. The stage is very small. Even with a makeshift expansion that is available, it is no more than 6 by 10 feet (and only 4 inches high- for this venue it works well enough). My prefernce would be to have the two harpsichords positioned with the open lids facing the audience and the percussionist in between, but this would hamper communtication between the players. This is a lose situation and there won't be all that much time for experimentation. As for percussion, again I won't know until just hours before we start. Typical period percussion would involve a variety of small drums struck with either hand or mallet, the most popular ones being nakerer (a bowl shaped drum) and something that looks like a marching band snare in size (without the snares- don't recall its name, a timbrel?). also popular are a variety of tamborine-like instruments and small hand cymbals. I expect to see a small number of such things- certainly no modern drum kit, or any modern drums for that matter. but you never know. I am not too worried about the percussion, it will be played as appropriate accompanyment to the harpsichords and all three plauers are very experienced and very good.

[Franknputer]

OK - her's my 0.02...I'd think about 1/2 stick on the harpsi's (assunming they have that), get inside for isolation & "pluck", and maybe underneath as well, to get the soundboard. Let the players set up however they want, otherwise. Feed only one set of these mics to the PA for fill only, and try to do without - but keep it WAY down if you use 'em. For percussion, one or two directional condensers to create a 'zone' of pickup (depends on how many players, I guess) realizing that the bleed is going to be a factor (but this may be good for getting more harpsi tones). Finally, set up a pair of ambient overheads. (If you have to go with the PA, point the rear of the mics towards the speakers.) Godspeed, man... :D

[S_Gould]

Here's my 2¢ (+sales tax where applicable) : From my experience, when recording chamber concerts (which this performance sounds like a subset of) mic the performance, not the instruments. Unless the room sounds truely horrible, I'd go with a main stereo pair as close to the stage as you dare, and suppliment with room/ambience micing to fill it out. Even if your situation isn't conducive to this technique, LOSE the PA!! (Maybe you could get the musicians to relay the message for you - like refusing to play if the PA is on...) Scott

[offramp]

for some reason, when I saw the thread title, I thought it said 'recording harpsichord duSt', and my first thought was 'man, those gotta be some bitchin' sensitive mics...' ugh. more wine.

[jnorman]

right - absolutely NO PA system while trying to record this. if possible, you should do the recording during a dress rehearsal with no audience. if you must do it with audience, do not use your omnis - they'll kill you. i'd put a 4011 as a spot mic on each harpsichord, just inside the lid aimed at the hammers below middle C, and then use your neumann stereo mic in crossed cardioid (no fig 8 - too much room/audoence noise) as close in as you can comfortably get to the performers and still have a good instrument balance - blend to taste. good luck - that's a tricky one. oh yeah, if the house dude makes you use the PA, forget the front stereo mic, and close-mic each instrument in stereo - pair of 4011s on one, and the usm69 on the other - you will likely need to do some careful panning and add some digi reverb back in the studio if you do it like this.