So some may remember this thread back in the summer about the gig I got to record the Civil War Brass Band my Dad plays in, the Federal City Brass Band; they do it for fun, but these guys are no group of amateurs, many of them have professional experience playing in military service bands or (in the case of my Dad) being a pro musician most of his adult life. Also, the heads of the band (the band director and his wife) are also the heads of the nonprofit organization the National Association for Civil War Brass Music, and let's just say that they made certain I was compensated accordingly 
So in early July, my Dad and I drove down to the area around UMBC (University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where the director of the band also teaches), but first stopped off to pick up our rental gear, a pair of AKG c414 ULS TLII's (apparently one of the best of the like 6 varieties of c414 that have been made over the years) and a John Hardy 990 2-channel preamp
However, the gear at UMBC was hardly sub-par either; we recorded in this auditorium:
And here's the booth:
Two of the students from the recording program there helped me out; he had access to all the mics from their main studio facilities, and we certainly used 'em So all told, there were 15 mics:
-Some pair of Oktava SDC's for an XY pair above the conductor's head (permanently installed)
-Some pair of widely spaced Peluso Omni SDC's at the stage line, and some omni AKG hanging straight down over the conductor's head (for a sort of Decca Tree setup, also permanently installed)
-A blumlein pair of the c414's we rented, behind the conductor (SO glad I used these despite the above 5, they captured so much more of the room sound which was great to have - thanks to Lydon for the suggestion in the other thread!)
-This was the idea of one of the resident students: a pair of PZM mics taped to either side of a sheet of plexiglass for the cornet spot mics (worked well at isolating bleed because all the cornets were in a pretty tight semi-circle, with the Eb's on one side and the Bb's on the other). Here's a pic
-Then individual spot mics on all the other sections, here's a pic of that (that's my Dad sitting down playing, and no, his hair was not buzzed super-short
)
From farthest to closest, it was a Shure KSM141 on the altos, a Neumann TLM193 on the tubas, another KSM141 on the baritone, yet another KSM141 on the snare top (notice the rigid fiberglass panel blocking the snare, the band manager, the band director's wife, seriously has a complex about the snare being too loud ), a D112 on the bass drum (not pictured), and some bizarre expensive ribbon mic on the tenors (the dangling one, believe it or not that's how it's supposed to be, those are elastic straps and function as its shockmount )
Preamps were 7 channels from an Octopre LE running via ADAT into a 002 console, then 6 channels from a True Systems P8 (great preamp, but HOT) running into the first 6 analog in's, and the rented John Hardy preamp running into the other two analog in's.
Phew, I think that covers it! Mixing all those different mics was a challenge, but I had fun with it, and now, after months of sending all the takes to the band director/manager (again, husband/wife), having them listen to them all and decide which to have me splice together, mixing, more mixing, and lots of waiting, it's pretty much finished! So here's an example:
FCBB - Freedom Quickstep.mp3
Any questions, just ask! And one thing to mention; these are all authentic Civil War period-correct instruments, including mouthpieces, so while you will undoubtedly hear some mistakes and intonation issues, it's pretty much expected with that degree of historical accuracy!
EDIT: Also, here's a piece from the recording session on the second day (Sunday), see my reply near the top of pg. 2 for info as well as raw tracks for those who wanna give mixing it a try!
So in early July, my Dad and I drove down to the area around UMBC (University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where the director of the band also teaches), but first stopped off to pick up our rental gear, a pair of AKG c414 ULS TLII's (apparently one of the best of the like 6 varieties of c414 that have been made over the years) and a John Hardy 990 2-channel preamp
However, the gear at UMBC was hardly sub-par either; we recorded in this auditorium:
And here's the booth:
Two of the students from the recording program there helped me out; he had access to all the mics from their main studio facilities, and we certainly used 'em
So all told, there were 15 mics:-Some pair of Oktava SDC's for an XY pair above the conductor's head (permanently installed)
-Some pair of widely spaced Peluso Omni SDC's at the stage line, and some omni AKG hanging straight down over the conductor's head (for a sort of Decca Tree setup, also permanently installed)
-A blumlein pair of the c414's we rented, behind the conductor (SO glad I used these despite the above 5, they captured so much more of the room sound which was great to have - thanks to Lydon for the suggestion in the other thread!
)-This was the idea of one of the resident students: a pair of PZM mics taped to either side of a sheet of plexiglass for the cornet spot mics (worked well at isolating bleed because all the cornets were in a pretty tight semi-circle, with the Eb's on one side and the Bb's on the other). Here's a pic
-Then individual spot mics on all the other sections, here's a pic of that (that's my Dad sitting down playing, and no, his hair was not buzzed super-short
)From farthest to closest, it was a Shure KSM141 on the altos, a Neumann TLM193 on the tubas, another KSM141 on the baritone, yet another KSM141 on the snare top (notice the rigid fiberglass panel blocking the snare, the band manager, the band director's wife, seriously has a complex about the snare being too loud
), a D112 on the bass drum (not pictured), and some bizarre expensive ribbon mic on the tenors (the dangling one, believe it or not that's how it's supposed to be, those are elastic straps and function as its shockmount )Preamps were 7 channels from an Octopre LE running via ADAT into a 002 console, then 6 channels from a True Systems P8 (great preamp, but HOT) running into the first 6 analog in's, and the rented John Hardy preamp running into the other two analog in's.
Phew, I think that covers it! Mixing all those different mics was a challenge, but I had fun with it, and now, after months of sending all the takes to the band director/manager (again, husband/wife), having them listen to them all and decide which to have me splice together, mixing, more mixing, and lots of waiting, it's pretty much finished! So here's an example:
FCBB - Freedom Quickstep.mp3
Any questions, just ask! And one thing to mention; these are all authentic Civil War period-correct instruments, including mouthpieces, so while you will undoubtedly hear some mistakes and intonation issues, it's pretty much expected with that degree of historical accuracy!
EDIT: Also, here's a piece from the recording session on the second day (Sunday), see my reply near the top of pg. 2 for info as well as raw tracks for those who wanna give mixing it a try!
