Would love to mix a real orchestra...

[Ermz]

Just once....

Balancing dozens of tracks of sampled strings, brass etc. is cool and challenging, but no matter what you do to them, you're not going to create the same soundscape as a real orchestra playing together in a hall.

Would be an awesome break from metal. What say ye?

 

[Melb_shredder]

Go look up the youtube videos of Marty O'Donell (The dude who did all the Halo OST) and watch him talk about how much he loves recording orchestra elements haha!

 

[Mesa4x12er]

I have a friend in Austin that has recorded the symphony orchestra there. I say go for it!

 

[-Noodles-]

You know that these days orchestras are recorded in sections?
They'll all be seated together - but only the violins play, then brass etc. Edited together.

Most of the film and TV stuff from London is all done that way. Quicker, easier and gets a better sound according to those who do it!
Seems to be extremely rare that they'll track 'everyone together'.

 

[aramism]

You know that these days orchestras are recorded in sections?
They'll all be seated together - but only the violins play, then brass etc. Edited together.

Most of the film and TV stuff from London is all done that way. Quicker, easier and gets a better sound according to those who do it!
Seems to be extremely rare that they'll track 'everyone together'.

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

Just once....

Balancing dozens of tracks of sampled strings, brass etc. is cool and challenging, but no matter what you do to them, you're not going to create the same soundscape as a real orchestra playing together in a hall.

Would be an awesome break from metal. What say ye?

With live orchestras, you pretty much mix it when micing. Unless it's a salvage job, there can be surprisingly little to do in the mixing stage, at least compared to what we're used to with our sound replacers and re-ampings

 

[Skaldir]

With live orchestras, you pretty much mix it when micing. Unless it's a salvage job, there can be surprisingly little to do in the mixing stage, at least compared to what we're used to with our sound replacers and re-ampings

Yeah. There are a lot of old schoolers that even don't EQ anything.

 

[RandomAwesome]

Yeah. There are a lot of old schoolers that even don't EQ anything.

I guess I'm an oldschooler then, haha I find that the better the equipment I use and the more talented the artist, the less EQing I do. I'm recording a band right now where I'm using 6 mics on their Marshall/Orange stack. No EQ. The band before these guys were rocking a Vox AC30 for all their clean channel stuff. Again, no EQ at all.

So many of us studio nerds get wrapped up in GASing about this, or figuring out some VST setting for that, to the point where we forget our primary task - capturing sound. If it sucks at the source, it's not going to get much better with EQ, compression, reverb, pre-amps, etc.

But back to orchestration. I'd LOVE to record something like that. Again, if you have a talented group of professional musicians, you'd be surprised at how easy this might be to mix. Acoustic instruments, like French horns, violins, cellos, timpani, etc. are so incredibly dynamic and don't require anything but the instrument and the musician to be heard. Therefore, all of your tone comes from the player, so it's just up to mic placement and mixing.

 

[Uros]

Yep, I have assisted in something similar a couple of times (working on a TV station, so we mic orchestras from time to time, it's pretty rare tho), and yeah, I'd say that you do eq by mic placing, if that makes any sense. Of course that it's all mixed on a console during the live airing, but nothing special (gating, lp/hp, some high shelving), and that's all. Of course that for an actual CD recording EQ will be somewhat more involved, but nowhere near your typical modern rock/metal mix.

Acoustic instruments, like French horns, violins, cellos, timpani, etc. are so incredibly dynamic and don't require anything but the instrument and the musician to be heard

Of course they do, 1176 all-buttons-in style, pin that motherfucker.

 

[Skaldir]

I wanted to add I would recommend everybody to once attend a concert where a big orchestra is playing a nice symphony.
It was a magical moment for me atleast.

 

[Ermz]

You know that these days orchestras are recorded in sections?
They'll all be seated together - but only the violins play, then brass etc. Edited together.

Most of the film and TV stuff from London is all done that way. Quicker, easier and gets a better sound according to those who do it!
Seems to be extremely rare that they'll track 'everyone together'.

Oh absolutely. Brass would absolutely flood into every mic otherwise. Of course you'd record sections!

 

[RemoWilliams]

Recording in sections is done a lot today, though at times they record the orchestra all together for certain cues I think as well
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4kmgCT-IZ8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4kmgCT-IZ8[/ame]

I wanted to add I would recommend everybody to once attend a concert where a big orchestra is playing a nice symphony.
It was a magical moment for me atleast.

And +1 to this. I go to as many performances as I can and if possible like to sit in on rehearsals to see the interaction between the orchestra and conductor.

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

Oh absolutely. Brass would absolutely flood into every mic otherwise. Of course you'd record sections!

A lot of orchestra recordings are done live with the whole orchestra playing and the most of the performance being captured by the main pair with the spot/section mics just supporting wherever needed.

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

Seems to be extremely rare that they'll track 'everyone together'.

Not around here, at least. Then again, I'm talking about capturing a concert, not soundtrack stuff or such.

 

[Uros]

There is a story going on among local AEs on the TV about certain engineer which had managed to find the spot for SINGLE mic and capture ENTIRE symphonic orchestra with it. But that was like 30 years ago, before the hall which majority of symphonic orchestras events use to play was renovated. After that, they have never managed to do that again. Just goes to show that newer is not necessarily better.

 

[Skinny Viking]

I wanted to add I would recommend everybody to once attend a concert where a big orchestra is playing a nice symphony.
It was a magical moment for me atleast.

+1

 

[Mago]

From what I heared about recording Orchestra so far is that the close mics are really just there to help out, with the mainpair capturing the majority of the performance...as Jarko pointed out allready.
Also everyone performing at once that that point.
But I also guess that's mostly about recording a concert rather than a soundtrack.

And a big fucking +1 to once sit in a great concert hall with an orchestra.
The first time I was there I was amazed by how awesome and clear it sounded without mics and speakers and the usual metal jazz.
I that was quite a bit before I dedicated as much time into audio as I do now.

 

[OneDaySky]

Hey Ermz, I've mixed many orchestras, I work in a theatre as my day job. I actually recorded 1 once, 16 channels, was a small orchestra. But I've done 70 piece orchestra's before. If you'd like I can try dig up the recording? Did it on a Yamaha PM5D version 2, over KAT5 cable out of a Dante' card into cubase on a Macbook pro.

 

[Ermz]

That'd be great!

 

[LeSedna]

that would be awesome yeah !

In classical there are many schools, I've even heard of some soloist who edit their performances in dozens of sections, just like we do when we record a song. I would be surprised though if the biggest orchestras were recorded section by section, do they edit to a grid ? Cause most symphonies have really complicated tempo changes, we're not talking about a hollywood movie soundtrack. So does the conductor follow a grid in such a case ?

I remember reading about this Decca tripod, I think it's more or less a M/S recording technique ? They capture the overall result, placed on top of the orchestra, and you blend them with close mics to taste.