Yes, that’s indeed dynamic and it’s also why I like string quartets much when they are dynamic.
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cough…jazz trio
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Jazz Quartet please with sax and/or guitar
I think a quartet would be cool if they can fit everyone in the studio. I don’t know what their size limit is there. Also maybe they can record offsite and mix/produce back at the studio.
They don’t have to be in the studio all at once. As I understood for the last record this wasn’t the case. A lot of stuff was added after the initial recording.
Personally, I’d prefer they do a two microphone setup, if they can, so we can get proper 2 channel staging.
Maybe they can record them separately, stitch them back together somehow and do staging in post processing…not sure.
What is proper 2 channel staging?
Well, so a two channel recording setup(separate left and right microphones in a room) set a distance apart from each other. The microphones would be at a distance apart similar to the distance our speakers would be away from each other in a listening room and a distance from the musicians similar to the distance the listener would be from their speakers in their listening room.
So, the microphones would be in a configuration making it easier for the two channel speakers to reproduce the same staging/location of all the musicians in the room and provide good 3D immersion. This allows the listener to hear where all the instruments were at at the time of recording(side to side and front to back) - how big the room was etc. One microphone in a booth, isolated from all the other instruments doesn’t give that same 3D effect imo.
I’m not an authority on this…but I thought this is how it was done. Please correct me if I’m way off base.
I thought Paul did a video about this…I can’t find the video where he talks specifically about microphone placement but this is close -> HERE
Play nice.
We do not record by placing microphones at a distance apart similar to the distance our speakers would be away from each other in a listening room. I understand the thinking, and this does appear to be what Paul implies, but this is not what we do.
Typically a small ensemble is multi-micc’d and mixed to place the instruments where we want them in the soundstage. If two microphones are used, they are typically placed very close together (often one on top of the other with no space, or within a foot). This creates the soundstage image.
Do you find the typical jazz trio recording to have a good soundstage? Diana Krall recordings? Holly Cole? The typical rock recording?
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Hmm, I didn’t know that.
Is there a reason why they wouldn’t use two microphones separated apart from each other as I described? Intuitively it makes sense to do it that way.
Because microphones have a polar pattern which determines how they work. They hear very differently than our ears.
By the way, how do you like the sound of Mapleshade recordings? These are made with a pair of microphones, no processing.
Microphones and speakers are both essentially the same device - they’re both transducers. One is simply absorbing energy in and the other is emitting energy out. I still don’t fully understand how something like that wouldn’t work…I’ll have to read up on it.
The only reason it would make sense to me to have each instrument individually miced is if you wanted to adjust the levels of each instrument. For instance if the drums were much louder than the guitar you could then level them out in post processing. Or if you wanted to amplify each instrument for a large concert venue so people in the nose bleeds can hear. Again, it makes sense to me that, in both cases you would do this at the detriment of instrument location, room damping/decay etc.
I guess in post process you can do tricks to make it seem like the trumpet is to the left and piano is to the right. It just seems like the brain is gonna quickly feel that isn’t real.
Again, I don’t know what I’m talking about…but it’s just interesting to me that isn’t the way that audiophile level recordings are done. It may also be why alot of recordings sound strange and not like live acoustic performances.
I haven’t checked out Mapleshade recordings do they sound really bad? I’ll check them out.
So, I just checked this out…if this is what you were referring to:
https://shop.mapleshadestore.com/Recordings_c_11.html
These samples sound freaking amazing!!!
Please please listen to the sample tracks from -> HERE
The recording sounds great! Whatever they are doing I’d love if octave could do something similar.
Listen to the ‘Got my mojo workin’ sample.
Yes, this is the label and supplier of various audiophile tweaks, etc.
His recordings are very immediate and I suspected you would like them.
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Check out Chesky records as well. I suspect you will like some of Dr. Chesky’s offerings.
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I’d like to cast my vote for some properly mic’d gangsta rap on Octave Records.
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