Randolph Singers Concert 12/6/15 Recording Technical Data

This recording was produced by Christopher Smith on December 6, 2015, at Chandler Center for the Arts in Randolph, Vermont. The audience occupied the main floor as well as the balcony, and the chorus stood in front of the proscenium, on risers that cover the orchestra pit. The main stage curtain was left open and no shell was used behind the chorus. The program was Rachmaninoff's Vespers.

The Randolph Singers in concert, December 6, 2015 (Singers, 2015).  

Two separate recording systems were utilized: a Tascam DR-40 was placed on the shelf in front of the balcony [the 'balcony' tracks], and a Fostex MR-8 was used in the uppermost balcony. Two unmodified Realistic PZM microphones were placed facing frontward, on the top banister of the balcony railing [the 'PZM tracks']. Notices were posted, warning patrons of the active (and very 'hot') mics placed at the top of the stairs. The placement of these mics, just beneath the curved upper edges of the theater, was critical in capturing the full sound of the chorus. At the close of the performance, four discreet tracks (captured at 16 bit, 44.1khz) had been successfully captured.

View of the interior of Chandler Music Hall, from the upper corner of the first balcony (GBA, 2015).

(Mic Hawk, 2015). 

The PZM microphones-- being each powered by a AA battery-- were far more successful in capturing the frequency range and dynamics of the chorus. While the stereo track produced by the Tascam DR-40 alone is a quality representation of the performance, the PZM mics captured quiet passages and the ambiance of the theater far better than the center-placed Tascam: this may be related to the architecture of the room, the physics of the microphones themselves, or simply my personal preference.

In post-production, experimentation in mixing these two sources together yielded interesting results-- though, in the end, the most unadulterated mix proved most enjoyable. Using the program Reaper, the 'balcony tracks' were placed in the center of the stereo field, and the 'PZM tracks' were each panned to 60% left and right, respectively. This mix provided what seemed to be the best sense of stereo separation. As no time coding was used, the two sets of tracks were synched manually.  The sound of the chorus within Chandler Music Hall was tremendous; thus, artificial reverberation was not applied to any track, or the final mix.

Tascam DR-40. (Stevens, 2015). 

Equalization of each set of tracks also proved difficult; the final product represents the most minimal modification to the frequency response captured by both recording systems. I tried a variety of notch filters and bass-cut methods, to remove some rumble from the 'PZM tracks,' but those results were consistently detrimental to the sound of the bass and baritone singers (across the broad range of 31-125Hz). The 'PZM tracks' also suffered from chronic electrical hum, likely related to the system being plugged in to the venue's 110v AC wiring. For this reason alone, the battery-operated Tascam DR-05 is a preferable (and far more portable) device. In fact, the Tascam DR-05 is able to capture more than two discreet tracks simultaneously; for this occasion, I was interested in having redundant systems at work, in case of battery failure or operator error. The final mix was rendered in Reaper and edited in Cool Edit Pro. For the best listening experience, each track was normalized independently.

This recording will be posted to YouTube, and will be played in its entirety on The Superhero Sandbox, my weekly program on WFVR 96.5FM South Royalton, on Christmas Eve 2015 (and will also be available for streaming live and on-demand at wfvr.org).  

References: 

GBA Architecture. (2015). Chandler Center for the Arts. Retrieved from http://gbarchitecture.com/projects/chandler-center-for-the-arts/

Mic Hawk. (2015). Musical Instruments and Gear. Retrieved from http://mic-hawk-vintage-microphones.myshopify.com/collections/musical-instruments-gear-pro-audio-equipment-vintage-pro-audio-equipment/condition-good?page=7

Randolph Singers, The. (2015). Welcome to the Randolph Singers. Retrieved from http://www.randolphsingers.org/

Stevens, L. (14 Oct. 2015). How to record a remote podcast. Retrieved from http://howtomakeapodcast.org/6-how-to-record-a-remote-podcast-part-1/