Classical Recording by Haigh, Caroline -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Cover Half Title Series Title Copyright Dedication Contents Acknowledgements Introduction Glossary of terms, acronyms, and abbreviations Glossary of recording attributes Part I Before recording

1 Acoustics and the recording venue

1.1 Brief introduction to room acoustics 1.2 What to be aware of when looking at a venue 1.3 What can you do to help with poor acoustics?

2 Studio techniques and working on location

2.1 Equipment 2.2 Practicalities at the recording venue 2.3 Rigging microphones and running cables 2.4 The control room 2.5 Studio communications: talkback, telephones, and cue lights 2.6 Optimising recording workflow 2.7 Running the session

Part II Recording

3 Basic two-microphone stereo techniques

3.1 Co-incident microphone techniques 3.2 Spaced omnis 3.3 Spaced and angled cardioids

4 Solo instruments

4.1 Classical guitar and flamenco guitar 4.2 Harp 4.3 Violin 4.4 Cello 4.5 Woodwinds 4.6 Harpsichord

5 The piano

5.1 The nature of the sound of a piano 5.2 The physical layout of a grand piano 5.3 The piano lid 5.4 Recording aims 5.5 Recording a solo piano: the spaced pair 5.6 The Decca piano technique 5.7 Techniques for other scenarios 5.8 Practical issues when recording pianos

6 Voice: solo and accompanied

6.1 The singer in a recording session 6.2 The classical voice and microphone placement 6.3 Using two microphones on the voice 6.4 Microphone choice 6.5 Use of ambient pairs 6.6 Concert recording layout 6.7 Studio recording and reverse concert positions 6.8 Classical voice and lute/theorbo/guitar 6.9 Mixing and fader riding for a singer

7 Solo instruments and piano

7.1 Violin and piano in concert 7.2 Violin and piano: studio layout 7.3 Cello and piano in concert 7.4 Cello and piano: studio layout 7.5 Woodwind and piano 7.6 Brass and piano

8 The Decca Tree

8.1 What is the Decca Tree? 8.2 The three- and five-microphone trees 8.3 The four-microphone Decca Tree 8.4 Microphones for the Decca Tree 8.5 Mounting the tree 8.6 Notes on the evolution of the Decca Tree

9 Ancillary microphones

9.1 What do we mean by ‘ancillary’? 9.2 Perception of orchestral depth and perspective 9.3 General notes on placement of ancillary microphones 9.4 Panning and levels of ancillary microphones 9.5 Woodwinds 9.6 Brass 9.7 Percussion 9.8 Double bass section 9.9 Other string sectional microphones 9.10 Harp 9.11 Celeste

10 Surround sound techniques

10.1 Purpose of surround sound in classical music recording 10.2 Panning a Decca Tree in 5.1 surround 10.3 Natural reverberation: additional microphones for 5.1 surround 10.4 Artificial reverberation in 5.1 surround 10.5 Offstage effects in surround: location of sources behind the listener 10.6 Object-based audio: Dolby Atmos

11 Solo instruments and orchestra

11.1 Piano concerto: studio layouts 11.2 Single piano concerto: concert layout 11.3 Piano concerto conducted from the keyboard 11.4 A note on the size of the grand piano 11.5 Violin concerto: studio layouts 11.6 Violin concerto: concert layout 11.7 Wind concertos: studio and concert layouts 11.8 Cello concerto: studio and concert layouts 11.9 Guitar concerto: studio layout 11.10 Brass concertos: studio and concert layouts 11.11 Percussion concertos

12 Chamber ensembles

12.1 String quartet in studio layout 12.2 String quartet in concert 12.3 Piano quintet: studio and concert techniques 12.4 Piano quintet: reverse-seated studio position 12.5 Piano trio: studio and concert techniques 12.6 Small wind ensembles: studio or concert layout

13 Wind, brass, and percussion bands

13.1 A note about dynamic range and ear protection 13.2 Large wind ensembles 13.3 Classical brass ensemble 13.4 Brass band 13.5 Percussion ensembles

14 Organ

14.1 Brief introduction to the pipe organ 14.2 Doing a venue reconnoitre 14.3 Microphone choices, stands, and cable runs 14.4 Basic technique: straightforward organ layout 14.5 Organs with pipe divisions in several locations 14.6 Interesting acoustic effects and other awkward corners 14.7 Monitoring limitations 14.8 Communication: talk microphone 14.9 Noise 14.10 Electronic organs 14.11 Organ with orchestra: overdubbing or simultaneous recording 14.12 Organ pitch 14.13 Sampled organs

15 Choirs

15.1 General notes on microphone choice and placement 15.2 Choir spacing 15.3 Small choir 15.4 The choral society 15.5 Choral society with soloists and organ in concert 15.6 Antiphonal church choir

16 Solo voice, orchestra, and choir

16.1 Orchestra and choir 16.2 Orchestra and choir with stationary soloists 16.3 Recording live opera for cinema, DVD, TV, radio, or CD 16.4 Recording live opera at the Royal Opera House: microphone set-ups 16.5 Mixing opera to 5.1 surround for cinema

Part III After the recording session

17 Mixing

17.1 Choosing and blending microphone sources into a static balance 17.2 Riding levels on ancillary microphones 17.3 Use of EQ and high-pass filters 17.4 Use of delays 17.5 Reverb: natural and artificial 17.6 Riding overall levels

18 Editing and post-production

18.1 Aims and philosophy of editing 18.2 Requirements of a classical editing system 18.3 Source-destination editing 18.4 Classical post-production workflow 18.5 Refining edits: how to solve problems and maintain musical flow 18.6 Notes on working with different instruments 18.7 Overdubbing scenarios 18.8 Emergency measures: sampling piano notes and note removal 18.9 Professional finish: joining into room tone

19 Mastering

19.1 Noise removal 19.2 Changing the sound 19.3 Tops and tails: room tone, breaths, noises, and fades 19.4 Levels between tracks, compression, and loudness meters 19.5 Placing track markers for CD mastering

Appendices

Appendix 1 Opera recording: practices at Decca from the 1950s to the 1990s Appendix 2 Cheaper alternatives to classic microphones Appendix 3 Original session set-up sheets Appendix 4 Orchestral layout notation

Bibliography and further reading Index

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