Stereo miking an orchestra/choir

[Jasper Blunk]

For the audio engineers.

Wondering if you have any advice on miking a 60-person orchestra plus 100-person choir. With just two mics! Stereo AB? How far should I space them... because I've heard you just put them at the conductor about 6 ft. apart. Can't I space them more and widen my stereo image?

Jasper

[Xplora]

Wow. In an era of 20+ mikes for a drumkit alone, 2 mikes for 160 different people sounds like a task beyond imagining.

[A.Leung]

Lol. I still remember the recording engineer showing up to record a cello here. He started to take out several mics and I thought a.) He was going to CHOOSE which mic he wanted to use or b.) he thought we had an ensemble we wanted him to record.

Nope - he said. THese are for one cello.... o - kay -then... Needless to say he did an awesome job.

[Peterkjones]

Oh wow, Jasper! I honestly don't think you can do very much and come up with anything like a quailty recording, especially with those numbers. Actually in the old days of Decca-type "ffrr stereoscopic" recording the theorists said you only needed two mono mikes placed six inches apart to replicate the human ears to create true stereo. Hmm! I have on one occasion managed to get something listenable to by using one good stereo mike with 120 degree spread placed centrally about 20 metres from the guy on the stick, reinforced by two good mono mikes inwardly directed either side of the platform about 5 metres out, but it was only a small ensemble and only for recreational purposes. Otherwise, I've no idea. Good luck. PKJ

[chest]

While you're waiting for something useful to arrive, I wonder if you'd find it interesting/helpful to read this forum discussion, started by someone who "had to record - officially, for FM radio broadcast - a professional symphony orchestra in a 3000+ seat hall" and got a successful (M-S) recording using two Sennheiser MKH mics:

http://www.2090.org/zoom/bbs/viewtopic.php?t=11501

I think it's well worth listening to the short specimen recordings (from "West Side Story" overture) linked in the first post there.

It's probably best to ignore all the enthusiasm in the thread for the Zoom H2 recorder - although, given that the recorder with its built-in mics costs perhaps only a tenth of the price of one of the two Sennheiser mics, it might sound a lot better than you'd expect - naturally, the Sennheiser recording blows the H2 away.

I suppose the crucial quesion is whether mics in that configuration/position would also pick up the choir well enough - and if you moved them nearer the choir, how much that would compromise the recording of the orchestra.