Jonathan's blog

I have a large music collection, and today I wondered how physically large it might be in various obsolete formats (not including the playback equipment).

SD card	MiniDisc	CD
Cassette	LP	1/4" tape

In its current form, it is stored on a hard disk as 59GB of MP3 and other digital compressed formats. It has a total playing time of 718 hours – just a touch under a month.

OK, so EP was a slightly facetious choice of format for storing an entire music library, but if we compare the SD card to a stack of LPs, the LPs weighs 86,000 times more, and is 248,566 times larger. In fact, the LPs would be about the same size as a wheelie bin, and weigh as much as two people.

While the reel-to-reel tapes are a bit smaller, they also weigh almost half a ton!

If you’re curious about the definitions I’ve used in these back-of-the-envelope calculations, see the following section.

Definitions

• Audio CD – Playing time 80 minutes, in hard jewel case with paper inlay
• MiniDisc – Playing time 74 minutes, in hard case
• Cassette – C60 cassette, playing time 60 minutes, in standard hard plastic case
• Reel-to-reel – ¼” 1800′ tape on 7″ reel, 7½ips playback speed, playing time 48 minutes, in card box
• LP – 33¹/₃rpm 12″ vinyl, playing time 50 minutes, in thin card sleeve
• EP – 45rpm 12″ vinyl, playing time 25 minutes, in thin card sleeve

I’ve now recorded the choir of St Mary’s, Fishponds on a few occasions. I’ve found a formula I like for the choir, but I’m still undecided on what works best for the organ. This article gives a bit of an overview of the things I’ve tried, and the results.

Where everything is

Before I get stuck in, let’s see a diagram of the church so it makes more sense when I talk about microphone placement.

• The choir sit in the chancel of the church, which is narrower than the nave and has a lower ceiling.
• The organ is mounted on the wall above the main door, at the opposite end from the choir. The bases of the pipes are about 3m from the ground, and the whole assembly is probably 5m tall and 3m wide.
• I sit near the front of the church with my mixer, laptop and other kit.
• The nave of the church (not including the chancel) is approximately 20m long.

Microphones

• For the choir I’ve always used an XY pair of small-diaphragm condensers (Behringer C-2, approx £40 a pair). I’ve varied the position slightly to alter the balance between the men (who sit further left as we look at the diagram) and the ladies (nearer the right). I’m happy with the presence of the choir. The microphones lack a little bit for the basses and tenors, but the choir sound close and intimate with enough reverb to give a sense of open space.
• On most occasions I use a single large-diaphragm condenser (a Behringer B-1, approx £100) for the organ. I stick it on my tallest stand – just over 3m tall. This puts the microphone about level with the bottoms of the pipes, which is not ideal. It is a few metres away from the pipes, and I tilt it upwards to face towards the centre of the front diapasons (bearing in mind there are many shorter pipes behind the diapasons), so it collects a good mixture of sound. In general I’m happy with the sound of the organ captured by the B-1, although it’s only in mono. It has a pseudo-stereo feel when combined with the stereo feed from the choir mics, which pick up a lot of the organ’s reverb.
• On the most recent recording, I decided to use an XY pair of cheap dynamic mics (Behringer XM1800, approx £25 for 3) for the organ. I thought the true stereo effect added a lot, and the dynamic mics did a good job of capturing the low frequencies of the organ. However, being cheap dynamics, they produced quite a bit of noise (which I mainly removed on the computer) and the response to the very high harmonics wasn’t great.

Samples

It’s all good and well talking about it, but we should listen to some samples.

All of these recordings feature the XY small condenser mics for the choir (which also pick up stereo reverb from the organ). The difference here is choice of main organ mic.

Conclusions

• You’d think an expensive (ish) LD condenser would blow cheap dynamic mics out of the water. I don’t think that’s necessarily the case here, and I’m not sure why. I think it could be simply that the dynamic mics are working in stereo, and the LD condenser is just in mono.
• Perhaps this means the solution to my problem is to buy another B-1, and have the ability to record in stereo using an XY pair of LD condensers.

Mixing desk, that is.

I own a lot of recording kit, and in the past I attempted to set up a home recording business. It never took off, and in the end I only used it a handful of times, and to record some music with my then flatmate.

Since then, it’s sadly sat around gathering dust.

But this weekend I was asked to record the Passiontide Sequence evening choral service at St Mary’s church, Fishponds, based on an order of service called The Way of the Cross. It was pretty short notice and I was fairly disorganised (such as remembering on the afternoon that all but two of my microphone stands are in my parents’ attic!).

In the end, I thoroughly enjoyed tinkering and playing with the kit, and I’m extremely pleased with the outcome. Click the icon below to hear a sample – Trisagion VII from The Way of the Cross.

Trisagion VII

I haven’t recorded this choir or organ before, or done any work in the church itself. In the end I decided to use an XY crossed pair of small-diaphragm condensers in front of the choir stalls, and a single large-diaphragm condenser on a tall stand a few metres away from the organ pipes (above the door at the opposite end of the church).

Lessons learnt:

• Small-diaphragm condensers can be quite sibilant
• Small-diaphragm condensers are not great at picking up the lower frequencies (bass and tenor singers). Next time I will probably use a crossed pair of small-diaphragm condensers and a crossed pair of dynamic microphones to pick up the full range of frequencies and worry about blending the signals later.
• The organist suggested that the microphone was a bit too close to the organ and would probably be swamped by the high sound pressure level. As it turns out, SPL wasn’t a problem, but in future I will place the microphone a few feet further back to collect a more even and colourful image of the organ. Of course, pipe organ’s aren’t supposed to be listened to at five metres’ range, or your head will explode.
• I may try replacing the single large-diaphragm condenser for the organ with a pair of dynamic mics, to get the organ recorded in stereo too.
• Pipe organs make a lot of hissing from air leaks, which shows up in the recording as background hiss. Be prepared to do a some kind of intelligent noise reduction (rather than just cutting out all high frequencies, which also removes the letter S).
• Buildings like churches are always bigger than you think. I thought that a 10m cable would reach to the organ microphone, but I had to join 2 x 10m cables together. I will buy some 20m cables for next time!