Videos

Dusty Chalk · June 23, 2016

*skullguise* · July 8, 2016

I wish this was recorded better, so cool that a youth orchestra backed her up. I love Mary's voice, so full of soul and emotion. Never got to see her live (she's touring now in my area, but we have plans all the possible days to see her). But I saw her back in 1994 with the band October Project. Their debut eponymous album is superb IMO.

Dusty Chalk · July 19, 2016

I still like Bent Knee because they're wilder and more varied, but damn if I'm not instantly in love. I think this might take second place for album of the year, if the rest of it as good as this.

*ironbut* · July 24, 2016

This kinda goes with my post regarding the upcoming release of Ron Howard's movie with the Beatles at Hollywood Bowl.

Here's the doc about Shea Stadium.

BTW, Robert Fine (of Mercury Living Presence fame) was flown to England to record overdubs to make the Beatle's vocals a little more acceptable.

Edited July 24, 2016 by ironbut

*Torpedo* · July 24, 2016

I've been watching quite a few of Tiny Desk concerts lately. I found this one today, and thought it was worth sharing with my mates here. It's a pity it's a bit short.

http://www.npr.org/event/music/403354930/diego-el-cigala-tiny-desk-concert

*CarlSeibert* · July 30, 2016

Cool. Unusual choice for a vocal mike though, eh?

Dusty Chalk · July 30, 2016

Looks like a Shure SM7b -- not sure what's unusual about that...but then I realized it was a little longer, so not sure what it is...

*ironbut* · July 30, 2016

They've been using the same mic forever.

For the most part, the set up is more like a field recording (and I believe that's on purpose).

It's a Sennhieser MKH 418 m/s shotgun mic (decoded to l/r stereo in post).

They like it because they never know how many folks are going to show up for the recording.

Super nice condenser and they price it accordingly!

For more details (if anybody cares?)

Unfortunately, many of the links are broken.

I used to mic these myself with a good stereo mic.
I love having the band play to the mic.
These days, our engineer Kevin Wait has been micing and mixing the shows.
Here are some of Kevin¹s thoughts
Hope it helps

All the best
Bob

Production Tools for NPR All Songs Considered Tiny Desk Concerts:

* In the spirit of the Tiny Desk Concerts, we don¹t always know beforehand
how many musicians will arrive or even what instruments/arrangements will be
played. After a quick set up we generally have the act play a half-song for
levels, and the show begins. For ease of use and flexibility, I have fallen
in love with the Sennheiser 418s mid/side stereo shotgun mic:
http://www.sennheiser.co.uk/uk/home_en.nsf/root/professional_wired-microphon
es_broadcast-eng-film_005284

* Besides the simplicity of ³a mic on a stand,² the mid/side configuration
allows the user to instantaneously (electronically) vary the width of the
stereo field. This allows the same mic to be ³focused² for a solo performer
or, on a moment¹s notice, a group of 10 or 12 (or 30) musicians. The 418s
has very low self-noise as well. Note: this mic by itself will NOT decode to
stereo. It will need to be mid/side decoded the old-fashioned way (3 faders,
phase-flip on a mixer, or by a device like the SD722 below!)
http://www.wikirecording.org/Mid-Side_Microphone_Technique

* The recorder is a Sound Devices 722:
http://www.sounddevices.com/products/722.htm
<http://www.sounddevices.com/products/722.htm> This recorder has fantastic
(forgiving) mic pre-amps and handily decodes the mid/side signal from the
418s into stereo L and R. It¹s menu includes requisite phantom 48V power,
high pass filters to keep the rumble out, and a super-nice limiter for when
levels get out of control.

* We have experimented lately with micing the host discreetly so the host
questions can be heard better in the mix. We add a Sennheiser Wireless
ENG100
http://www.sennheiser.com/sennheiser/home_en.nsf/root/professional_wireless-
microphone-systems_broadcast-eng-film_ew-100-series_021418 with a stock omni
lavaliere mic. This addition necessitates a small mixer. The other option is
to simply raise the level of ³chatter² in the stereo mix at post-production.
Both techniques are far from ideal but we strive to keep it technically
simple as to not disrupt spontaneity of the performances.

* The last step is mastering the audio. Even with great tools, the
limitations of the space include difficult mic placement, resonant surfaces
(lots of glass in the skinny end of the 635 Mass. Ave. building,) small
acoustic space, street noise, etc. I use Adobe Audition to EQ out annoying
resonant frequencies, then apply some normalization and slight compression
to get the hottest, most transparent signal to the web listener.

Final Thought: Having said that, truly, the success of the audio recording
is in the mic placement. Results similar to the NPR method can be realized
with any decent stereo recorder and a point-source stereo mic or stereo
array (2 mics properly arranged.) Most audio SD/CF flash recorders (Marantz
PMD-620, for example) have stereo mics built in. There is no set technique
to record music, though I find closer is better. Have your act/band stand
physically as close together as possible and aim your mics/device about
mouth level maybe 2¹-3¹ away. (Look at the Tiny Desk videos and can see our
mic (albeit low) in some of the shots.)

Edited July 30, 2016 by ironbut

Dusty Chalk · July 30, 2016

Okay, so Carl's right, it is unusual, innit? I mean, how many people close-mic with a shotgun?

Also, thanks for that! Music engineer nerd in me appreciates juicy details like that.

Also, it's right there at the beginning, in animated form.

*ironbut* · July 30, 2016

Interesting that Carl would initiate this discussion.

I say that because I believe that one of the reasons that particular mic was chosen is because it's a news station (and Carl is a news guy right?). If the engineer was from a music studio, they'd be using a different mic and set up for every act. It would be a cluster fuck almost every time and the OCD would choke the life out of the whole thing.

That 418 is probably about the best mic they have (probably under lock and key most of the time). And when you want to set up fast, you use what you know.

And using a hyper/super cardioid is a great choice when you're recording with audience members close by. The better the rear rejection the less you'll pick up people noise (Dan knows all about that).

The recordings sound great but the life and heart of the performances comes through so strong that it's hard to think about the sound.

*CarlSeibert* · July 31, 2016

Most interesting! News people are taught to fear shotguns indoors because first reflections from the source can hit the side vents and make the things comb filter in an ugly way. And Steve is also right that news people who don't work for NPR don't get to touch $1,600 microphones very often )