Recording a Musical

[vinyldavid]

I have been debating whether to post this in Ones and Zeros or Pro Audio....I am using a redundant pair of Tascam DA-38's to record a musical at my former high school.

I've been hired to shoot the DVD, so I am doing 8 channel audio to a redundant pair of Tascam DA-38's, a 8 channel *digital* audio recorder that runs on Hi8 tape (I have 6 of these recorders). I have a pair of ...Shure BG4.1's hanging in the theatre under the front lighting baton (a couple rows back over the audience), a pair of Shure MX202 hanging mics inside chandeliers over the stage, a Rode shotgun hanging a couple feet off a cloud over the extreme front of the stage, as well as a postfader feed from the LS9 of all the wireless mics + reverb. All these things are run thru a Mackie SR24.4VLZ but each channel is only used for the trim pot. The BG's and hanging mics are each run thru one channel of a 4 channel Biamp limiter before going to the DA-38's.

These DA-38's can time delay each channel, so I have all the mics and feed time aligned the way I like them and it's sounding pretty darn good.

Here at home I am using another DA-38 and my Tascam M30 to monitor the tapes after the shows and figure out what I need to change for the next night. Tomorrow (sunday) is the last performance, and tonight I got it how I liked it...tomorrow I will just leave it with maybe a bit of repositioning of the BG's.

Pics tomorrow.

[vinyldavid]

Pictures!

Yours truly
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii317/kshefan/DRS2011/IMG_4085.jpg

Natural light my recording booth. Mackie SR24.4, pair of Tascam DA-38's (redundant pair), sony MDR-V6 headphones, Yamaha PC2002 power amp for main speakers since the Mackie FR1400 is troublesome. I used the Biamp 4 channel limiter on the hanging Shure BG4.1's and hanging Shure MX202's inside the chandeliers. Just to keep from overloading the Tascam DA-38's
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii317/kshefan/DRS2011/IMG_4062.jpg

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii317/kshefan/DRS2011/IMG_4064.jpg

The incredible set!
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii317/kshefan/DRS2011/IMG_4047.jpg
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii317/kshefan/DRS2011/IMG_4051.jpg
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii317/kshefan/DRS2011/IMG_4053.jpg

I actually put hanging mics inside the chandeliers!
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii317/kshefan/DRS2011/IMG_4072.jpg

and I had a shotgun mic hanging from one of those black clouds (not seen here)
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii317/kshefan/DRS2011/IMG_4054.jpg

Angle camera-Sony DXC-327a and Shure SM58 monitor mic
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii317/kshefan/DRS2011/IMG_4039.jpg

Center camera-Panasonic AQ-DP11 and Shure SM81 monitor mic
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii317/kshefan/DRS2011/IMG_4084.jpg
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii317/kshefan/DRS2011/IMG_4046.jpg

FOH console-Yamaha LS9-32
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii317/kshefan/DRS2011/IMG_4060.jpg

[teac3440]

Those DA38's are good units. How is the mackie perfomring David?

[vinyldavid]

Aaaaand pictures!

[R.Daneel]

Great stuff! This brings back many good memories.

[Nakdoc]

That is high school? Wow. The theater looks better than most college theaters!
I was going to post a detailed warning about phase shift as an actor moves downstage, but your time delay adjustments got that covered! The only suggestion I have is to try omnis out front. Omnis naturallybalance the pit orchestra, actors and audience / reverberation. I recorded many shows while a student at Oberlin college, and learned that proper mics and placement trumps multiple mics and a fancy mixer!

[vinyldavid]

That is high school? Wow. The theater looks better than most college theaters!
I was going to post a detailed warning about phase shift as an actor moves downstage, but your time delay adjustments got that covered! The only suggestion I have is to try omnis out front. Omnis naturallybalance the pit orchestra, actors and audience / reverberation. I recorded many shows while a student at Oberlin college, and learned that proper mics and placement trumps multiple mics and a fancy mixer!

They had an incredible set this time....it was a cut above normal. Their sound system is pretty hacked together (speakers hung incorrectly, LS9 not programmed correctly, amp dying, house snake dying, and a whole host of other issues).

I actually am using the hanging Shure BG4.1's as the main mics overall, with the LS9 feed mixed in. the mics over the stage (which would be most affected by the phase problems caused by movement) will generally only be up when characters are in one place, the chorus is singing, or I need some stage pickup that's not mic'd.

Recording with the staff of the school has always been a battle between ugliness vs. sound. I also don't have any omnis. if I could have, I would have had 2 to 3 omnis lining the stage, slightly up, and then some sort of mics (2-3 each) on the sidestages for pickup on all parts. The hanging Shure BG4.1's were a problem, but I convinced the director to let me leave them where I had them.

I far prefer using only a couple mics when I know I can get said mics where I want them, but every concert and event is different, and this time, having worked 2 musicals as a student, I felt that what I did was the best way to do things, as it allows me the most versatility in postproduction, at the expense of more of my time.

[Socal Sam]

That looks like huge fun! Excuse the newb question, is it better to mic or take the signal off the soundboard? How lively was the room and did you do anything to compensate in your mic setup?