Recording Classical Pipe Organ

[guru48]

I am into recording classical pipe organ and was wondering if anyone else has done this and what microphones you use. I know that omnis are the best for this situation and would like some suggestions. I have $500 to spend and can either go throught a mixer or straight to the minidisc. Any help would be appreciated.

[Tourist]

I can't afford the mics, but the wonderful ambient recordings at www.quietamerican.com are done with the DSM microphones here, where they also talk about how to record a 360-degree soundfield like a pipe organ (search for it on the page). Boy, does this guy like his CAPS and exclamation points!!!!!!!!!

http://www.sonicstudios.com/multitrk.htm

Basically it suggests using a pair of omnis and either a human or simulated head.

If you already have any decent mic, see if your bass pedals overload the MD's mic preamp, because you might have to roll off the bass or attenuate the sound, in which case a mixer with EQ might help.

[ozpeter]

I know that omnis are the best for this situation and would like some suggestions.

Personally I'd recomment an MS mic (or mics, though an MS pair using two separate mics plus a suitable preamp would be way over your budget) because most pipe organs are designed with the building they are situated in in mind, and MS mic techniques tend to be best at capturing the acoustic of a location as well as the instrument itself. Consider perhaps the most expensive Sony mic with an MS prefix to the model number that you can afford. However, I'll confess that this is very much a matter of personal taste! You may also need to think in terms of a tall mic stand unless this is for stealth recording.

(As far as I know, the AKG Blue Line series of mics is the cheapest way of putting together a proper MS pair - it's the figure-of-eight mic that's the problem as they don't come cheap. You can record in MS and decode it to A/B in software when editing, but if you want to monitor in A/B you'll need to decode (dematrix?) on location using a mixer. There are arguments against the 'standard' trick of using three mixer channels - Phonic used to produce a small and quite cheap mixer that had M/S decoding built in, but I think it's no longer available. The Sennheiser MZA-MS1 (?) psu/preamp will do the job nicely but it's also not cheap).

[dex Otaku]

Side issue to the mics:

The ADCs on HiMDs at least don't appear to have much of an ultrasonic filter on them [i.e. cutting off response above about 20kHz]. Pipe organs can produce fairly "loud" ultrasonics; those ultrasonics create harmonic distortion at the same amplitude but in the audible domain [with a meeting point at ADC's Nyquist frequency].

If you're using mics that have decent response well into the ultrasonic you need to use a lowpass filter before the ADCs or you will get audible distortion that will also interfere with lossy compression schemes. Sometimes this can be heard as distortion or artifacting that you can't otherwise place a reason for the existence of.

[ozpeter]

Interesting, dex Otaku.

Actually, last weekend I thought I had recorded something which might seriously upset my NH900 - it was a coloratura soprano (the loud squeaky kind), about 6 feet from very good mics, doing a very high trill and glissando - my headphones didn't like it much, but when I got home and recorded it into the PC, it came up clear as a bell with no audible artifacts (well, audible to me). Frankly it was the kind of thing which might split a mic diaphragm let alone upset ATRAC! So - well done Sony again.

But as you say, organs can go even further.

[Christopher]

Would this be a job for the Radio Shack Volume Attentuator if things got out of control ultrasonic-wise, or would that cause degredation that would make the recording less robust in presentation?

[A440]

The attenuator probably degrades the whole signal, especially the little RS version. It doesn't matter at a rock concert, but it might when using good mics in a quiet church.

And if a screaming, trilling soprano isn't a problem for Ozpeter's MD, then it would be a shame to dull the amazing sound of a pipe organ, which doesn't usually get ear-splitting unless the organist is really blasting the bombardes. I'd think good mics alone if possible, then some low-pass filtering if absolutely necessary.

I saw, incidentally, that Core Sound offers a solid-looking 11db or 20db attenuator, but says not to use it with mics that need plug-in power. Back to square one.