Please recommend mic/pre for high quality stealthy recording of live classical music

[cdwitmer]

I'm really getting mixed up trying to decide what microphone and/or preamplifier to buy. Please make some recommendations!

My daughter is a singing major at a local conservatory of music and she needs to have her performances recorded. Sometimes recordings can be made openly but sometimes "stealthy" recordings are necessary.

We have a Sony MZ-RH1 and a Korg MR-1, but so far the only microphone I have is the AT822. This has done a fine job with the MR-1 at venues where I could record openly.

Don't laugh, I actually tried to make stealthy recordings with the AT822 and as you might imagine it was a bit of a comedy of errors. (A pity too as twice in succession I screwed up recordings of my daughter singing in a competition that was important to her.) The first time I had the microphone going into the MR-1's line input instead of the mic input . . . you could hardly hear the recording. Amazingly when I boosted the level of the resulting recording by 30dB (!) in the computer it actually sounded amazingly good (all things considered). The second screw-up is harder to fathom . . . everything ought to have been PERFECT. I mean, the level was literally perfect. I had zero headroom remaining at the loudest point in the recording and yet I didn't go beyond that. On paper, I used almost 100% of the dynamic range of the recorder + microphone combination, and yet . . . the result sounded like my daughter was singing behind a curtain. I'm surmising that the reason may have been because of very poor microphone placement. I had placed the AT822 on a small, heavy desktop mic stand hidden inside my backpack, which was in turn placed on the open seat next to me -- and then I "buried" the AT822 under a folded overcoat so that just the element of the microphone was protruding from the pile, facing forward to record the music. I'm guessing that the AT822 needs to be more fully exposed to get good results . . .

As a result, I am now in the market for a suitably stealthy microphone, possibly in combination with a good pre-amp, etc.

Since I wear eyeglasses anyway I am thinking I should try a "croakie" mount as the most logical approach.

However, I am overwhelmed at the number of choices available and don't know what's best to choose.

Church Audio, Sound Professionals, Reactive, Green Machine, etc. . . . such a long list of makers!

Perhaps one could take the stance that "you can't go wrong with any of them" and I imagine that is likely true. But if any users here have any opinions as to what microphone and/or pre-amplifier, etc. represent the best quality (or the best value, if the quality of most makers is more or less on par with all the others), I would really be grateful for some advice.

To re-cap:

1) Recordings will be of live classical music only, almost always with singing (opera, choral works, art songs, etc.) involved. (I have younger children who are instrumentalists, so in the future I'll probably record them too. Right now singing is my main focus.)

2) Needs to be a reasonably stealthy setup.

3) Needs to be usable with Sony MZ-RH1 (single stereo 3.5mm plug) and Korg MR-1 (dual mono 3.5mm plugs) -- adapter or spare cable could take care of that.

4) I'm more interested in achieving high quality results than in saving money; however, it is NOT the case that "cost is no object." Obviously cheaper is better, all other things equal or nearly so.

5) Audiences are quiet and well-behaved, so ambient noise is not much of a problem.

One last question -- the Reactive Sounds SPA-2 has a clipping LED; does anyone have experience with it and care to comment on that function? Is Reactive the only maker including such indicators on their portable preamps? Messing with gain settings is a pain (although one can always err on the low side to be safe) and it seems that anything that can help one find the best gain setting in the dim light of a concert hall is a good idea . . .

Okay, I eagerly await your comments. THANKS VERY MUCH!

-- Chris Witmer, Tokyo

[Strungup]

Hey Chris , I am a sound guy , and I am in Yokohama , pm me so we can talk Phone number etc .

TC

Yokohama

[A440]

I record just about everything with Sound Professionals BMC-2 mics and a Microphone Madness Mini Classic battery module. For classical music, you might have to boost it a bit, or use a preamp instead of the battery module.

That's a low budget setup but very stealthy.

For something more elegant and pricey, you should take a look at

http://www.quietamerican.org/links_gear.html

He likes DPA mics, but with some second thoughts.

I can't get excited about that Reactive Sounds Preamp. I had one, I think the SPA-1, and it is an unnecessarily bulky design. The box has empty space inside, and what was he thinking of with that spiral telephone cord?

As I remember it, the clipping light didn't tell you that the MD was overloading, just the preamp itself. And it happened all the time with any amplified music, making the preamp useless for most of what I record.

I'm sure you can find smaller preamps. Since you're in Japan, and shipping from the US might be expensive, look on Ebay.

[cdwitmer]

A440, thanks for your kind advice. Both of the above respondents have been a great help to me. I'll track down the recommendations received from both and I'll also be sure to post back with my results. (May take a while.)

With gratitude,

-- Chris

[A440]

Actually, after reading on this board lately that Sound Professionals doesn't match its mics beyond 3dB, I'm taking back my recommendation of them. That's just not well-matched enough.

You should take up Guitarfxr on his offer of advice. I'm sure buying electronics in Japan offers many different options from the US or Europe. Ebay Australia seems to offer some preamps made there as well that might be worth looking into.

It does seem that all you need is little binaurals. So you could get super fancy ones like DPA or you could contact Greenmachine (PM him through this board, or go to his website) for his mics.

http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showt...aded&start=

[RockyJ]

Check out my recent vocal.

http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?autom...si&img=4323

[Markr041]

Check out my vocal recording - piano and soprano also, but recorded at max level and closer up.

http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?autom...si&img=4338