What was recorded – Steinway Grand Piano, Soprano Voice, Flute, Harpsichord, Tenor voice, Marimba, Cellos, Alto Saxaphone, French Horn, Violin

Who was recorded – Various Performers

Time - Night

Place - Millfield Old Music Lodge

Equipment - Dell Inspiron 600m laptop with E-MU1616M audio interface, AKG C451B small-diaphragm condenser microphones – set up as an ORTF-pair. ORTF Pair was mounted from the ceiling about 3 metres away from stage, centered.

Format - Stereo WAV 24bit/48kHz

Project Size- 4.1GB

Comments -

Contrary from the previous Evening Recital which was recorded from the back of the room, this time the microphones were ceiling mounted much closer to stage – thus reducing the amount of room sound and audience noise (coughs and other weird sound). Also gone was the sound of passing traffic.

Pre-amps were set at low gain to prevent any clipping throughout the entire night, as different instruments had very different dynamic ranges.

For a quick set up, I think that this was quite successful. The stereo field comes out nicely in the cello ensemble.

Transient Response of the harpsichord was recorded nicely.

Demo1 – (Amelia Dowsett & Ng Hoong Ern) Excerpt from Bach’s Flute Sonata [mp3 192kbps 0:10 236kb]

The balance between the Harpsichord and the Flute was not to say the greatest – mainly because only one manual of the harpsichord was being used (the other was out of tune). And the flute is quite a piercing instrument. A few weird phasing issues arrised with one or two of the bass strings on the harpsichord, whereupon the sound sound be to one side of the stereo field.

Demo2 – (Laura Hammonds & Cello Group) Excerpt from Bruch’s Kol Nidrei [mp3 192kbps 0:10 236kb]

Other than a cello peg holder making clicking noises throughout the recording, I find that this recording brought out excellent stereo field response and separation between the five different cellos, who effectively were in a semi-circle around the microphones. Again some minor phasing issues with bass notes.

Demo3 – (Edwin Li // Strawberry Wang) Excerpt from Saint-Saens (1st 5secs), Excerpt from Bach’s Fugue (last 5secs) [mp3 192kbps 0:10 236kb]

The room swallowed and muffled the loud notes on the french horn, but there wasn’t anything much I could do. The room just doesn’t seem designed with french horn playing in mind. I think the violin sounds decent, although perhaps a little bright.