Category Archives: Cello

Recording the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square & Millennial Choirs and Orchestras with Royer

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Jason Graham, Recording and Broadcast Engineer for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, explains how he uses ribbon mics when recording The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square (formerly Mormon Tabernacle Choir) and also The Millennial Choirs and Orchestras.

Preamplifier and placement information is included in the video. The songs featured in the video are included below in their entirety. 

Mics used:

SF-24V: Choir, Oipe Organ, Room
SF-2: Choir
SF-24: Sections
R-122V: Strings
R-121 Harp
dBooster: support Woodwind mics

Amazing Grace

Be Still My Soul

Bile Them Cabbage Down

Come, Come Ye Saints

Erlkonig

Darlingside

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Recorded live at the Folk Alliance Convention, in the Sweetwater/Royer/Mojave Pop-Up Studio

Stereo Room Mic – SF-24
Cello – SF-2
Violin & Violinist Vocal – SF-2
Acoustic Guitar (left, into small guitar amplifier) – R-122V
Foot Taps – Mojave Audio MA-100’s
Acoustic guitar (right) – Mojave MA-300
Vocals – Mojave Audio MA-1000, MA-300, MA-301

Darlingside came into our Pop-Up studio with a few friends and a ton of energy, worked out the final details of the song on the spot, then killed it in this beautiful take.

Engineers: Dan Ankney, Nathan Heironimus
Mixed by Dan Ankney

Recording Chain: Royer Labs and Mojave Audio microphones fed into Universal Audio 8p’s. Recorded to Pro Tools.
Sweetwater Studios, Royer Labs and Mojave Audio set up a portable Pop-Up studio in a hotel conference room at the 2016 Folk Alliance Convention in Kansas City and recorded a number of artists and groups attending.

Darlingside “Birds Say” (© Darlingside)

Winona Zelenka

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Cello – R-122

Engineer/Producer; Ron Searles

In these two videos, Ron Searles uses ribbon microphones to record cellist Winona Zelenka playing an extraordinary 1707 Joseph Guarnerius cello.

Recording chain: R-122’s into True Systems Precision 8 mic pres. Recorded to ProTools in 24/96.

“Six Suites for Solo Cello” (J.S. Bach)
This educational video shows three R-122 active ribbon microphones place in a modified Decca Tree configuration. Engineer Ron Searles discusses the importance of ribbons on bowed instruments, the usefulness of the figure-8 pattern in controlling room reflections, achieving natural sounding recordings using ribbons, and more.
Winona-Cello2-tn

 

“Intermezzo e Danza Finale” (Cassado)
Two R-122 active ribbon microphones positioned above the cello.
Winona-Cello-tn

Hans Zimmer

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Clarinet – SF-12
Cello – SF-12

Recorded and mixed by Alan Meyerson. Producer: Hans Zimmer.
Recorded at The Newman Scoring Stage, 20th century Fox.

SF-12 stereo ribbon microphone on cello and clarinet. The high, eerie, sweet melody is an overdubbed cello section playing harmonics, recorded with a single SF-12. The clarinet melody was also recorded on one SF-12. From the 20th Century Fox movie “The Thin Red Line.”

“Light”, from “The Thin Red Line” (Hans Zimmer)

Ukrainian Radio and Television Orchestra

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Full Orchestra – SF-12 Stereo Ribbon

Engineer/Producer: Russell Dawkins
Recorded at the studios of the Ukrainian Radio/Television Orchestra, Kiev.

Recording chain: One SF-12 stereo ribbon microphone with 35-feet of Monster cable connected to a Studio Technologies mic pre, then 6-feet of Monster cable to an Apogee A/D converter, to coaxial cable to the digital ‘in’ on a portable DAT machine. No compression or reverb used.

This exceptional recording of a full orchestra was made on one SF-12 stereo ribbon microphone, positioned over the conductor’s head, at a distance that achieved a nice balance of the orchestra and hall ambience. We use this recording regularly in seminars, as it’s a wonderful example of the amazingly natural reproduction a high-quality ribbon microphone is capable of delivering. The off-axis response is perfect, transients are natural with no overshoot or ringing, and the flat frequency response captures the full range of the orchestra with no peaks or dips anywhere throughout the frequency range.

Sergei Prokofiev – “Romeo and Juliet, Suite No. 2”

 

 
Sergei Prokofiev – “Romeo and Juliet, Suite No. 2” excerpt 2

Ben Sollee

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Vocals – R-122
Cello – R-122

Recorded by Stephen Schauer
Recorded at Deep End Ranch, Santa Paula, CA.

Recording chain: All mics recorded straight into a Tascam HS-p82, at 96/24.

Recording notes:
One R-122 off the front of the cello, tipped up to bring the vocal into the mix.
For ambience, a spaced pair of Mojave Audio MA-101fets were positioned 5 feet back from the cello and above the frame of the A cam, set for omni and mixed back 6-7db, panned hard left and right.

Producer: Stephen Schauer
Camera: Jonathan Saunders, Lane Stroud, Stephen Schauer
Audio: Stephen Schauer

Letting Go (Ben Sollee)

Ben

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Marshall Ruffin and Ben Sollee

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Vocals – R-122
Cello – R-122
Acoustic Guitar – R-122

Recorded by Stephen Schauer
Recorded at Deep End Ranch, Santa Paula, CA.

Cellist Ben Sollee and guitarist Marshall Ruffin perform an impromptu duet during their visit to Deep End Ranch, Santa Paula, CA.

Recording chain: R-122 and MA-101fet’s recorded straight into a Tascam HS-p82 portable multi track recorder at 96/24.

Recording Notes:
The R122 is a great, rich, versatile mic. It’s the main pickup, positioned between Ben and Marshall. I used a pair of Mojave Audio MA-101fets in omni as a spaced pair just out of frame, mixed back 7 or 8db to give a sense of space. The room sounded a bit boxy, so I did everything I could by positioning the 122 so as to not wrestle with the room.
-Stephen Schauer

Marchall-and-Ben

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Producer: Stephen Schauer
Camera: Jonathan Saunders, Lane Stroud, Stephen Schauer
Audio: Stephen Schauer

Sixpence None The Richer

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Electric Guitar – R-121
Cello – R-121

Engineer, Russ Long. Producer, Steve Taylor.
Recorded at The White House and The Carport, Nashville, TN.
From the Squint Entertainment – Elektra/Asylum release “There She Goes”.

This track was recorded while Russ Long was reviewing the R-121 for Pro Audio Review Magazine in 1999 (read review).

Two R-121’s used to record all electric guitars and cello.

Interestingly, the lead vocal on this track (and also on the Sixpence hit “Kiss Me”) was sung on a Coles 4038 ribbon microphone, highly equalized to approximate the performance of a condenser microphone. Ribbons are extremely EQ-friendly, so don’t be afraid to turn the knobs!

“There She Goes” (L.A. Mavers)

Holly Brook (Skylar Grey)

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Cello – R-122

Engineered and mixed by Ross Hogarth
Recorded at Stagg Street Studio, Van Nuys, CA.

Multiple cello tracks played by Cameron Stone, recorded with one R-122.

Recording chain: One R-122 into an API console pre. Recorded to Pro Tools HD. No compression or EQ.

“All Will Be Forgotten” (Holly Brook)


String Quartet – Microphone Comparisons

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Strings – SF-24, R-122, R-122V
Microphone Comparisons – SF-24, R-122, R-122V, Schoeps CMC6-U small diaphragm condensers.

Engineer: Ron Searles
Recorded at CBC Studios, Toronto, Canada

During an AES event in Toronto Canada, a cluster of microphones was set up over a string quartet for listening and making comparisons. The cluster included one SF-24, two R-122’s, two R-122V’s, and two Schoeps CMC6-U’s (set for omni), 6 ft high and 8 ft back from a string quartet.

Recording Chain: All mics fed into Universal Audio 8110 preamps. Recorded flat with no EQ or compression to ProTools at 96K.

Special thanks to Dave Dysart, HHB Canada for arranging the event.

a) Single SF-24

 

b) Pair of R-122’s

 

c) Pair of R-122V’s

 

d) Pair of Schoeps CMC6-U’s