String Quartet – Microphone Comparisons

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

Jamie Laval & Ashley Broder – Full Mixes and Isolated Tracks

Mandolin – SF-24 (one side of microphone only), R-122V
Fiddle – R-122V

1) “The Bridge of Cally” (Jamie Laval)

Engineer: Jay Manneschmidt

Instruments recorded live, within 6 ft of each other, with separation achieved by using microphone’s null points.

Recording chain: SF-24 and R-122V through Gordon preamps, into Lavry Gold A/D converters and recorded into Sequoia/Samplitude at 88.2 KHz. No EQ used.

1 a) Full Mix

 

 

1 b) Mandolin
Mandolin: SF-24 (only one side used, for a mono recording) twelve inches from mandolin, pointed at the 12th fret.

 

 

Violin
Violin: R-122V twenty-two inches away from violin, slightly above the strings and 45 degrees left of center from the “F” holes.

 

 

2) “Levantine’s Spinning Barrel” (Laval, Broder)

Engineer: Peter Cutler.

Recorded during live broadcast on the Los Angeles radio show FolkScene.

Mandolin & Fiddle: Two R-122V’s; one in front of the mandolin (pointing at neck/body joint) and one above the fiddle. The null points of each mic were positioned to reject bleed, giving each instrument isolation from the other while being played in close proximity. (See photos)

 

 

 

Devotchka – Full Mix and Isolated Tracks

Violin – R-122V
Strings – R-122V

Recorded and mixed by Craig Schumacher
Recorded at Wavelab, Tucson, AZ.

Recording chain: R-122V’s into True Systems preamps. no compression or EQ. Recorded to Pro Tools.

“Transliterator” (Devotchka, Urata)

a) Full Mix

 

 

b) Isolated Violin: Stereo pair of R-122V’s over a violin

 

 

c) Isolated String Section: Stereo pair of R-122V’s over a string section.