Recording Classical Music: Microphones and Multitracks

 

Some would say the only true way to record classical music is one pair of microphones.  It’s a great idea, and at first glance, it makes perfect sense: use two high quality microphones, (preferably omni capsules) spaced the same distance apart as the human ears, find the best seat in the house, and voila –   A perfect stereo recording!

 

Well, yes and no.  It’s not quite that simple.  Keep an open mind, and read on…..

 

Unlike the experimental nature of some jazz, rock and pop recordings, classical music requires a different approach.  It is not an overdubbed, highly processed sound like some other genres.  Any experienced engineer who works in any of these styles will tell you the “Classical” approach is different right at the start of the process in that musicians will always prefer to get it right in the first place: onstage, as an ensemble.  Be it a concert or recording session, the performance is not some producer’s computer-sequenced dream or built from the ground up with a drum-machine click track.  Frankly, the conductor/music director should have as much or more control of the sound than anyone else in the entire process.  Very often, it is incumbent on the recording engineer and producer NOT to ruin a perfectly good performance with overproduction or any heavy handed processing.

 

More than any other listening experience, classical music still reigns supreme in that it is a highly focused, detailed experience for its audience, whether heard live or on a recording.  The classical audience comes to expect perfection, as well as a quiet, calm comfortable listening environment.  It is that very environment (and performance discipline) that dictates this different approach than all other music recordings.

Today, the line continues to blur between the various approaches to recording all genres of music, including classical. As the tools get better, those who use them acquire greater skills in editing and mastering, while still allowing unwavering faithfulness to the original performance.  (To those whom more has been given….)  Nevertheless, the days of getting it all in perfect one take, as commendable as it might be, are dwindling (even Toscanini and Ormandy edited their recordings) and it’s now become quite acceptable for even classical musicians to build the perfect work of art, with all the mistakes removed; the performance as flawless as the score.  Granted, miraculous, error-free performances still happen all the time in classical music, but it is ever more desirable to create the perfect masterpiece with these new tools, well within the discipline of classical music.

 

But that’s getting a little bit away from the topic here: Single-point stereo microphone recording of classical music, or multiple microphone/track use.

 

It has always been a long-held ideal to find the perfect “sweet” spot in the audience, in order to best experience and/or record a live performance.  This makes perfect sense, just as it applies to watching a movie in a theater.  Find the middle of the middle section, about one-third of the way back in the audience, near the center aisle.  (Hint: All big budget movies are mixed this way, in the same spot, in mini-theater/studio control rooms out in Hollywood.)

 

In a perfect world, and a perfect acoustic space, this would work perfectly.

 

But just as with movies, operas, and plays, there is another sensory input coming into play during a live concert, and it is missing when just listening to a recording after-the-fact.  It’s the visual impact that glosses over (and forgives) so many imperfections going on around the listener in a hall, church or even home listening space.

Here’s a way to understand some of the strength of the visual’s impact: Turn on your favorite PBS or Bravo Channel broadcast of a good music performance on your television.  Tape it on your VCR (or TiVo), and watch it - enjoy it all as it plays out.  (No tricks here - just enjoy.)  Now, take that same recording and turn off the picture, plug in headphones or play just the audio on your hi-fi system.  (Even better: play it elsewhere from you television-viewing environment. If your home theater or viewing area is like mine, it’s a completely different space and experience than my “audio” listening area.  Perhaps you even have a “music room” per se.)

 

When you play just the audio from the VHS tape (or DVD-R if you’re that far along the tech curve), you’ll probably be shocked at what you thought was a great recording.  Without going into a whole sidebar on the bad things that happen to good audio in television broadcasting, cable distribution, etc., what you’ll probably notice is a less than perfect stereo image, compressed (and sometimes hissy or lumpy) audio, and even occasional distortion on the peaks.  Why, you may ask, didn’t you notice that when it was on TV!?!?

The answer, of course, is that the visual component is so strong, it lessens the impact of the audio.  The viewer simply doesn’t notice all the imperfections, at least at first.  Of course, many audio professionals and musicians are trained to sort through this distraction anyway, but the perception remains, and this partially explains why sound-for-TV has been allowed to be so bad for so long.  A great-looking television show overcomes a badly recorded audio production anytime.  (When was the last time you heard someone complain about the sound quality of the CNN feed from the middle of a hostage crisis or helicopter rescue?)  Next time you watch TV, close your eyes for a while, and notice what you’re really hearing.

 

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