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[John Chiara]

Micing Orchestra for broadcast.
Might have some shows coming up mixing for live broadcast with a small orchestra in a 2400 sq/ft room. They don't want mics visible in the video. There are lighting bars above and around the stage. Any ideas?

[Lee Buckalew]

Micing Orchestra for broadcast.
Might have some shows coming up mixing for live broadcast with a small orchestra in a 2400 sq/ft room. They don't want mics visible in the video. There are lighting bars above and around the stage. Any ideas?

How does the room sound acoustically?
Is there an audience?
How loud is the HVAC?
What is your feed to broadcast (not what are you mixing and sending, what is the link to the "station")?
What mics do you have available?
Do you regularly mic orchestra's?

Lee

[Ivan Beaver]

Micing Orchestra for broadcast.
Might have some shows coming up mixing for live broadcast with a small orchestra in a 2400 sq/ft room. They don't want mics visible in the video. There are lighting bars above and around the stage. Any ideas?

I used to mic a local college orchestra for outdoor events they held.

I would use the "typical" approach-lots of mics.

The last one I did for them I miced up as normal-but ALSO put a PZM up right behind the conductors head.

I ended up just using the PZM, as there was no "mixing" (the conductor did all the mixing) and it sounded better-more even etc than the multiple mic setup.

Now some things to consider-this was outside-with a good distance between the PZM and the speakers-so that helps feedback.

If you mount the PZM on a piece of plexiglass-you can get more directivity (gain before feedback) and better low freq response.

Just something to consider that worked for me in that situation.

[John Chiara]

I used to mic a local college orchestra for outdoor events they held.

I would use the "typical" approach-lots of mics.

The last one I did for them I miced up as normal-but ALSO put a PZM up right behind the conductors head.

I ended up just using the PZM, as there was no "mixing" (the conductor did all the mixing) and it sounded better-more even etc than the multiple mic setup.

Now some things to consider-this was outside-with a good distance between the PZM and the speakers-so that helps feedback.

If you mount the PZM on a piece of plexiglass-you can get more directivity (gain before feedback) and better low freq response.

Just something to consider that worked for me in that situation.

No system in the room. Totally acoustic.

[Ivan Beaver]

No system in the room. Totally acoustic.

I would stand by the same approach.

THe conductor basically mixes for balance for his position.

If you can't put a PZM there, then maybe on a back wall that is large and flat.

You will get more "room" in the sound.

This might be good or bad-depending on the room

[Lee Buckalew]

No system in the room. Totally acoustic.

Are you trying to get the sound of the room and actual orchestral micing or are you looking for a Broadway pit orchestra sound where everything is close miced and instruments are individually defined with no natural room sound?
What you want to achieve determines how you'll mic.

Is this a professional orchestra, community orchestra, college or high school?
Where is it being broadcast?
What genre of "orchestral music" is this?
Do you know the works being performed?
Mahler is very different than Debussy who are both worlds apart from a modern composer like John Adams.

I assist at a large professional symphony with their live broadcasts secondary to my main design and engineering job.  We broadcast live every regular season concert.  We won a Grammy this year for one of our live recordings.

I am happy to help with pointers but can't help much without answers to questions.

Lee

[Glen Kelley]

Micing Orchestra for broadcast.
Might have some shows coming up mixing for live broadcast with a small orchestra in a 2400 sq/ft room. They don't want mics visible in the video. There are lighting bars above and around the stage. Any ideas?

For our local symphony, we use a mid/side setup about 10-12 rows into the house, maybe 20' above the floor. It is mixed down to stereo on a Soundcraft LM1 and recorded directly to hard-disk for broadcast on the local NPR station. In the dark house, the recording mics disappear pretty well.

[gordonmcgregor]

For our local symphony, we use a mid/side setup about 10-12 rows into the house, maybe 20' above the floor. It is mixed down to stereo on a Soundcraft LM1 and recorded directly to hard-disk for broadcast on the local NPR station. In the dark house, the recording mics disappear pretty well.

this is the easiest way if you're not providing for live sound in the venue, 2 reasons you can easily adjust the "room" sound on the output by adjusting the side mics level, and secondly it collapses to mono properly we normaly go above an slightly behind the conductor if there's a choir we might put another array up for them, the odd solo mic might be  put out for a non pro orchestra or if in a particularly reverberant room. Next time out I'm going to try this http://www.avantonepro.com/Avantone-CK-40-Stereo-Multi-Pattern-FET-Microphone.html   G 

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