So I have been reading through some message boards and blogs looking for different strategies for micing live acoustic instruments or choir for both reinforcement AND multi-track recording. In one blog, I cam accross a very interesting made-up word... "condenseritis". This is the sickness where the infected engineer continually goes to the condenser mic for every micing task. The cure for this common ailment?... um... NOT using condensers.
All dramatics aside, I did find this idea interesting. Most of my training and experience is in the recording world and in the recording world, it seems to be an unspoken rule that a great condenser mic is always the first choice; and for good reason! Condensers have a larger flatter frequency response and can pick up much softer and more intricate sound sources (especially the good ones!). When you mic a vocalist in a studio, the first choice is usually a large diaphragm condenser with a pop-filter... (although there have been plenty of successful recordings with dynamic mics!).
In a live setting, most often, a vocalist has a handheld dynamic mic (or a specially designed handheld condenser). You wouldn't dream of having a live singer sling around a Neumann TLM 49! So for recording purposes, an SM58 might not be the go-to mic, but it is built for voice and can be mixed effectively for a good live recording. Now as I read articles in Mix and Sound on Sound, I get to read about the top professionals who travel the world with bands and artists working to capture great recording simultaneously with reinforcement. The top-of-the-line gear that they use combined with their expertise produces some of the very best recordings ever made. But for engineers like me, trying to run a business on a budget, I am always looking for ways to use the gear I have available to me to run a live sound event with multi-track recording.
Recently I have been trying to find occasions to use the trusty and affordable SM57 in place of a condenser. An acoustic piano is one place where I have had some great results. I typically like to use a large diaphragm condenser like an AKG 414 on a piano (or I will also sub in a small diaphragm condenser as well) to get that intricate sound. But when that piano is setup near a drum kit, or the pianist is singing, those mics will inevitably pick up EVERYTHING. The SM57's dynamic setup is able to slightly ignore those more distant sound sources while still responding well to the hammers-on-strings of the close piano. While this is a benefit for the recording, this is also a big help in the avoidance of the live sound engineers greatest nemesis... Dr. Feedback. Of course there is still some bleed in the dynamic mic, but it is far less, and the standard SM57 roll-offs on the higher end and boosts in the mids can be altered a bit in post. No it is not as intricate as the condensers, but it certainly is more piano than anything else!
One big issue I am working on now is how to mic a choir (a large gospel choir) with a live band next to them. My first attempt at this used 2 cardioid large diaphragm condensers in a spaced setup left and right along with an adjusted ORTF setup using two cardioid small diaphragm condensers in the middle (a little longer than ORTF). The choir sounded great, but the bleed from the drums and other instruments was very noticable and I wasn't able to boost a great amount without Dr. Feedback peering in his ugly head (making me spend a fair amount of time on EQ for feedback avoidance!). One blogger suggested using a series of SM57s in this setting over the condensers... I'm thinking about trying this to see if it helps contain the bleeding instruments and avoiding feedback while still bringing out the choir in the multi-track and the house mains...
...any other engineers have any thoughts about this?
