"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Iain Churches wrote:

[snip]
To solve the question of monitoring while recording, he
decided to use cordless headphones. Together we tried
Bluetooth which proved to be acceptable in the close
vicinity of the source, as in the control area, but not
practical for foldback in the recording area.
So he bought 24 pairs of Sennhesier RS 140
wireless headphones.

Hmm. Pretty well known that things recorded on headphones will only sound
their best when listened to on headphones.

Indeed. They say the same about Tannoys:-)

In his music room at home, my colleague has a
pair of B+W Nautilus speakers,the same model
which up until now he has used in his daily work.
So his audio reference is well and truly ingrained.
He also has many hundreds of fine recordings, so
the next few weeks will be spent in comparative
listening on speakers and headphones to
"acclimatise" himself, just as location or freelance
engineers and producers do when move from place
to place. His task will be simpler as he only has two
monitor systems, the B+W and his 'phones to compare.

But there is a huge practical advantage to his idea.
The objective of classical recording is to
capture as faithfully as possible the sound
of the music being recorded in that particular acoustic.
With this system he can sit among the players, or
behind the conductor's podium, or even on a stepladder
level with the top of the front line mics, and soak up
the sound in the recording area. Then, without walking
a step, he can put his headphones on, and hear his conrol
room monitor balance. I think producers will like this too.
They can sit close to the conductor.and still be in the
control area, as the 'phones are cordless and offer
complete freedom of movement..

Traditionally, at the end of a good take, more than
half the orchestra want to hear their performance
played back. Even though there are probably tracking
speakers in the studio to which the monitoring can easily
be routed, they prefer to put down their instruments,
cross the studio and crowd into the control room.
Only when everyone is in place, and the door closed,
does the playback begin. Then, they all file out,
cross the studio, sit down and pick up their instruments.
This takes a lot of (very valuable) time.
With a large orchestra the clock is ticking in multiples
of the pound sterling, and the bean counters are
tearing their hair! With the new system, the players
stay put, put on a pair of headphones, and listen to
the playback at the volume of their choice from their
own chair.

During a prolonged listening session, my colleague
acknowledged a preference for the Decca tree over
AB or XY pairs with outriggers so often used used in
broadcast, so in what I call the West aisle, he has
set up a tree to the precise Decca spec with vintage
Neumanns which will become a permanent fixture.
He then simply has to lay out the chairs beneath it.
He is spoilt for space, and so he can have a
semi-permanent multi-mic brass or woodwind set up in
say the East aisle, and just turn his octagonal platform
to "´face the music"

And if he his looking for pop work, can't think of any client who would be
happy with only this.

How can you know until you discuss it with them?

I think many will be intrigued by such an
innovative idea.

Instead of an "open day" with dozens of people
milling around, I suggesred inviting potential clients,
producers, A+R, musicians etc separately
to a private visiti, to discuss their needs.
He will offer them recording "pilots" (a
weekend at half tariff to record three titles, then
overdub and mix) If the client is not happy,
and decides not to continue, he will not receive
an invoice. This is common practice in studios
wishing to expand their clientele.

His principle intention is not to do pop rhythm
(backing) tracks, but tracking, - (strings, brass,
woodwinds/saxes etc) taking advantage of the
natural acoustic of the recording space, which
I think will work well.

But, I also have an inkling that a Slingerland Radio King
double drum kit will sound amazing in that recording space,
as will a Strat with a Marshall full stack! Time will tell.

The idea of having the control area on some form of movable pod is novel,
but The problems involved in doing so make me ponder. ;-)

Yes. Copious pondering is required. But he who dares.........

Iain