If you can get speakers are there any phones that fit the bill for studios?
One problem of course with phones is you simply cannot mix stereo on them
and have it sound right on speakers.
Brian

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sunnuntai 23. heinäkuuta 2017 17.41.38 UTC+3 Brian Gaff kirjoitti:

One problem of course with phones is you simply cannot mix stereo on them
and have it sound right on speakers.
Brian



That really is not difficult. Working as a 2E (assistant engineer) you are required to mix maybe two or three stereo foldback mixes simultaneously on session. For a monitor mix on headphones you can always switch back to main monitors to check your centre signal. When recording classical music with Decca tree, there might be a tendency to place the centre mic a little too forward but it is lonely a couple of dB and an experienced engineer soon learns just how much to compensate on the headphone mix.



Iain

sunnuntai 23. heinäkuuta 2017 17.41.38 UTC+3 Brian Gaff kirjoitti:
If you can get speakers are there any phones that fit the bill for studios?


I started a thread here a few months ago about a classical music engineer, who, upon being made redundant by a major Scandinavian broadcaster, decided to start his own niche-market studio specialising in baroque music, in a deconsecrated Lutheran stone-built village church.

Many classical conductors and players find it difficult to perform in an acoustic with which they not familiar. They find it even more difficult to listen to a playback of their performance in an unfamiliar control room on unfamiliar monitor speakers. So he did something rather unconventional, and decided to use headphones for monitoring (and foldback when required) He chose the Sennheiser RS 1200 series. He then spent a great deal of time listening to recordings that he new intimately. This conformed his choice and he bought 2 dozen pairs with transmitter stations. The headphones can be tuned to one of three frequencies, and so can be switched between say main monitor, dry monitor, or foldback.

Getting the studio up and running was interesting. As he had no monitor speakers, he did not need a control room as such, and even more important no control room window which separates the two creative teams, musicians and producer/engineer. So he built a large octagonal control platform on wheels which can be easily manoevred to any position within the recording space. The whole thing was simple but impressive- a state of the art digital console, and a single rack of outboard equipment. At the edge of the dias were two cable snakes laid out to terminate at the foot of the conductor's rostrum.

He had been recording in ORTF format for many years. I suggested that as he was making such a radical change, he might like to try a Decca tree. Together, we set up both systems to record simultaneously.

To attract potential clients, he offered pilot sessions in which conductors, players and record labels, could evaluate the facility for three days, after which if they decided not to continue they would not be invoiced. If they continued, the three days would be charged at half rate.
Many were sold on the idea, simply by playing music in the excellent acoustic. The next hurdle was to sell the idea of headphone monitoring. It was easier than he thought.

The use of wireless headphones brought a new kind of freedom. I gave my services on the first sessions. While the orchestra was rehearsing, we could move freely in the recording space, and make small changes in the microphone positions etc, and with the headphones on, hear immediately the effect of what we were doing without speaking a word and disturbing the rehearsal. Each music stand had hooks which supported two pairs of headphones switched off. When the first take was completed, the producer, who, with his headphones on was sitting at he side of the conductor's rostrum, asked everyone to take a pair of headphones, switch them on (switch on left earpiece) and listen. No one had to put down their instrument, or jostle for a good listening position in the control room. They simply sat in their own seat and listened. It was a great success.

The first project went without a hitch, was completed ahead of schedule, and under budget. The client booked a second project.

But the headphone monitoring idea was a potential stumbling block, so he decided that when a project booking looked likely, he would lend a set of headphones to producer, conductor and anyone else who might need them, for a couple of weeks to allow them to “acclimatise�.

The studio has been in regular use, and promises to be a financial success also. My idea to try the Decca tree with two outriggers proved a good one, and the ORTF mics have been taken down. When time permits, the tree mics will he slung on a proper trapeze so that the main boom can be removed. The outriggers need to be on stands and easily adjusted.

Iain

On 2017-07-23 20:34:14 +0000, Iain Churches said:

The use of wireless headphones brought a new kind of freedom. I gave my se
rvices on the first sessions. While the orchestra was rehearsing, we could
move freely in the recording space, and make small changes in the microphon
e positions etc, and with the headphones on, hear immediately the effect of
what we were doing without speaking a word and disturbing the rehearsal.

Again - I don't have the audio engineering side that's on display in
this group, and am coming in purely from the music writing side.

I find latency to be a problem with a lot of wireless gear. Probably
less important for conducting or recording an orchestra, but when
trying to play a keyboard into a an effects-heavy track on Logic for
instance there's already often a lag even on wired. Add in the
sometimes 200ms for wireless headphones and it starts getting really
annoying.

I have a pair of Yamaha bluetooth MIDI adapters, these in fact:
https://uk.yamaha.com/en/products/mu...t01/index.html.
They're not bad, but again I can notice a slight lag when playing and
it's just enough to irritate me.

I use Audio Technica MT-50x headphones when writing/playing/faffing
about (the more technically accurate term for the vast majority of what
I do), and I use them precisely because they're relatively flat
according to all reviews (and to my experience). Good phones,
reasonable price - nice things.


Cheers,
Ian

On Wednesday, 26 July 2017 23:06:22 UTC+3, Ian McCall wrote:

Again - I don't have the audio engineering side that's on display in
this group, and am coming in purely from the music writing side.

I am a musician/arranger too (though not a professional) so I always try to see things and approach problems from the musicians' perspective also.

I find latency to be a problem with a lot of wireless gear. Probably
less important for conducting or recording an orchestra, but when
trying to play a keyboard into a an effects-heavy track on Logic for
instance there's already often a lag even on wired. Add in the
sometimes 200ms for wireless headphones and it starts getting really
annoying.

In the old church, We use the headphones for evaluating a track after recording, and for string, brass and woodwind overdubs, where the backing tracks have been made elsewhere. No delay is perceivable. As an engineer, I am tickled pink with the fact that I can move about in the acoustic space and make small mic adjustments, and hear the effect immediately without having to go back to control room monitors. By the same token, the control octagon (on wheels) can be moved to any position.

Can it be that the processors in your Logic system cannot handle in realtime the large amount of digital data you are trying to process.

I have a pair of Yamaha bluetooth MIDI adapters, these in fact:
https://uk.yamaha.com/en/products/mu...t01/index.html.
They're not bad, but again I can notice a slight lag when playing and
it's just enough to irritate me.

I have similar experiences with MIDI. I am currently working on a big band project involving groups of players from three countries. This involves synchronising three digital consoles. I found that the "MIDI daisy chain" which one sees in so many project studio, produced irritating delays in the sync. These could be corrected with a TC offset, but we decided to use a MIDI distribution box in a star format with timecode fed from the 1st console, regenerated and sent to the other consoles and outboards with cables kept as short as possible. This works perfectly.


I use Audio Technica MT-50x headphones when writing/playing/faffing
about (the more technically accurate term for the vast majority of what
I do), and I use them precisely because they're relatively flat
according to all reviews (and to my experience).

:-) Duke Ellington had a nice term for faffing about, he called it "exploring ones artistic potential"


Good phones,
reasonable price - nice things.

My colleague chose the Sennheisers for much the same reason, plus the fact that he got a very good deal for such a large number of pairs. He had to keep in mind that he was not just choosing for himself, but for everyone with whom he would he working. Everyone likes them.

At my suggestion, the big band in which I play bought eight pairs of the same type, which we use for overdubs.


I would be interested to hear some of your "faffing"

Best regards
Iain