[78-L] earliest use of multiple mic mixing

[Royal Pemberton]

George Groves used six mikes on the New York Philharmonic when recording the
score for the Vitaphone feature DON JUAN in 1926:


Recording an orchestra of 107 musicians presented a challenge for George. It
was standard practice to use a single microphone on an orchestra but George
decided to employ an innovative, multi-microphone technique to obtain a more
balanced sound perspective. Each section - including brass, violins,
woodwind and percussion - were allocated their own microphones which was
then isolated and George performed a live mix between them. In doing so he
became the first film industry music mixer:

That was one innovation that I felt responsible for...So we got each section
properly balanced on each microphone then blended those six microphones
together and came up with quite good recordings. This was quite an
innovation at that time to have this multiple pick up and mixing of
microphones to get a good balance and get good coverage over all sections of
the orchestra.


 [image: Poster of Don Juan 1926]
Some thought that George's technique was a waste of time and effort and he
accepted a challenge from Victor recording engineers. Two overtures were
first recorded using a solitary microphone hanging over the centre of the
auditorium. Then the music was repeated with George recording and mixing
each section of the orchestra using six microphones.

Once pressings had been made the two sets of recordings were played back and
the consensus was that George's discs had more clarity and better resonance
than the Victor engineers' recordings. As George put it in his oral history
to the American Film Institute:

 They gave in. They thought we were wasting a lot of time running around
with a lot of microphones. Now, of course, they use thirty microphones on
thirty men. Every man has his own microphone.


http://www.georgegroves.org.uk/donjuan.html



On Mon, Mar 15, 2010 at 6:54 AM, Michael Biel <mbiel at mbiel.com> wrote:

> Thatcher Graham wrote:
> > I can't name a recording but I know that in 1881 Clement Ader installed
> > pairs of carbon mics on a Paris opera stage for telephone subscribers to
> > listen in.
>
> Actually there was a row of telephone transmitters across the whole
> stage front, and each listener would have a pair of receivers connected
> to a pair of transmitters, one on the left side and one on the right
> side.  The thought was that if they only had one they would miss what
> was on the other side of the stage.
>
>  >  It was esperimental, btu I'd expect a 2-mic recording to either
> immediately preceed ro follow that date.-Thatcher
>
> Since electrical recording wasn't used until the 1920s it was a long
> wait.  But there was no mixing involved in the Paris demo, there is no
> connection to what the question was about.  Art was asking about
> multiple mics being mixed into a mono recording, and the Paris demo was
> essentially stereo with one transmitter per channel and no mixing.
> Mixing two inputs together requires certain network circuitry to combine
> the signals only in the forward direction.  Art also specified that it
> be in a studio setting, so my earliest example won't count either
> because it was a multiple mic set-up in Westminster Abbey by Guest &
> Merriman to record the Unknown Soldier service on Armistace Day 1920
> which was issued on a special charity record by Columbia.  Multiple mics
> were used by radio stations even in the 20s, so I think there would be
> examples in early electrical recording.  Since there are technical specs
> in the Victor ledgers, they might yield examples, but I can't come up
> with any specifics.
>
> The question implies how solo vocals were handled with the backing of a
> large orchestra.  How soon did they put the vocalist on a separate mic.
> Or solo instruments.  I am thinking that a good example might be The
> Peerless Reprodicers which has Graham McNamee announcing with an
> orchestra that displays various selections with certain different
> instruments close up and a special emphasis on low notes on some and
> high notes on others.  There would be a lot of running in the studio if
> there was only one mic.  It was a Victor demo recording around 1928 (my
> VMBII is buried somewhere.)
>
> Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com
>
> >
> >
> >
> > zimrec at juno.com wrote:
> >
> >> I was asked by a friend if I knew the earliest instance, in a studio
> setting, of using multiple microphones mixed to a single monaural signal.  I
> have no idea, but thought someone on this list might.  I know of instances
> where two microphones were used in recording, but each outputting a signal
> to separate turntables.
> >>
> >> Art
> >>
>
> _______________________________________________
> 78-L mailing list
> 78-L at klickitat.78online.com
> http://klickitat.78online.com/mailman/listinfo/78-l
>