[78-L] earliest use of multiple mic mixing

[David Lennick]

And if only they'd done the tests simultaneously....

Duophonic Dave

Royal Pemberton wrote:
> 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
>>>>
>> _______________________________________