[78-L] earliest use of multiple mic mixing

[neechevoneeznayou at gmail.com]

This is also about acoustic - non-mike - recording, but were there not 
examples of a multi-horn recording setup?

joe salerno



David Lennick wrote:
> 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
>>>>>
>>> _______________________________________
> _______________________________________________
> 78-L mailing list
> 78-L at klickitat.78online.com
> http://klickitat.78online.com/mailman/listinfo/78-l
>