[78-L] Early multi mike recording

[Michael Biel]

DAVID BURNHAM wrote:
> Although, according to the postings here, it's certainly not a first example of multi-mike recording, Stokowski recorded "Sleeping Beauty" in the late 40s and there are session photos in the album which shows the orchestra split up into four sections and each section having their own mike.
>   

Remember that Fantasia was recorded that way on 8 tracks, and these were 
used to allow for spotlighting sections and moving them around.

> Going the other way, Robert Fine reputedly used a single mike to record his mono recordings and three mono mikes to record his stereo albums - and he presented this approach as being revolutionary even in the 40s. 
>   

It was total baloney.  Generally most of the Toscanini's were recorded 
with one RCA 44 BX up high above his left shoulder, although the large 
full shots of 8H show several arrays of 44s.  But Charles O'Connell 
discusses single micing in his book.

>  I say "reputedly" because when it comes to believing him, I'm a bit of an agnostic.  In his early Mercury 78 sets, he includes a technical note in every album which says he placed an omni-directional mike 30 feet from the musicians in a reverberant room.

"He" is not Bob Fine.  The recordings were produced by David Hall, and 
David did all of the liner writing.

>   One such album is a Schubert String Quartet.  Even with a modern mike, such an approach would yield a pretty uninteresting sound - distant and reverberant. 
>   

Is this #14 Death & the Maiden by the Fine Arts Quar of Amer Bc Co on 
MDM-14 and LP MG-10008?

>  I know many arm-chair recording engineers believe this is the best way to do things, just like putting two mikes about 20 cms apart in the best seat in a concert hall would produce the most accurate Stereo sound.  These beliefs totally ignore the basic rules of psycho-acoustics. 
>   

That also isn't how it is done.

>  I have tried the "Living Presence" method of
>  recording with symphony orchestras and the results are never satisfactory - even using the mikes which Fine specifies. 
>   

You don't know the secret.  David Hall told us.  Chicago's hall had a 
half-shell design at the top of the stage.  It acted as a parabolic 
collector that focused the sound to one pinpoint.  That is where the mic 
was put. It was perhaps 30 feet or more off the ground.  When the hall 
was renovated in the late 50s that shell was removed and that ended the 
trick.  (If you take a tour of the U.S. Capitol they will show you two 
points in the old Senate chamber where someone whispering at one of the 
points can be heard loud and clear at the other point.  Same trick)  
While such designs are rare, alot of halls have sweet spots like that.  
It is why some halls are notable as recording halls and others aren't, 
but it might not be noticeable one way or the other to the audience.  
But twenty-five feet up it might be evident.  Have you ever gone that 
high up in a hall?  "The best seat in the house" is not at ground level 
or even ten feet up. 

>  If you listen to the Fine recording of Khachaturian's Violin Concerto, you can hear clicking on the woodwind instruments which sound very close to a microphone and the violin soloist is very present. 
>   
Why do you assume that Bob Fine recorded all of the things you see on 
Mercury?  That is a very famous set, but not because of Fine.  Look at 
it.  Does it seem likely that it was recorded anywhere where Fine could 
have recorded it?  No, of course not.  This is famous because David Hall 
traveled to Europe and licensed it from the Soviets via Supraphon in 
Czechoslovakia where most of the early Mercury classical records came 
from.  Fine's recordings begin with the Olympian Series LPs, not the 78s. 

>  I can't imagine an omni mike positioned to give these perspectives, but however he did his recordings they sound magnificent and, of course, they are legendary.  But I'm still a little dubious.  db
>   

All of the mono classical recordings were produced by David Hall.  Don't 
give too much credit just to Bob Fine.  He didn't record them all, and 
recorded none of the European ones till the late 50s. 

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com