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Celebrating the pipe organ, the King of Instruments |
Mailbag: How did you get that sound?
January 4, 2006
Dear Michael:
A very Merry Christmas to you and best wishes.
I would like to know what recording equipment to record the organs for your program.
Thanks,
Phillip
Dear Phillip:
Recordings used on PIPEDREAMS come from a variety of sources. I am responsible for only a small percentage of the audio content. However, the recent show On Tour in Southern Germany features virtually all recordings made by me under challenging circumstances…quickly set up minimal gear at some place on the floor, perched on a railing, proped up on a pew…as our tour group ambled around listening to excellent demonstration performances by Andreas Schroeder.
On that occasion, I had a little Denon DAT recorder, fed by a pair of Neumann KM-83 condenser microphones (cardiod pattern, X/Y position) which were phantom-powered by a little Schoepps amplifier box.
Here at home, I use either an AKG Model 422 coincident stereo microphone (two elements in a single module, with variable pattern…if usually have the think in figure-8 mode) or a pair of B&K 4002 omni-directional microphones (or sometimes both together, as was the case when recording Olivier Latry at the Saint Cecilia Cathedral in Omaha for Program #0446). These either directly feed an HHB Portadat DAT recorder (Model PDR1000 TC), using its own inboard mic preamps (adequate), or sometimes through a custom-build small mixer by Ampria Design and Research (local Saint Paul tech), which has really nice mic preamps when I think they are necessary.
So, nothing fancy…16-bit/44.1 sampling rate. It’s only radio, after all.
JMB
