Dear all,
 
I will be playing at a friend's wedding this weekend - a trio of cello, violin and french horn, as the bride comes in.  It is in a small to medium sized hall, but anticipated to be pretty full, and I would guesstimate perhaps 100 - 120 people to absorb the sound. 
 
Could I have the forum's advice please:
 
options:
1) do not mic
2) one mic (for sound reinforcement purposes only), connected to the in-house PA (which is reasonably decent).
 
(it will have to be a pretty simple set up, as I don't think we will have scope for someone to balance 3 instruments if we mic all 3)
 
If going for option 2), then I only have a small selection of mics - the AKG-C1000S, SM57, SM58, and some random dynamic mics, and I was thinking probably I would point the AKG downwards from as high as I can safely get it on a mic stand, over the trio (maybe about 1 metre above).
 
Does that seem like a reasonable plan?
 
Many thanks in advance, for your advice
 
Wei Liang
 
 
 
 
 
 

I've never amplified that kind of ensemble, so I'm just guessing. But I'd guess that a condenser placed above should work fine. I'd place the stand behind the performers with the boom over their shoulders. You need some altitude because the C1000 has a pretty narrow pattern. Although seemingly counter-intuitive, the 58 or 57 might even turn out to be a better choice due to their wider pickup pattern and softer highs.
 
When experimenting with mic placement I'd start by pointing it at the cello, since the violin radiates upward, and the horn is louder. I'd take along a pair of headphones so I could hear more clearly what the microphone is picking up while positioning it.

 
Depending on the size and acoustics of the hall, no reinforcement may be necessary.  Especially if you only want background ambience.  Those aren't really quiet instruments, but if there's that many people you want some or most of the sound to be coming down from being reflected off the ceiling, which hopefully is fairly high.

That is the kind of event where people, for the most part, are quiet.   So, I'm thinking that even with a large number of people there, the music from those 3 instruments should be easily heard in a small to medium sized hall.
 
You didn't mention if there is a raised staging area for the musicians. Playing at floor level might present some issues preventing the sound from carrying properly, but if the musicians are on a stage that places them 2 feet higher, the sound should carry well above the audience.
 
If a mic is used, I would opt for a nice condenser mic placed in the center of the musicians as they set in a semi-circle, much as they used to do in the first recording studios. One mic in the center and everyone gathers around it placed slightly higher than the instruments. 

Dear all, thank you very much for your thoughts.  There is no stage, so we're at floor level.  I'll definitely bring the headphones, and experiment a few mic positions - I think we'd aim for subtle amplification if at all.
 
Thanks,
 
Wei Liang

yapweiliang
Dear all, thank you very much for your thoughts.  There is no stage, so we're at floor level.  I'll definitely bring the headphones, and experiment a few mic positions - I think we'd aim for subtle amplification if at all.

It would be nice to have things already set up so that if you did need reinforcement once everyone has arrived, you'd just have to turn it on and adjust.
 

Yes I think that's what I'll do; I'm playing the cello though, so will have to trust the Volume Controller person (who will by then be blocked by all the chairs and people) to adjust the volume...
 
Wei Liang

I would try a condenser set to Omni, about 2 or 3 metres above the musicians, if the musicians can balance themselves. If one instrument is louder than the others (I'm thinking the horn) then a cardioid might be a better option as you could point it away from the louder instrument.

Since you are here, I'm assuming that you have the ability to record music (PC, DAW, audio i/f). Seems a shame to play for a wedding and not record the music for the bride and groom.
 
Given specific mic'ing, I would suggest a single dynamic mic (one of the Shures), hung from the ceiling or as high as possible, pointing straight down, effectively turning the cardioid pattern into an omni.
 
Just for reference purposes, to give you an idea of what a single mic can accomplish, check out the following video. It's a 10 minute documentary on Benny Goodman's famous concert at Carnegie Hall in January, 1938. There's a short bit of video starting around the 7-minute mark of the actual Carnegie show (the FIRST time I've seen it; didn't know it existed). If you look, you'll see a single mic suspended over the entire band.
 
I have the double CD of this show. I originally had it on cassette, waaaaay back when. There's a good story about the disks of the show going "missing" for a long time, before going "unmissing" and being shared with the world. But that's for another day.
 

I don't know if your're familiar with the C1000 or not, so you may already know this...

Overall, they're a good "overheads" kind of mic, though a bit "different" in a couple of ways. I've been using them for various jobs since I first got one in the early 1990s.

The C1000 has two pickup patterns, cardoid and a tight hyper-cardoid. The hypercardoid setting is obtained by unscrewing the grille and putting a small clip-on circular adaptor disk on the rubber-mounted mic capsule. For a single overhead, cardoid is the way to go I would think, so checking the hyper-cardoid adaptor's not fitted might be an idea. Just be careful removing it as it's possible to tear the capsule support with rough handling.

Another thing to watch with the C1000 is it can be a bit brittle and bright so might need a bit of treble taken off. It's also a pretty sensitive mic, so angling it away from the audience and any speakers is pretty essential, especially as they can go into feedback surprisingly easily. They also have quite a marked bass-proximity effect.

They also run off either an internal 9V battery or phantom. 48V phantom works best with them in my experience.

Overall, I think you'll probably get the best results from the C1000 as the Shures are less sensitive and getting adequate gain might be an issue. They also sound a bit muffled compared to the AKG.

As for balancing the instruments, if all else fails stuff a few socks into the French horn :-)