Hi guys, I'm hoping I'll be able to get some good advice here on a session I'm recording with a string quartet. I've made some great recordings of classical quartets in the past, but I don't really know how to approach this song. It is primarily acoustic guitar and vocal driven, starts out soft folk style plucking then moves into hard strummed 'Celtic-y' rock almost. There is a drum kit involved too. 

Now the quartet isn't just playing 'footballs' like in most pop music - the quartet part was written by a real composer who actually knows what he's doing (!!) so the strings aren't meant to just sit underneath everything like a pad, they are an integral part of the song. 

So here's where I'm stuck - I can't figure out where I should be positioning the quartet in the stereo field, therefore am unsure of the best way to mic them up. I know the ideal situation would be to experiment for a few hours, but I'm not going to have that luxury, and I like to go into a project with at least some idea of what I'm doing anyway! 

So, do I pan the quartet as a whole to one side? Or make them seem really wide, so that violins 1&2 are positioned left, and the viola and cello are off to the right? 

I'm reluctant to mic each instrument individually - I've always had much better results using a single stereo pair, but I've only ever recorded classical quartets before, so maybe it will work? Yuck, I hate close mic'd strings!

How shall I get them to sit? In the traditional arc, a circle, a line...?

Any discussion would be much appreciated - I don't want to go into this session blind! Oh, and I'll be recording them in the perfect hall for this. 

Thank you in advance! I'm off to bed now so will respond to replys in a bit...

How about M/S?

I can't speak for the actual staging... I'd consider asking the performers and composer what they had in mind.

best regards,
mike

And the quartert will be overdubbed - guitar, drums and vocals will all be done beforehand...

Thanks mike, yeah M/S was one option I was considering as it will give a little more flexibility over the stereo image when it's time to mix. Trouble is, I just can't visualize how the stereo stage will sound, so feel completely lost!

The composer has no clue about production, I'll ask him though...

I'd record the quartet with an x/y pair as if they were playing alone, then subsequently use the Channel Tools plugin while mixing to place them wherever the artist likes best, and to optionally narrow the stereo width. IOW, don't sweat it in advance; make that decision after tracking, with the help of the artist.

Hi bitflipper.  Using an x/y pair puts alot more emphasis on the quality of the room.  Maybe do that and individual mics just in case?

Rimshot

In this situation--You're not sure how to proceed, and I don't know the musical arrangement so I can't really comment specifically-- I always go overkill. I would set up as many mics as you can. Various stereo pairs in various configs at various distances. And spot mics. That way, you're covered. As much as I hate the 'fix it in post' approach, sometimes it's best to have lots of options when the situation is ambiguous.

The example that comes to mind is a piece I recorded that had a nice sparse flute part in it. I recorded it in our live room with a fairly distant stereo mic setup to get some beautiful ambience. It worked great in the mix, the sustaining reverb was in harmony with the later sounding notes, everyone loved it. Until a few years later when I had to do a remix in a different key. The ambience was too much and on the pitch shifting, the ambience was out of key on the sustained bits. At that point I really wished I had a close mic'ed or completely dry option.

I'm not saying that you'll encounter this situation. I'm just saying that in my experience, the more unknown the situation, the more I'll try to cover the options in the recording session.

I've been overpreparing ever since one horrible gig long ago where I had prepared exactly what the producer specified. Unfortunately, the talent had other expectations and I was unprepared for what the talent wanted. I'm never going to let that happen again, if I can help it. It's served me well and I've even had another producer ask me "how come nothing ever goes wrong when you're doing the sound?"

Using an x/y pair puts alot more emphasis on the quality of the room.  Maybe do that and individual mics just in case?

Good point. I'd assumed a nice room, since the string quartet isn't just background accompaniment in this case, and can therefore afford to be rich and full-sounding. 


But maybe that's presuming too much. It sounds like an unusual piece (I hope we get to hear it!) so perhaps an 18th-century vibe is not what they're going for. That was Steve's point above - you can't have too many options or too few presumptions!


However, the original question was about panning and width, and I still maintain that recording wide and using Channel Tools to position and/or narrow covers all bases.

Recording a string quartet is a very simple thing to do and does not require a lot of microphones. What you do is set them up in a nice semicircle. You can have the Cello and viola in the two middle positions and the violins on the sides. M/S is great technique for this. Point the M microphone at the point in the middle of the semi circle arc. ie you will have cello and viola either side of that. The S Mic is getting the two violins perfectly. If the room is nice put the M mic into omni mode.

You will great a great recording and have that amzing ability to control the stereo width after the recording has been done as well. Decoded, the stereo will sound great with the lower sounds more central and the violins on the sides a bit more. The reason it works so well is because both the M Mic and S mic are pointing directly at instruments hence you get a lovely close up sound as well as some room ambience especially if the M Mic is in omni. The musicians know how to play in balance so you don't have to bother with that so much. The semi circle also works great because all the musicians have line of sight to each other and can hear each other as well. It is also good because the mics are not close to any of the instruments either and you avoid that close up scratchy sound you can sometimes get if you are too close to stringed instruments.

Thanks for the responses everyone. As much as I don't want to, I think I'll go overkill and set up an M/S pair, X/Y, ORTF, and spot mics. Yuk! But as has been mentioned, better safe than sorry! And as I said in the OP, I'll be recording in the perfect hall for this, so definitely will want to capture the room. 

Jeff I will definitely allow time for experimenting with seating arrangements - it may just be that the traditional setup won't work so well in this song. 

Keep any other ideas coming, and I'll definitely post samples when it's done - the date will probably be next week some time...