SOS August 2017
Session Notes Audio Examples

Mike Senior
The audio files available on this page accompany my Session Notes article in SOS August 2017 about recording and mixing several arias for mezzosoprano Camilla Francesca Bull (http://camillabull.com) with accompanying pianist Beatrice Menz at Munich's Mastermix Studios. The filenames are fairly self-explanatory, but here are some additional notes to describe exactly what you're hearing in each case. If you fancy having a go at mixing some of the multitracks from this session for yourself, you can download two of the arias from the 'Mixing Secrets' Free Multitrack Download Library at http://www.cambridge-mt.com/ms-mtk.htm#CamillaFrancescaBull.

01_MainMics
The main stereo rig on this session was a pair of Neumann U87 large-diaphragm condenser microphones with their omnidirectional polar patterns engaged. The mics were spaced 45cm apart at a height of roughly 190cm above the floor, with the piano and soloist facing each other from opposite sides of the array. Although I also set up spot mics for both the piano and the voice, the natural balance of the performers was well enough represented on the main mics that I could probably have got away without using spot mics at all if necessary.

02_PianoSpotMics
For the piano spot mics I used a spaced pair of AKG C414EB large-diaphragm condenser microphones switched to their omnidirectional polar patterns. These were about six inches directly above the front edge of the instrument's casing, in the 'crook' of the body. Although the close positioning delivers quite a dry sound, what room reflections are captured are quite narrow in stereo on account of the small spacing (around eight inches) between the mics. The vocal spill also leans to the left of the image. Although I could perhaps have centred the vocal spill using a half a millisecond of delay on the left-hand microphone, I didn't feel the need in practice, as I didn't feel that the lead vocal's image seemed significantly destabilised within the context of the mix (as you can hear for yourself in the 08_DryMix audio file).

03_VocalSpotMic1_U67
This file shows what the first of the four vocal spot mics sounded like. It's a Neumann U67 large-diaphragm valve condenser mic set up just above head height a little to the singer's left-hand side to avoid impeding sight lines between her and Beatrice, the accompanist. In order to reduce piano spill, this microphone's polar pattern was switched from cardioid to figure-of-eight. Unfortunately, the sonic consistency of this mic signal suffered on account of Camilla turning her head occasionally towards her music stand, which she'd set up a little to her right-hand side — notice for instance how the tone weakens for "-mor" (0:19), "-te" (0:24), and "-ne vedete" (0:29). As a result of this I didn't feel this signal was dependable enough to use as a balancing aid at mixdown, despite my preferring its overall timbre to that of the other mics.

04_VocalSpotMic2_U47FET
The second vocal spot mic was a Neumann U47 FET. Like the U67 you heard in the 03_VocalSpotMic1_U67 audio file, this was a little above Camilla's head height, although slightly to her right-hand side and, as a supercardioid mic, a little further away to achieve a similar degree of room sound. I felt this microphone was a bit too strident for Camilla's voice, so didn't use it in my final mix.

05_VocalSpotMic3_V4U
A Schoeps V4U cardioid large-diaphragm condenser was my third vocal spot mic, set up just above the singer's head height and slightly to her right-hand side. With the Neumann U67 eliminated from proceedings on account of its tonal inconsistencies (as demonstrated in the 03_VocalSpotMic1_U67 audio file), this was my favourite of the three remaining options, although I did end up adding a touch of low-frequency shelving boost to it below 400Hz to give it a touch more warmth at mixdown.

06_VocalSpotMic4_R102
On previous classical sessions, I've occasionally had difficulties with harshness on female singers, and on those occasions the smoother sound of my Superlux R102 ribbon mic has provided a useful remedy, so I set it up for this session too. This is what the raw mic signal sounded like. It was positioned very close to the Schoeps V4U, in other words just above the singer's head height and slightly to her right-hand side.

07_VocalSpotMic4_R102_HFBoost
Comparing the sound of the Superlux R102 with that of the other mics, it's tempting to dismiss it as sounding too dull. However, ribbon mics are, on the whole, duller-sounding by design, so it's important to consider how it compares with the condenser mics once it's had its high frequencies boosted to a more comparable level. As you can hear in this example, where I've boosted the high end with Sonimus's excellent Son-EQ Pro plug-in, it also has an appealing character, although on this occasion I felt that the Schoeps V4U was better suited to Camilla's voice in the final anaylsis.

08_DryMix
So much for the raw mic signals — how do they sound mixed together? Well, to start with, here's a mix of the main mics, piano spot mics, and Schoeps V4U vocal spot mic. The mix processing here is minimal: just a polarity inversion of the piano spot mics and 1.7dB of low shelving EQ boost at 400Hz (from my Cockos Reaper DAW's bundled ReaEQ plug-in) on the vocal spot mic.

09_WetMix
Although the simple mix of the microphones you heard in the 08_DryMix audio file already does the music justice in terms of balance and timbre, the medium-sized recording space at Mastermix Studios inevitably feels a little constricted for this style of music, which is usually experienced in more reverberant venues. So I also added some artificial reverb to the mix using the 'Medium Rich Hall 2' preset from Lexicon's LXP Native plug-in. Because the narrowly spaced piano spot mics and the mono vocal spot mic focused the Mastermix room ambience more into the centre of the stereo image, I deliberately reduced the Middle component of the reverb effect by a couple of decibels (using Voxengo's freeware MSED plug-in) to even out the ambient spread in the final stereo panorama.

10_FinalMix
Here's the final mix of my recording of Camilla Bull and Beatrice Menz performing Mozart's "Voi, che sapete" at Mastermix Studios in Munich. In addition to the added reverb you can hear in the 09_WetMix audio file, for this final mix I also applied a touch of dynamic EQ to the master buss to control a couple of vocal resonances (at 1.2kHz and 7.2kHz) that occasionally threatened to become a little harsh on some of Camilla's higher-register vowels.