Recording a string orchestra comes down to two microphone systems doing two different jobs. A main array captures the ensemble as a whole, with the depth and blend you hear from a good seat in the hall. Spot mics capture individual sections with presence and detail. The mix is the negotiation between them.
Here is how that was set up for Yvette Young's 3 Pieces for Strings and Guitar, recorded with eighteen players in a Brooklyn performance space.
The main array
The main array on this session was a variation on the Decca tree, three omnidirectional microphones arranged in a triangle above and slightly inside the front of the orchestra.
Key principles:
Use omnis. The array depends on time and level differences between three widely spaced capsules. Directional patterns undermine it and thin out the low end.
Measure it. The triangle should be laid out deliberately, not eyeballed. Fab used an actual tape measure and aimed for equidistant spacing between the three capsules. Some engineers prefer the array wider than it is deep, which widens the stereo image.
Align the back of the array with the front edge of the orchestra. The array should sit in front of and slightly inside the ensemble, roughly level with the outer edges of the front sections.
What you get is an image that sounds like the orchestra rather than like a collection of instruments. It is not precise, and that is the point. It blends everything together and supplies the ambience that spot mics cannot.
The spot mics
Spot mics give you the ability to fix balance later, which matters more than people expect.
One microphone per stand across the violin, viola and cello sections is a workable starting point. Small diaphragm condensers, in this case Schoeps MK4s and Clarions, positioned slightly in front of the players and fairly high.
One microphone per double bass. A Neumann M49 on each bass, a choice Fab attributes to Al Schmitt. Asked why the M49 over a U67 style alternative, his answer was specific: for bowed instruments in that room, the M49 was the one.
Add microphones when you hear a problem. This is the part that gets skipped in written guides. During setup, Fab heard the violins burying the cellos, exactly as they had in the concert the night before. So extra cello mics went up mid session, patched into spare preamp channels. He had already predicted it and kept spares prepped.
A soloist got an additional microphone of her own once he learned she had solo passages.
Choosing where the orchestra sits
Before any of this, decide where in the room the ensemble plays. On this session the orchestra was placed on the floor rather than on the stage, for three reasons: the reverb was better off the stage, the players had more space between them, and the camera crew could move around the ensemble.
Do not assume the stage is the right place to record. Walk the room and listen.
Planning the input list
With eighteen inputs across three audio interfaces and an outboard preamp, routing discipline matters. Fab grouped inputs so that related sources landed on the same device, kept the three array microphones together on one interface, and numbered everything so the mapping stayed memorable under pressure. On a fast day you will be reaching for channels by memory.
Balance is fixed later, not on the day
The main array and the spot mics will fight each other in the mix, and where each one wins is a mixing decision. What you owe the mix is options: a good array, clean spots, and enough presence on the low voices that you are not trying to conjure cellos out of an ambient microphone.
Every one of these decisions is on camera in 6 Strings and Classic Strings on Puremix.
