Tomorrow morning I will be heading to the Yakama Indian Reservation on a mission trip with 22 folks from RUF. I won't be back until the 24th, so this will be my last post (hence the extra posts today about recording this week).
Hopefully the Jayhawks will still be in the tournament the next time I post!
On Wednesday, I set up shop in the GLPC sanctuary. I mic'ed the piano with a C1000 on the high and a KSM32 on the low.
In the morning I recorded piano for Luke Morton's forthcoming solo work. I played accordion already at Elliott Bay Recording Studio, and they didn't have a piano there! So I got the files from the engineer and did them myself. I think they turned out really well and can't wait to hear the final product!
Then Leah came in to play piano for the RUF CD. She added some beautiful texture to "Not What These Hands Have Done" and "The Law of God". It was her first time in the studio, but she was a natural.
Things are coming along well!
Things went great yesterday recording Dan on djembe at the church. I mic'ed things the way I talked about in the previous post (check below), and it sounds great!!!
He played on "Man of Sorrows" and "Micah 7:7" (which I also added tambourine to). The drumming helps a ton on songs that I felt needed more life!
The finalization of the CD is almost at hand... you don't have to hold your breath much longer!
Is the film "good" or "great?" I imagine each person's reaction (visceral, theological, artistic) will differ. I was moved by the depth of feeling, by the skill of the actors and technicians, by their desire to see this project through no matter what. To discuss individual performances, such as James Caviezel's heroic depiction of the ordeal, is almost beside the point. This isn't a movie about performances, although it has powerful ones, or about technique, although it is awesome, or about cinematography (although Caleb Deschanel paints with an artist's eye), or music (although John Debney supports the content without distracting from it).I do hope that the film's success does not go to the heads of its owners, Gibson and Icon Productions. Should we be reminded of Christ's death on a regular basis? Yes, daily. Is Easter a glorious day? Yes. Does it take watching a movie every year at Easter to convince us of this? No. If you read the Bible (and not just the Gospels and the New Testment, I mean the whole thing), you should be able to understand the passion of Christ, and probably more fully than the vision of Mel Gibson can give you.
It is a film about an idea. An idea that it is necessary to fully comprehend the Passion if Christianity is to make any sense. Gibson has communicated his idea with a singleminded urgency. Many will disagree. Some will agree, but be horrified by the graphic treatment. I myself am no longer religious in the sense that a long-ago altar boy thought he should be, but I can respond to the power of belief whether I agree or not, and when I find it in a film, I must respect it.
from http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040224/REVIEWS/402240301/1023
This afternoon I will be recording djembe for the first time. Well, perhaps to clarify, I will hopefully be recording djembe "correctly" for the first time.
Drums in general are a difficult thing to mic properly. An acoustic guitar, it's obvious where the sound is coming from, and you can move the mic to the sweet spot. Likewise with a vocal, a piano, or a violin. But drums, now that's a different story.
When I record drum kits, which can have anywhere between 5 to 8 different drums and cymbals, I prefer to have at least 5 different mics set up. There are the obvious kick mic, snare mic, 2 overheads, and then a random other mic that I stick somewhere in the room to catch reflections of the walls. This seems like the obvious way to do things, mainly because the personality of each drum is emitted from one source. (sometimes you can mic the top and the bottom the snare drum to get the hit of the head and the rattle of the snares... and a little more rarely, crazy guys like to get the kick drum from both sides to get the beater hit and the whump of the drum... I rarely do the former, and never attempt the latter)
Hand drums are a different challenge all-together. Djembe for instance is made up of (at least) two distinct sounds: the slap of the head and the low-end drone that comes out the bottom. Mic only the top, and you get this pitter-patter that lacks any down-low rumble. Sometimes that could be desirable, mainly when you have a full kit in the mix and you just want the percussive slaps to drive the groove.
So comes the issue of micing the top and bottom. Do you mic the sound hole, getting all that direct low-end? Or do you try to mic a short distance away at the floor?
Karen Kane suggests putting a bass drum mic down at the bottom. Unfortunately I don't have access to one of those. Anybody want to buy one of these for me? Thanks, I appreciate it!
So we'll have to see what works the best. I have a good large diaphragm mic, but I don't think that it will respond properly if I stuck in the drum. I'll probably mic it away from the drum and mix it with the mic on the head. I'll take pictures so all of this stuff isn't too esoteric.
Check back soon as I'll talk about my experience in micing cello for the first time and trying to get the right sound on a grand piano!
