4 Part Music Blog

The most common question I am asked when talking about 4 Part Music as a recording company is “Where is your studio based?”.

The answer “We don’t have a studio” is usually met with some surprise as the expectation is that a recording company has a studio from which it records.  This of course is often the case. Over the years we have often wondered about investing in a studio – perhaps partly to have an answer to this question!

But, in business it is important to be very clear about your aims and position in the market. 4 Part Music has been set up to work “on location”.  The primary reason of course is that our target market is made up of choirs and organists and such musicians do not lend themselves to being recorded in a studio. For such recordings the Church, Cathedral or School Chapel becomes the studio.   This means therefore that we carry around all the equipment you would normally house in a studio.

The most challenging part of the setup is the venue itself. As churches vary in shapes and sizes we have to adapt our setup accordingly. This is where a multi mic technique is crucial.   We have to ensure we capture the choir, the organ and the acoustic – assuming there is one.  Where this matters most is when we come to master the recording.  Our aim is to always be in a position where we can rebalance the sound in accordance with the musical directors wishes.  This could be a case of, more choir, less organ or taking out some of the acoustic.  Obviously, unless we have recorded all these elements separately as well as together we would be unable to do this.

Even where we are recording an organ on it’s own we still follow a similar principle of recording the instrument as well as the acoustic.  The biggest danger of any on location recording is that microphone placement has to be determined for each different location.  Get it wrong and you can either end up with a recording which sounds like it was done in a cupboard or even worse sounding too distant as if the microphones were left outside in the car park.

Having just delivered the rushes to the customer from our first two recording sessions yesterday I now have about half an hour to relax before heading back to the Chapel at Prior Park College in Bath for tonights recording session.

Yesterday’s highlights included “O Thou the Central Orb”, the Sanctus from Mozart’s Mass in C and a fabulous rendition of Buxtehude’s C Major Fugue. Recording in the chapel presented us with quite  challenge not least becuase the organ is located in a gallery at the West End and the choir are recorded from the floor.  It’s at times like this when our multi-mic technique comes into its own as it allows us to place microphones in strategic locations to ensure we can achieve the correct balance between choir and organ without relying on any sort of “fake” effect.

Having had a quick listen back whilst creating the rushes which we delivered to the Director of Music at Prior Park College this morning the microphone placement appears to be spot on to ensure we have sufficient clarity from the choir whilst also ensuring we have enough of the chapel’s 4 second accoustic.

I will report back again once we have finished tonights session which should include some solo’s as well as choir and organ.

Today’s task is to make the final preparations for our forthcoming recording at Prior Park College starting on Sunday running through to Tuesday evening.  Over the last few months we have streamlined our set up as far as is possible and whilst the majority of the recording rig is now housed in a single case it does take 2 people to manouvre it and we now have a plethora of ramps to deal with steps and simply getting it in and out of the van!

Prior Park College at Sunset

That aside the most important preparation work is taken up in deciding on microphone layouts.  The plan with this recording is to set up 24 microphones in the College Chapel which may sound to some like a case of safety in numbers but in actual fact each microphone has a specific purpose. A great deal of on location recording companies simply set up either  a Soundfield microphone or a “stereo pair” on the basis that if you were in the audience listening thats what you would hear.

Part of me agrees with this concept, so we too will set up a Soundfield and a stereo pair. But then we will set up another stereo pair a bit further back, some spot microphones on the choir, microphones on each soloist and a further bank of microphones on the organ. Then the few which are left over will be placed at strategic points around the chapel to capture the accoustic.

Is this over the top? Well yes quite probably, but the thing is, we only get one chance to record.  Whether or not we use all these microphones in the final mix doesnt matter, but the benefit of using such a wide array of microphones in such a variety of positions means we have the greatest possible flexibility when mastering the recording afterwards to create the sound the customer desires.  After all in many cases, it is not always our opinion which matters the most.  If the customer wants the choir to sound nearer then we need to be able to achieve this. If he then says can you reduce the organ balance or bring up the soloists, again we need to be able to do this. Whilst there are any number of technical ways of doing this using “effects” or various VST’s, it’s always best to start with the original recorded sound than to add “fake” reverb or acoustic.

For those in the recording industry, Lavry Engineering are widely regarded as the professionals choice for pro audio equipment.  For a number of years we have used a wide range of Lavry equipment in our on location recording setups from the Black DA11 Stereo DA Converter through to a number of the Lavry Blue AD converters.

The “LavryBlue” Conversion System offers affordable high-end conversion and features. The LavryBlue system is suited for applications ranging from 2 channel recording and mastering to multitrack workstations, and surround sound applications. Versatile and flexible, the LavryBlue is field expandable as more tracks or capabilities are desired. This versatile system gives you 44.1, 48, 88.2 or 96 kHz sampling frequencies. Having worked with a range of equipment over the past few years, our extensive research and testing has shown that the Lavry equipment really does stand up to the test of time.  And lets face it, when you’re recording on location and you have a number of professional musicians there all with tight schedules and busy lives you only have one chance to get it right.

Use of audio on a business website is an ideal way of adding a personal touch to your business.  It’s widely accepted that people buy people before products and services.  By using short audio clips on your website you can give your customers the chance to get to know you before they consider your business.

Nowadays this even more important as competition is getting tougher in the vast majority of businesses, particularly with the economic climate being what it is.  By offering on location recordings for web audio we give you the opportunity to speak to your clients before you meet them and give them an overview of your business in your own words.

Think of it rather like an email newsletter but in spoken form.  The biggest benefit of an audio file is that your customers or prospects can download this and listen in their own time.

Podcasts are not new, in fact they’ve been around a few years now. However what is new is that 4 Part Music can now offer a professional “on location” podcast recording service.  This service is due to be officially launched next week along with our first series of podcasts and will make podcasting more accessible to small and large businesses alike.

This service will adopt the same principles as our recording services for musicians. Essentially we will be using a cut down version of our main recording rig, but still using the high end Lavry Engineering solution and a combination of microphones from AKG and DPA.  This means the audio quality of our podcasts will be second to none and on a par with that you would expect from the BBC.  To further enhance our podcasts we are also able to add music and effects all of which will have been written by one of our in house professional musicians which means there is never any issues with copyright.

As well as “on location” podcasts we can also offer an “in house” service where all you need to do is send us your script and we will have a member of our professional voiceover team read the podcast on your behalf.  Further news of this exciting venture will appear soon so watch this space.

Welcome to the very first blog for 4 Part Music.  Our intention, over the coming weeks and months, is to fill these pages with interesting insights and snippets from the world of classical music and “on location” recordings as well as giving you an insight into how we work at 4 Part Music.

As well as contributions from our own staff we also hope to include a few guest writers as the blog grows. Along with every area of our business, we are always delighted to receive feedback and specifically here we rely on you telling us what you would like to read about.