It was May 2015, the internationally recognized composer Francisco Zumaqué performed the world premiere of a series of works for Violin and Piano in his concert “Tradition and Evolution” at the Mario Laserna Theater of the Universidad de Los Andes. After overcoming countless setbacks to perform the concert’s recording, we finally had the go-ahead to prepare a recording setup in an auditorium whose conditions are not the most suitable for the genre. In the previous post about the recording with the Russian violist Irena Sopova, these problems and the treatments carried out to counteract the precarious acoustics of this stage, have been described in detail.
The instrumentation of the concert was quite simple, most of the pieces were composed for piano and violin with the exception of a couple of fragments intended for viola and some others where the piano takes a break to give free way to the powerful melodies of the rubbed string. The fact that the assembly is relatively simple, especially if we compare it with the recording of the violist Irena Sopova (on the same stage), does not mean that the conditions are the most favorable. Sound capture, microphone selection, and the post-production process itself are a bit more strenuous; the extremely dry characteristics of this auditorium and the minimal excitement of the room (given by the very nature of the instruments involved), lead to these acoustic deficiencies being noticed a little more than when you have, for example, a string orchestra with more than 20 musicians. However, these challenges head to active and constructive learning and fortunately, a world-class production has been produced for a great concert.
The recording
Once again, due to various setbacks in the days leading up to recording, miking has not been the most appropriate for the genre, but attention to detail can always bring out the best in every available tool. The piano has been captured with the help of the Marshall Electronics MXL 990 in the bass range and the simple Behringer C3 microphone in its cardioid mode for the capture of the high frequencies. It should be taken into account that the piano is not the main element in these works and that also due to the acoustic conditions of the place, it can end up masking the sound of the star instrument on this night full of notes and applause.
The main violin has been captured with the Marshall Electronics MXL 2006, located at a considerable height in order to support a small stereo arrangement (ORTF) made with the Behringer C4, simple but efficient microphones, whose performance has been analyzed in previous publications in order to generate corrective equalization curves and take full advantage of their limited capabilities (they are not the most appropriate microphones for this type of production). This arrangement seeks to portray the interaction between both instruments and to capture the acoustics of the room as much as possible.
In addition to this, an omnidirectional microphone was arranged at a considerable distance from both instruments, whose only purpose was to support the very absorbent acoustics of the room and perhaps give the recording a wider stereo feel and bigger spatiality.
Image 1. Assembly for the recording of this concert.
The Mix
All the microphones have been treated with continuous-noise restoration tools, since the side door of the stage (through which the performers enter, and connect with the engine room and dressing rooms), has not been closed because the video team insisted on taking multiple shots from this location. Considering that many works were written exclusively for the violin, treating these background noises is essential. The piano microphones have their respective treatment with Waves ‘Z-Noise and a subtle coloring with the NLS (cannel mode- Mike Hedges’ setup) also by waves, this was done in order to color the signal with a “Studio sound”, the plug-in’s drive has been kept at its minimum level since this parameter can drastically saturate the signal.
Image 2. Noise treatment and application of the NLS. The microphones involved in the capture of the piano need relevant support in the high frequencies, this has been done through the exciter of iZotope Ozone and its tape mode to highlight this range of the spectrum in an effective way. Waves CLA-2A has been implemented in order to apply a slow and subtle compression (with “gain reduction” values no greater than 3dB). The equalization has sought to support the mid-low and high frequencies of the spectrum, carefully balancing this process against the exciter mentioned initially.
Image 3. Processes are applied to the auxiliary channel with the piano microphone array.
The stereo arrangement (ORTF) arranged to capture the interaction between both instruments has been treated with a simple equalization and a Mid-Side equalization module (Waves H-EQ). Additionally, the middle and lower ranges of the spectrum have been excited with the smoothest algorithm of the iZotope Harmonic Exciter (“Warm”). The stereo image has also been specially treated to open the high frequencies a bit while closing the low range opening a bit. Klanghelm’s SDRR has been applied to this stereo arrangement in order to add subtle saturation to the sound with its “Desk” mode.
Image 4. Processes involved in the treatment of the ORTF array.
Image. 5 Setting up the Klanghelm SDRR to add saturation to the array.
The Marshall MXL 2006 has been treated with the Z-Noise due to the noise problem mentioned at the beginning of this section, several equalization stages have been necessary to achieve a color more in line with the musical genre and the characteristics of the viola and violin, who starred in this night’s releases. The low-frequency range, which has been limited up to almost 500 Hz (considering the violin’s frequency ranges), has been remarkably excited with the lower saturation algorithm of iZotpe’s Harmonic Exciter (“Warm mode”).
Image 6. Treatment of the Marshall MXL 2006 disposed to capture the violin.
Taking into account that the piano can mask the sound of the violin in some passages, the spatiality of both instruments has been treated differently. After listening carefully to the omnidirectional microphone located at a certain distance from the instruments in order to support the dry aspect of this room, it has been decided not to include it in the mix since its contribution is almost imperceptible. Once again, the reverb needs to be designed from scratch for this particular setup. Valhalla Vintage Verb is again the tool implemented for this task. It may seem a bit far-fetched, but two different reverb settings have been applied to each instrument, the piano has been sent to a module with a slightly shorter “Decay” in comparison to the one applied to the violin (the same idea has been implemented to the “pre-delay” of these reverb modules), this is for the purpose of highlighting a little more the transients of the bowed strings that can easily go unnoticed if compared to the piano dynamics. The ORTF arrangement has also been sent to the reverb employed to enhance the violin.
Image 7. Reverb modules.
The violin’s reverb has been treated with equalization and excitation to enhance the high-frequency range, considering the content that can be lost after the very forceful equalization process that these tracks were subjected to.
Image 8. Treatment for the reverberation of the violin.
Among the most relevant plug-ins at the end of this processing chain, we can find the CLA-2A by waves to take advantage of the gain of the mix in general, a stage complemented by band compression that seeks to control key frequencies as well as resonances in the lower range of the spectrum (Waves C6); subtle standard and Mid-Side EQ settings (Waves H-EQ); light touch-ups made with iZotope’s “Harmonic Exciter”; and the application of a limiter to support the gain of the mix (Algorithm “transparent” by Fab Filter). It is worth mentioning that the lower and upper ranges of the spectrum have been treated with the TR P-EQ 1A from T-Racks (Emulator of the famous Pultec EQP-1A).
Image 9. Modules of the last stage of treatment.
Image 10. T-Racks Module
It is important to note that the works written only for violin or viola have been treated with the waves X-Noise in order to deliver a cleaner signal, since in this configuration the background noises are more noticeable, especially in the softer passages of these pieces, the “Threshold” of this plug-in has been automated in order to support the key passages of each work with more intensity.
Image 11. Waves X-Noise automation.
It is worth mentioning that for these works without the piano, it has been sought to automate the volume of the microphones in order to take full advantage of the gain of these tracks, thus obtaining a clear and concise recording of a series of works for bowed strings with a very wide and variable dynamic range.
Image 12. Example of volume automation for the “Pascalian” works presented at this event (violin microphone and ORTF stereo arrangement).
