Recording the Sunday morning service has become an essential ministry in many churches. Recordings can be provided to shut-ins, hospital patients and those who travel extensively. The sound quality directly impacts how beneficial the recordings are to those individuals. This article will give you some "Good / Better / Best" set-up scenarios and provide additional microphone tips. There are many possible set-up scenarios. This list is intended to help you get started.
Good/Better/Best Set-up Scenarios
Good
Using the Tape Out or Aux Send output to feed your recorder (as shown in Figure 1) provides an easy set-up; but also, one with limited options. This set-up will record the same mix as the loudspeaker receives. Therefore, if any voice, instrument or trax is too loud or soft in the recording, any adjustment to fix the recording mix will also affect the balance of the main sound system.
Figure 1
Using the Tape Out or Aux Send outputs to feed your recorder.
Better
A better approach is to use a separate output from your mixer. Check the mixer to see if it has separate left and right outputs with a Left/Right pan control on each channel. Use the left submaster (Sub L) output for the main sound system and the right submaster (Sub R) output for the recording (Figure 3). When the pan control is at center or 12:00, the signal from that channel is sent equally to the left and right outputs. Turning the pan control on any individual channel to the right will decrease the volume of that voice or instrument in the sound system and increase the volume of that channel in the recording. By adjusting the channel pan and volume controls, a fairly good mix can be achieved for both the sound system and the recording. A Y-Cable (as in Figure 2) could be used to split the right submaster output from the mixer and feed it to the left and right input channels on your recording equipment.
Figure 3
The left or right submaster can be used for an independent output for a recording.
For additional
operational techniques be sure to refer to your owner's manual.
Best
If your mixer has additional outputs called "sends," you can set-up a recording mix independent from the main sound system. In Figure 4, the master control is labeled "AUX SEND" and the channel control is labeled "AUX." They may also be labeled "monitor," " effect" or "auxiliary." This set-up gives you an independent volume control on each channel and a separate master volume control.
Figure 4
Use the Aux Send as a record feed.
Hint
Refer to your owner's manual to determine if your mixer's equalizer and aux controls are pre or post. It is important to be aware of this feature because it affects your recording mix. For example, if your aux send is described as pre fader, an adjustment to the channel fader will not affect the recording. Conversely, if it's post fader, an adjustment to the channel fader will affect the recording. Similarly, the tone controls that are pre fader are called pre eq, the tone controls that are post fader are called post eq. The mixer in Figure 4 has a selectable pre or post switch on each channel.
Microphone Techniques
Using the proper microphone techniques will make a dramatic improvement in your recordings. Sometimes instruments or voices sound great in church but sound very faint on the recording. Generally, you need a microphone for any voices or instruments you want to hear on a recording. Be sure to include the congregation, choir and organ in your planning for a recording. Below are some suggestions for those not-so-obvious areas.
Congregation or Choir
There are two major considerations when selecting a congregational-response or choir microphone. 1) The microphone should be elevated and pointed toward the congregation or choir. 2) The microphone should not hinder sight-lines; therefore, it should be as small as possible so it "disappears." These two requirements suggest using a miniature directional (cardioid or supercardioid) condenser microphone that will operate on standard phantom power rather than batteries. In most cases one microphone will be sufficient.
Organ
Two considerations for selecting an organ microphone are: 1) The microphone should pick-up an extreme range of sound levels. 2) The microphone should be small enough to be concealed. A dynamic microphone placed on a small stand inside the organ speaker area would meet these considerations. However, if the louvers in the grillwork are controlled by the organist, this arrangement will not work. In that case, place the microphone outside the pipe chamber in an inconspicuous place.
These tips and techniques should help get you started in your quest for an exciting and dynamic recording ministry.
by Travis Ludwig © 1996 Internet Sound Institute (www.soundinstitute.com). This articles is for personal use only. Any commercial reproduction is not permitted without permission. To obtain permission, contact ISI at hopi@soundinstitute.com
