Something like a drone recording

[mdoudin]

I have a new project in which I try to compose music to give it to people who would play it then. My aim is to create some decent waves of drone, very quiet and still intoxicating. I would like to record horns, strings and choirs.
Has anyone of you done something similar yet? How did you record such a session? I'm not sure how to do it. I don't need it to be ultra high-quality, but still good enough to be clear and surrounding while listening. I don't know which microphone(s) to take and I think it's quite dull to organise such a session and to come on just with my Rode NT4 and a Handy Recorder.
What do you think would be best?
thanks!
marc

[taylordeupree]

you'll definitely want stereo mics... so one probably won't do.... but, a decent stereo pair in a good sounding room with PROPER PLACEMENT could sound quite OK...

i think you'll be fine if you get one more NT4, or some other matched stereo pair. put your players in the room and the two mics on stands... then feed it into the recorder, put it in record-ready mode and put a good pair of headphones on. then, with the headphones on and the musicians playing, move the mics around on their stands and listen to how the placement of them change the sound. find a sweet spot, and record.

you'd be even better off with two sets of stereo mics... one set closer to the musicians and one set far away for the room tone all recorded onto 4 track so you can play with the relationship later..

but, if you cant' get 4 mics.. at least get two and spend some time experimenting with different placements.

[Le Berger]

Probably out of most people's means, but a good place to take inspiration from I imagine:
http://cstrecords.com/cst075/

Colin Stetson's latest, recorded with 24 different mics in the room, live, one take. A `tour de force`one might say... (you can stream the whole thing too)

[mdoudin]

thanks to both of you and sorry for the late answer! I'll definitely try to install two nt4's taking two very long cables to get the center room recorded by the zoom h4n and the stereo spread by the both nt4's. thank you.

[taylordeupree]

definitely spend a lot of time monitoring in headphones as you move the mics around. people make careers out of mic placement, so it's nothing to take lightly. can have a HUGE impact on the sound.

[Koda]

people make careers out of mic placement.

I like this statement.

[mdoudin]

Yes, I think without this reply I would have underestimated this.. thanks Taylor I'll try to get some information about that mic placement thing on the web before inviting the musicians as well as I'll take a lot of time for the actual placement. Thanks!