Solo Marimba recorded in a good concert hall
Hey guys. Just wanted to share an awesome recording I just made the other day in my schools largest concert hall. When listening, keep in mind I have used NO reverb plugins at all! This was recorded for a client auditioning for a summer artist program:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/yfl3litrnyn/Character_No._2.wav.mp3
Let me know what you think and I hope you enjoy it!
PS. If curious, I can describe how I positioned mics for this sound.
Here is a link to a picture of my setup:
http://yfrog.com/jvpict0058aj
I used 5 mics. On the outer edges of the marimba, I used 2 MXL modded 990's, each turned in at a 35 degree angle. in the center of the instrument, I used a semi modded MXL v63 large diaphragm condenser. Finally, about 5-6 feet in front of the instrument I used two modded MXL 603's in an xy pattern, about 10-12 feet up. I do have my reasons for having broken the 3:1 rule though, since the sound source location on a marimba is constantly changing, I thought 3:1 wouldn't make that much of a difference. Especially since the close mics are set up more like an ab pattern.
Also, I recorded over firewire using ffado drivers and a presonus FP10. The PC i a Dell Inspireon 1520 with Core2Duo and 4gb of ram, running a heavily patched version of kubuntu 9.10. Also, I built my version of ardour from source (with vst, lv2, and ardourxchange support) and mixed this recording with mostly linuxdsp lv2 plugins.
Hey, for all the people downloading this and taking a listen, I would like to see some more comments!
@tbonedude: Very impressive recording - I assume it's not a very easy instrument to record, but you've done it really well. Did you have to do much to it when you mixed it?
@tbonedude: Really nice recording! Very naturally sounding, great stereo imaging! But I think it should not be left unmentioned that the playing of the instrument is truly impressive, too.
Just one thing I am wondering: Why are you calling yourself tbonedude though you use MXL microphones? ;-)
well, I'm tbonedude because I am a trombone player. But I use mxl mics because after some modding, they sound alright (or GREAT if modded by a pro!) and they are very cost effective. I wonder how far my client will get in this competition though.. (it would look good for me if he got pretty far along!)


Nice, especially between 4:04 and 4:18. What was the setup (what mics, how many, placement, pre-amp, audio card, PC). Thanks for sharing.
Luc