Recording organs

[Orgelalbi]

Hi everyone,

Does anyone of you have experiences in recording organs? Witch Mic positions do you use? Witch mic stands do you use? How far do you position the mics from the instrument? In the next two months I will have to record an organ and I want to be prepared well.

Thanks for any help.

Stefan

[lorenzo.gavanna]

Hi Stefan!
Recording organs is one of the most strange and various situation you can find! It depends a lot on the envirorment and on the "hall" (Church), even without forgetting the sound of the Organ itself and where it's placed. My suggest is you should have more than one recording technique and than decide which one to keep or which combination is the best.
If you have the opportunity I would go for a DECCA TREE, a stereo A-B and stero XY (or ORTF, but slightly modifcated in the high, placing it higher).
Another thing that is critical (in my opinion) is to find the right mic placement before even going around the church while the organist is playing. closed headphones or in ear (super fine quality) and protective hedphones on your ears (the one the street worker uses to isolate from the external noise). This is a little bit dangerous for the mics, but very usefull for the final result. DO IT CAREFULLY!! Once you have it registered all, with the right calm and critic, decide later which one you will use!

[Orgelalbi]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. I'll try it out and will report here.

Best regards

Stefan

[Tacovision]

Hi Stefan,

If you are recording an organ placed high up in a (big) church you would need a high mic stand to come closer to the organ. As a start, I would place the stand so far from the organ that it creates a triangle with the width of the organ. I would use two omni-directional mics as an A_B on a 30cm/1ft stereo bar. Move the mic stand closer or further away for the best sound. (And sometimes also higher or lower, depending on which registers the organ player uses and how far they are hidden in the organ cabinet.) Just keep in mind that the organ should not sound too different from what a listener on the church floor hears.
Place two other omnis a few meters apart on separate stands halfway in the church or further away from the organ for the reverberation, which you mix with the organ mics for the desired balance. This also makes the lowest registers of the organ sound much more impressive.

Best,
Taco

[Orgelalbi]

Hi Taco,

Thanks for your reply. The normal mic stands are less then 3 M. Does anyone know some stands, that are higher?

Best Stefan

[lorenzo.gavanna]

Hi! I don't know where are you from so I won't post the link. But the K&M 20811 will reach the 4,4 m hieght. If you are from some places in Europe (or Britain) you can find it on Thomann.

[Orgelalbi]

Thanks. I'm from Germany and I'll look it up.

Best Stefan

[Tacovision]

Have a look at the big professional light stands. They are heavy and they have to be, going up high. The lightweight audio stands don't go that high or will be dangerously unstable.

[Orgelalbi]

Hi Taco,

Thanks for your reply Can you name a brand and product? When I search proffisional light stands, I get several results, but they are all useless.

Best Stefan

[lollylewis]

Hi there - sorry for not keeping up - but if you are still looking for a nice tall mic stand I've been getting these very affordable ones on amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006U6NWFS
They work great and have a little bit of air cushion action so they don't just slam down when you unscrew the segments.