Introduction 

The purpose of this guide is to provide all you need as a music director to get you started with recording. As music directors, we all understand how much work it takes to put a concert cycle together. There's finding the right repertoire for your students, score study and preparation, and of course the countless hours both you and your ensemble have put in both in and out of rehearsal to get there. What better way to immortalize such a culmination of work than with a recording, you can share it with your students, their families, archive it, and of course use it as a teaching tool to help you all improve. The best part, it's easier than you might think. 

The guide is broken down into three Tiers to help you get started regardless of the equipment you may have or plan to get. All tiers of recording involve having a “main array” that is placed towards the front of the ensemble, usually close to where the conductor stands. As the tiers progress, additional mics are added to better capture the ensemble. One thing to note is that choirs are mostly omnidirectional compared to wind ensembles. Because of that, most of the mic placement suggestions will encourage you to have enough space between the ensemble and the microphones in order to allow the individual sounds to blend together. 

For this guide, <10 singers is considered a small choir, 11-25 is considered a medium choir and 25+ is considered a large choir.

At the bottom of this guide you will also find suggestions for recording specialty choirs such as show and jazz choirs. 

Tier 2

Tier 2 uses more common stereo recording techniques as the main array is recorded to a mixer board, audio interface or external recorder. 

Equipment

• Audio Mixer

• Audio interface (min 2in/2out)

• External Recorder (min 2 XLR inputs)

• Microphones (omni or cardioid depending on the technique used) 

Techniques and Placement

XY (Coincident)

XY is a great way of recording choirs as it allows you to capture the manner in which the vocalists blend with each other. You get both a focused ensemble center while still capturing the SATB separation. For this method you will:

• Need two Cardioid microphones angled 90 degrees toward each other

  • (Can be mounted on two separate stands or on one stand using a stereo bar)

• Place the array a few feet back from the conductor

• Place the array 3 feet above the conductors head

• Aim the microphones toward the middle of the ensemble

*A high quality recorder such as the Zoom H4n or H6 can be used for XY configurations as well.

** This method can also be flown/suspended if you want a more permanent solution. 

ORTF(Near Coincident) 

ORTF is one of the most common near coincident methods for recording. It resembles an XY array in that the two directional microphones cross but instead of 90 degrees, they are angled 110 degrees. This method most closely resembles the human ear and allows for the instruments to appear in the sound field the same way they would before you. For this method you will:

• Need two Cardioid microphones angled 110 degrees apart.  

• Suspend microphones 3 feet above the conductors head

• Aim the microphones at the center of the ensemble.

** This method can also be flown/suspended if you want a more permanent solution. 

Blumlein Array (Coincident)

A Blumlein Array uses two crossed microphones angled 90 degrees similar to XY but uses bidirectional microphones instead of Cardioid microphones. Blumlein arrays are great as they capture both the ensemble as well as the reflections of the room they are in. This method is great if you are able to surround the array with your singers. For this method you will:

• Need two bi-directional or “figure-8” microphones

• Mount them so that the capsules are crossing at a 90 degree angle.

• Place them 3 feet above the conductor

Spaced Pair

If you have an exceptionally large choir, you can use a spaced pair to record them and get good SATB separation. For this method you will:

• Use two omnidirectional (omni) microphones, each mounted on their own stand or dropped down from the ceiling

• Place the microphones 10-12 feet apart with you (the conductor) in the center.

• Microphones should be about 3-5 feet above the singers heads

Piano

Please refer to the piano microphone placement section of the individual instrument recording guide.

Techniques and Placement

XY (Coincident)

Exactly the same thing used in Tier 2 but can be expanded with outriggers (side microphones) in order to get a wider stereo field. In order to do this, you will need:

• Additional two cardioid microphones  

• Each outrigger is placed on its own stand 

• Outriggers are placed at the same height as the main XY and 6-10 feet in both directions from the main array.

• Aim the microphones toward the middle of the ensemble and pan hard left and hard right.

*A high quality recorder such as the Zoom H4n or H6 can be used for XY configurations as well, with additional microphones added.

** This method can also be flown/suspended if you want a more permanent solution. 

Blumlein Array (Coincident)

Follow all steps indicated in Tier 2, with the addition of two outriggers. 

• Add one omnidirectional microphone at each side of the main array

• Place them all at the same height as the main array

• Place them 10-12 feet in the air

• Adjust the distance from the conductor in accordance with how much bass or “warmth” you want

** This method can also be flown/suspended if you want a more permanent solution. 

Spaced Pair

Similar to the AB setup in Tier 2, however this uses 3-4 microphones and is designed record each individual section of the ensemble. For this method you will:

• Use 3-4 omnidirectional (omni) microphones, each mounted on their own stand or dropped down from the ceiling

  • If using three - use the center of the existing two found in tier 2.

  • If using four - place the microphones in front of each section of the choir

OCCO

OCCO is a hybrid of NOS and AB without the need for several stands. The reason it is called OCCO is because it uses two Omni mics and two Cardioid mics in that configuration (Omni-Cardioid-Cardioid-Omni). This is a great way of capturing any size ensembles while giving you the freedom to use the four microphones in different capacities such as just the omni array, just the cardioid array or a mixture of the two at different levels. For this method you will need:

• Two matched cardioid microphones

• Two matched omni microphones (APE Spheres optional)

• A four microphone stereo bar (if using one stand)

• Can be mounted on large stands or flown. 

• Angle the inner array (Cardioid) 90 degrees similar to NOS

• Angle the outer array (Omni) 90+ degrees.

• Suspended 8-10 feet above the ensemble. 

• You can use similar sounding microphones, or microphones with different sonic profiles. 

Piano

Please refer to the piano microphone placement section of the individual instrument recording guide.

Soloist Microphones

If performing a piece with a soloist or multiple soloists, a large diaphragm condenser microphone can be set up in front of the choir adjusted to the singer's height.