naturerecordists
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: last minute advice on recording Church bells

Subject: Re: last minute advice on recording Church bells
From: "CHAD CLIFFORD" =
il.com
Date: Sat May 25, 2013 7:52 pm ((PDT))

Thanks very much guys!
I was up at 5am to catch sounds at a local Landtrust and luckily caught a G=
reat Blue Heron that floated over the pond sqwuaking the whole way.

Then I went to the Church and recorded the (800pound) bell at 11am.   Kind =
of challenging (for me) as the wind was up and we were up on a hill.  The b=
ell tower had little to no room so did not get a mic in it. I aimed two ext=
ernal mics at the tower--as close to the tower as I could get-- aimed at ar=
ound 35-45degree angle up.  The bell part of the tower is 50 feet high.  Th=
e Zoom recorder mics were also aimed that way.  I had the rec levels down t=
o 40%.  The sounds did not seem to distort at this level.  My first impress=
ion was how clear the sound was that close.  But not sure how much ambience=
 of lower end sounds were picked up.  I will listen/play with the files on =
the computer to see what I come up with and will post them to SoundWave (al=
ong with the Heron call).  Thanks again ,
Chad
(near Ottawa)





On 2013-05-25, at 7:48 PM,  wrote:

> I've recorded a lot of different bells in my time on tape where you have =
to
> be more accurate with levels, but the general advice I would give is to
> record low. With 16 bit digital, set the peak down at -10dB or lower and =
you
> will lose nothing, but avoid overload.
>
> I mainly used MKH416's and never had a mic overload. So saying, a "clean"=

> mic overload would not necessarily be a disaster.
>
> Now for the art. :-) Recording a church bell at a non-distorting level is=

> liable to make it sound puny. What you need is reverberation or ambience,=
 so
> I would recommend a second mic at a different distance, If you can find a=

> local echo, all the better. Don't necessarily point the second mic at the=

> bell tower.
>
> If all else fails, a space mic at a respectful distance like 15 metres or=

> more further away from the main mic will add a second source with a short=

> time delay and help to get an outdoors sound.
>
> The main problem may be that the direct sound makes it difficult to monit=
or
> what you are picking up, or the balance of mics, but you may be able to t=
ake
> refuge inside the building.
>
> I would not use a highly directional mic like a parabola as I would be
> looking for a good ambience effect to make it sound like bells in a tower=
.
>
> David Brinicombe
>










<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the naturerecordists mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU