Brass 5tet Recording...

[Scott]

...questions.
Hi All,
I'm looking for information on gear to make a quality brass quintet recording. Microphones, software, (ESPECIALLY software) and whatever else someone feels is necessary. I'm good on computers and lots of disc space.

We did our first CD in a commercial, digital studio, and it turned out pretty well. Our last attempt at CD #2 was a home-grown effort, and the results were less than satisfactory...the over all sound needed some massaging in post, which we didn't have this time around...no access to software, and we played into just a couple of mics...
SO, I'm looking for suggestions as to what I'd need to do the recording and post processing on a CD myself.

Thanks,
Scott

[swillafew]

A friend gets a good result with Presonus equipment. The 8 channel unit will cost you about 500, I think. It connects to a Mac with a firewire, runs on bundled software, and will sound fine with good microphone selection. That is of course a topic unto itself, but I own AKG C1000 microphones which I can recommend as a good start for a microphone collection. For $1000 you can make a fine stereo product.

[Scott]

Thanks!

[Phil Dawson]

I did a project of a X-mas CD of brass quintet music. It was done as a 5.1 surround sound project and turned out quite well. The most important thing you need is good to great microphones. Next you need good quality mic pre-amps. It doesn't hurt to use a stereo pair for the room sound and then mic each instrument. You also need a good room to record in. MIc placement is also very important. All of the software in the world will not cure a bad recording. There is a lot of very affordable good software available and it is possible to rent good quality mics. For a good stereo pair of mics (AKG 414s at a minimum) you can figure on at least $1000 EACH to buy. I will have some gear for sale in a bit but you might consider getting into a good studio and at least pay to have the music tracked. You can then take the tracks and do what you wish with them. PM me if you wish I will give you my phone number and I can give you some more information.