Hey! I recently recorded with an orchestra and I’m trying to figure out how to approach applying Auto Align 2 to the recording. I looked at a couple examples in the manual but they don’t quite cover this scale of recording. The full mic setup is as follows for complete clarity (slashes indicate separate mics):
My instinct says NOT to group the Decca, OutRig, Blumlein, Far Room, Surround and InRig all together because maintaining the time difference between those mics is what gives the studio space its unique sound. When it comes to all the spot mics, I see some groupings that could improve the clarity of those instruments: Violin A-1/A-2/A-3 as one group and Trombone 1/2/3 as another group for instance.
Is grouping the spot mics this granularly a good approach or should it be more section based like grouping: Brass Room L/R, Trumpet 1/2, Trombone 1/2/3, Tuba? There’s a fair amount of bleed in all the mics (trumpets are everywhere as usual) so something like the Bassoon 1 mic is inevitably picking up some of the Flute 1 part, for example.
Does this grouping make sense or would anyone suggest a different approach? Is there any way to group the Decca, OutRig, Blumlein, etc and keep their relative distance/timing but fix any phase issues? And do mics like Far Room L/R even need to be grouped or should I be using channel linking to set them as a Stereo Link? For transparency I’m a composer first so I’d super appreciate some more experienced engineering/mixing perspectives. Thanks!
Hi Tal, appreciate your response and all the info!
Quick question about Stereo Link – should mic pairs like the Blumleins, OutRigs, Far Rooms, InRigs, etc be Stereo Linked then?
I hope it’s not too much to ask but a grouping analysis of this setup (or really a general orchestral recording setup similar to this) in the style of the manual’s example 1 (band) and example 2 (jazz trio) would be a huge help and I’m sure it would encourage other users to use AA2 for orchestral recordings. I’m still a bit uncertain how to approach this all so I’ll follow up with support as well, thank you for offering.
In the meantime using the banks is a great idea to test different alignments! Thank you for the suggestion and I really appreciate you taking the time to read this over. Who would think recording orchestras could be so complicated!
Stereo links are usually a good thing to do. It keeps the depth and analysis in context.
About adding a complex orchestra example to the manual, I’ll raise that with the team to consider what’s the best way to tackle it. Thank you for the suggestion.
But as always, just as no take or room sounds exactly the same, our support is always happy to help on a per case basis.
Hi Tal, thanks again for your help here! Just a quick update that I’ve found a good grouping approach and Stereo Linking + Phase Locking the Decca Tree has done a lot to help maintain the depth of the recording. Like you said no room sounds the same so I did some A/B setting comparisons and let my ear guide me on what sounds best.
It’s a great tool and offers lots of flexibility. Appreciate the help from you and the team!
Hi , would like to add to this issue of multi mices orchestral recording and mixing, and wanders what will be the effect when I mix to binaural or other immersive formats after I auto align my tracks? will there be additional phase issues to handle with mono compatibility and in general. and to add to my question, if I auto align my tracks stereo pairs and individuals and try to work with Atmos beds and objects, I am messing up the alignment ?
Hi @louria.david ,
I’d first emphasize the trivial alignment applies to the stage it is being inserted at. (so ARA would most likely be at the raw audio level) while non-ARA inserts would analyze the signal (including inserts) up to the inserted point.
In general, it’s very common to use AA2 as the first insert / on the raw material.
Mono Compatibility:
If all your input tracks (within a group!) are mono or splitted to mono, AA2 alignment would try to get make great correlation between signals. So mono of the specific group would be improved.
Spatial Depth Consideration:
With better correlation as expected, the spatial depth is affected. That’s why AA2 has the +/- to nudge tracks giving the mixer engineer ability to perserve that depth while still finding optimal alignments as possible. You have the control on the balance between stereo depth to possible mono summing while AA2 tries to improve overall phase relations.
if I auto align my tracks stereo pairs and individuals and try to work with Atmos beds and objects, I am messing up the alignment ?
Atmos is already unique in the sense the encoded Atmos mix is stem based. so the ‘final’ mix depends on the device speaker layout it’s being played on.
I’d suggest starting similar to any mixing workflow where you align the groups to your desire.
As mentioned above with A/B(C/D) you can also try different alignments to see which works best.
alignment applies to the stage it is being inserted at. (so ARA would most likely be at the raw audio level) while non-ARA inserts would analyze the signal (including inserts) up to the inserted point.