Creating The Recorded Image of Turkish Art Music: The Decision Making Process in a Recording Session

Doç. Dr. CAN KARADOĞANİTÜ TMDK

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PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY

• Discussion of the studio representation of Turkish Art Music

• Stating the frequently faced problems of Turkish Art Music recording sessions

• Creating the ‘high fidelity’ stereo image of the music that an ensemble is playing

• Recommending ways to ease the decision making process in the session based on observations gained from practice

3TURKISH ART MUSIC

• A form of chamber music by tradition

• Although the original practice was performed acoustically, the contemporary performance practice requires sound reinforcement

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ACOUSTIC ENSEMBLE MUSIC

• Recorded mostly live using no overdubs

• The dominance of small studios force the productions to transform into a overdub way

• Bigger ensembles which won’t fit into a studio should be recorded in concert halls or similar places

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STEREO MICROPHONE TECHNIQUES

• They make use of the ITD (Interaural Time Delay) or IID (Interaural Intensity Difference) (e.g. the A-B technique or the XY technique)

• They can reflect the placement of an ensemble in a room by giving localization cues.

6PANORAMA

• The placement of musical elements in the horizontal (left-right) and the depth dimension in mixed music

• It is mostly possible to pan instruments to left of right.

• By changing their volumes and their reverb amounts mostly it is possible to place these instruments to the foreground or the background.

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SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

• A fixed sitting placement

• In order to capture the depth and the space, even a single A-B stereo pair can be sufficient to create the image

• Near mics are used to support the sections that are not loud enough in the whole mix

8CLOSE MIKING

• Microphones are placed mostly at a distance about 2-30 cm. from the source

• Aims to capture more of the first sound waves from the source

• Minimizes the reflected sounds that arrive at the microphone capsule

9STRING QUARTETT

• Fixed placement

• Familiar with acoustic performance

• Overdubbing is never the choice of production

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FREQUENTLY FACED PROBLEMS OF TURKISH ART MUSIC SESSIONS

• Difficulties in acoustic performance without any monitoring

• No clear placement

• Fuzziness in the stereo image

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WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?

• Due to the 3:1 rule, a tight sitting placement would limit the miking distance

• The stereo mix design would be compromised

• Controlling the musical image

12JAZZ RECORDINGS

• High awareness and expections for the stereo image

• Only close miking techniques are used so that the panoramic placement is done in the mix

• Recorded using headphones!!!

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CLASSICAL RECORDINGS

• High awareness and expections for the stereo image

• The stereo microphone pair defines the panorama

• The close mics contribute less to the overall sound

• No headphones are used during recording!!!

14TURKISH ART MUSIC LIVE RECORDING CASE

• The ensemble creates the intonation together in the room

• What happens if one instrument makes a mistake

• Acoustic performance problems

• Headphones: With or without

• When a singer is involved, the session must be done using headphones

15MIXING

• Stereo placement of the instruments• Is the kanun in the center?• Bowed instruments vs. Plucked instruments• Performing in a wide hemi circle• Percussion instruments on the left of the circle• Restricted usage of the stereo panorama that is present in

the stereo pair

16AN EXAMPLE

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Refik Hakan Talu Ensemble

INSTRUMENTS FROM LEFT TO RIGHT

• Tanbur• Ud• Ney• Kanun• Kemençe• Cello• Bendir (Percussion)• Daire (Percussion)

18MIKING DECISIONS

• Having the sound expectation unclear, placing a close mic for each instrument can be helpful.

• Depending on previous experience, matching all instruments with the best as possible sounding mic.

• Recording the sound that is created together in the room with an A-B stereo pair.

19TANBUR

20UD

21BENDİR

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MINIMIZING THE LEAKAGE

• Making use of the polar patterns of microphones as much as possible.

• Isolating neighboring instruments with gobos

• Making use of the Low-cut filters of some microphones

23GOBOS

24A-B STEREO PAIR

• Placed in the center of the hemi circle

• Pointing towards the kanun as a center instrument

• Ca. 2.20 m height

25A-B STEREO PAIR

26A-B STEREO

27MIXING STAGE

28MIX PANORAMA

29MIXING STEPS

• Close mic channels contributed to the sound more than the stereo pair

• Unlike classical music mixes, the level of the main pair was kept lower than the close mic channels.

• Delay compensation between the close mics to the pair was made

• Close mics were panned according to their position in the stereo image of the A-B pair

• Reverb added

• Eqs were used to minimize the leakage and to give definition to some instruments

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LISTENING EXAMPLE

Buselik Saz Semaisi – Refik Hakan Talu

• Room mics. only (A-B, DPA 4006)

• Only close mics.

• Final mix

31REMAINING QUESTIONS

• Is there a traditional placement of the instruments of Turkish Art Music?

• Is the kanun always in the middle?• Must the percussion instruments be place at a hard left of

right position?• Would the bowed and plucked instruments be placed

together as a section?• Would an average listener expect to find this stereo image

in a recording?• How much freedom does a sound engineer have in order

to produce Turkish Art Music?

32THANK YOU