How to get audio/video for bagpipes?

1. comatoad
   Member

   

    I play in a bagpipe band and the lads have asked me if there's any way we can get a live audio/video recording of the band either at an outdor performance, or during an indoor practice. Needless to say, the pipes are rather shrill. Does anybody have any suggestions as to how to mic up about 4-7 pipers, a snare drum and bass drum?

   Posted 3 months ago # Login to Send PM

2. zoobie
   Member

   

    simply walk into a studio

   Want to make a small fortune in video production? It's simple...Start with a large fortune.
   
   Another world's first - http://www.BuskerAlley.com - Busker HD on the web!

   Posted 3 months ago # Login to Send PM

3. comatoad
   Member

   

    Ah, lass. Unfortunately, they're a bunch of tight-fisted Scottsmen and do not want to spend the money on studio time. They'd rather attempt it themselves first, to see what kind of sound/video quality they can get first, and then post it to our website. Trust me, most of the money goes to uniforms, pipes and travel (not to mention the ocassional wee dram of Scotch).

   Posted 3 months ago # Login to Send PM

4. robgrauert
   Member

   

   I would have multiple mics above the bagpipe players, like, one mic above 2 players, and then another mic above 2 other players, etc. Then point a shotgun downward toward the drummer. Have all the mics feed into a mixer and adjust the audio levels of each mic until you get results you are happy with.

   In my opinion, I don't think you should do it live. Just fake it. Shoot your video so it looks live if that's the look you're going for, but then go back a record each individual one at a time so you can fine-tune all the audio. Then just lay your fine-tuned audio under your video and you have the look of a live shoot with nice audio. Make sense?

   Robert J. Grauert, Jr
   http://www.robgrauert.com

   Posted 3 months ago # Login to Send PM

5. BruceMol
   Member

   

    Personally I think bagpipes indoors is a bit grating. Recording indoors would be really tricky if you aren't in a studio so I would encourage you to find a quiet field and use multiple mics - and no marching! I'd mic one for the pipes high up and a ways back, and as Robert suggested, make it a shotgun type. Then mic the drum/snare from the front and the big drums from the side. Ther's nothing wrong with arranging the players for audio pickup rather than their usual perfomance formation either.

   Posted 3 months ago # Login to Send PM

6. tomskowronski
   Administrator

   

   Hanging a shotgun above the cymbals, with another behind the drum stool may be benefical as well sense the Floor Tom and kick are very low tones that pop thru loud high pitched ambients that the cymbals and snare will shot out. Mic the bag pipes from in front with I say one or two directly in the center of everyone. I am used to that bleed thru diy type deal tho... so may be these aren't the best suggestions

   Posted 3 months ago # Login to Send PM

7. danosongs
   Member

   

   The best experience I have had with live field recording is with the Zoom H4 Handy mic which has stereo digital recording. It has a great built in compressor that may be able to cut the shrill.

   Dan O'Connor
   Royalty Free Music Producer
   http://www.danosongs.com

   Posted 3 months ago # Login to Send PM

RSS feed for this topic

youtube, myvideo, funnyordie, gametrailers, collegehumor, dailymotion, glumbert, liveleak, redtube, googlevideo, sevenload, metacafe, clipfish, vimeo