Hello, I’m Jooyoung Kim, an engineer and music producer.
Today, I’d like to share a quick recap of the performance I worked on as a sound director last Saturday.
Originally, the plan was to rent some basic speakers and gear for simultaneous recording. But things took a slight turn, so I ended up hauling my own audio interface (Antelope Orion Studio Synergy Core) to the venue… haha.
I also brought a boutique mic preamp, handcrafted in Japan, known for its clean sound. It felt like a perfect fit for recording the acoustic piano, so I decided to take it along.
For miking, I went with an unconventional setup. To avoid peaks, I positioned the mics slightly off the hammers, using different mics for the left and right channels (Peluso P87 and Charter Oak E700). With just a touch of EQ in post-production, the sound came out surprisingly great.
For the audience-facing ambience mics, I was a bit short on options, so I used a Peluso CEMC 6 and an M30 measurement mic. They have different directionality and characteristics, but the result was honestly pretty impressive. Now I’m wondering if I should grab another pair of each to make a proper set…
The main mics ran through the external preamp, while the ambience and vocal mics for narration went through the built-in preamp. The synthesizer was recorded via the artist’s audio interface as a mono line while simultaneously outputting.
In post-production, I widened the synth’s mono line using the UAD Precision Reflection Engine and Leapwing Audio StageOne 2 to enhance the stereo image.
For output, we rented Yamaha 400i speakers, commonly used for busking.
I didn’t get a chance to snap a photo of the audience mic setup… oops. The photos I do have were kindly taken by a friend I was working with. [photo]
Hauling all the cables and gear was a bit of a hassle, but the sound came together nicely, and I was pretty satisfied.
The final mix turned out better than expected, and both the artist and I were really pleased with it. I’d love to share it with you all, but I can’t just post it without permission. If the artist releases it on YouTube or as promotional content later, I’ll make sure to share it here.
Until next time, see you in my next post! 😊
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