Buckage

If it doesn't work it doesn't work. I'm just trying to figure out the right way to attempt it. Happy to record inside if it doesn't benefit the score.

If we want to do it we have to give it a proper shot and since we never record outside it's a huge learning curve. For the initial test we used what we had on hand and for the most part it was unusable but we did like the vibe. Hopefully the next time we try with better suited equipment the results will be what we're shooting for.

Thanks for all the replies! That Latcho Drom film is amazing. I should have stated the artistic reasons for wanting to record outside. It is for Tommy Lee Jones' new film The Homesman which is set in the Nebraska territory in the 1860s. Bascially its about a group of women who go crazy and need to be taken back east to be cured. The film is about the harshness of the environment and it's barrenness. There is nothing romantic about it. A part of the challenge of finding the right sound for the score is that it's a film about the lack of things like music. I realize it's a challenge and that the instruments will be bone-dry but that's what we're shooting for. To have the sound of the instruments dissipate into the air. I should receive my Rycote Zep for the CMIT5 tomorrow and plan to re-amp the close mic from the trail violin session we had for some more tests. I'm curious about the Scheops 41 as a close mic. Would the MK41V or the CCM41 be a better match for the CMIT5? If all this fails we do have a studio where we can record and shoot for a more traditional dry studio recording process but I'm excited to get outside! I'll probably never want to do it again but it's worth a shot. Would love further input if you guys think of anything! Thanks again Buck

Hey guys, I'm a film composer and new to jwsound and have enjoyed the site a lot. It's great to get the perspective on production that a lot of you guys share. Hopefully some of you here can offer some suggestions for an experiment we'd like to try... Our next project we're scoring might benefit from recording the instruments outdoors in an open area. We did a test recording with a single fiddle player a few weeks ago and ran into lots of issues that many of you guys probably face daily... wind, planes, unwanted wildlife (my hat is off to any on-set sound recordist!) We used a SM57 as a close mic on the violin with a makeshift foam windscreen which was OK as long as the wind wasn't too abusive. We also setup a Scheops CMIT5 with a fuzzy Rycote that was about 15 feet away pointing at the violin. We also setup a Sennheiser MKH800 in figure 8 at a similar spot the CMIT was. The violin also had pickups that ran to an amp that was about 75 feet away and mic'd with another 57. The amp was pointed at the player or slightly off axis to him. We are recording in the santa monica mountains area in Malibu. The winds can get pretty strong. The close mic'd 57 was pretty good overall but the actual sound of the violin wasn't great. We are going to try a Beyer160 next time. The Scheops was the best with wind because of the fuzzy windshield but still disturbed by wind on bigger gusts. I have since ordered a Rycote 4 kit zeppelin for it. That should give us a big advantage with the CMIT5. The Senmheiser mkh800 sounded great but was easily abused by wind noise. We only had a simple foam windscreen supplied with the mic. The amp 57 was OK in general. We are getting ready to try out a Sanken WSM-5 surround mic with a zeppelin. The idea is to have this in between the instruments and any amps (along with the close solo mics). I'm hoping this does the trick. Since we don't have a camera to worry about are there any tricks you guys may have picked up over the years to help shield from wind? We still want the openness of recording outdoor without any sort of room sound. For the tests we've been recording to a MOTU 896HD that was modified by BlackLion Audio into Digital Performer on a laptop. Sorry for the long post. Any advice or brainstorming would be greatly appreciated! Thanks, Buck Sanders