Joensuu, Finland; 12 June 2023 – “In my opinion Audient preamps sound good in all situations, from speech to huge orchestras,” says freelance music producer and production assistant to Joensuu City Orchestra, Tomi Fröberg. So, when he was tasked with capturing the orchestra playing parts of some well-known classical pieces recently, he decided to put his iD44 audio interface to the test.
These particular recordings are to be used in a video illustrating how music can be used to change the mood and atmosphere in movies, and will be shown in schools across the country. This is part of Art Tester, Finland’s largest culture education program which offers young people direct experiences with art, as well as giving them tools to form opinions about their experience.
“We had already done live streams, so we had experience using just four mics to record the whole orchestra. Also, there weren’t any soloists to mic separately, so I knew I could do the recording with my Audient iD44 without the need for external preamps,” explains Tomi.
“The optimum position of mics in the concert hall had been established with the help of a professional acoustician a long time ago. Mics were positioned in the grandstand about 5-6 metres behind the conductor. We used a stereo bar for four mics with the stand extended to its maximum length. I used two AKG C414 XLS and two Sennheiser e914 microphones. The Sennheisers were positioned in the middle, using the ORTF stereo technique, whilst the AKGs were positioned either side in a more AB-ish setup – turned slightly toward the edges of the orchestra.
Having worked with an iD4 as his main studio interface for the last two years, he was confident that the iD44 would be up to the job. “The mono button of the iD44 is a massive help in stereo recording situations like this. It makes it faster to check phase when recording with multiple mics,” he says. “It saves time because I can just press the button and I don’t need to use any plugins for mono-listening. The iD Mixer app also has a nice ‘polarity reverse’ button that helps with the phasing of multiple mics.”
Happily, the results were positive. “The recording process went smoothly and it was easy! I just kept recording. I can confirm that you can absolutely record an orchestra with an iD44 and just four mics!”
When not working with Joensuu City Orchestra, Tomi is busy with music production, mixing and recording. With a lot in the pipeline – including several podcasts and a children’s music album – he is pleased to have his Audient interfaces to rely on. “I feel that if the source is well recorded, I don’t have to do that much in post to get that ‘radio-ready’ sound.”
Find out more about what Tomi is up to, by following him online on Instagram and Facebook or visiting his company website.
