Recording Nepalese musician Tarabir Tuladhar playing sitar in a studio in Kathmandu, Nepal. Recorded with a pair of Rode NT2As in MS into a Nagra V hard disk recorder. Picture by Greg Simmons
Expedition participant Jess Cooper adjusts Rode NT2000 while recording sarod in a studio in Kathmandu. Picture by Greg Simmons
DPA 4023 cardioids in XY configuration, used to record an ensemble performing in an apartment in Kathmandu, Nepal. Picture by Glen Slough.
Recording Nepalese musician Tarabir Tuladhar playing sitar in a studio in Kathmandu, Nepal. Recorded with a pair of Rode NT2As in MS into a Nagra V hard disk recorder. Picture by Greg Simmons
Recording an acoustic ensemble performing a fusion of South Indian and South American music. Muti-miking into the studio's Protools rig. Picture by Greg Simmons
In-house sound engineer Nawang fine-tuning microphone placement for recording Lhama (Tibetan opera) at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts. Recorded with a pair of AudioTechnica ATM4050s in MS Blumlein. Picture by Greg Simmons
Recording Kaushal S Inamdar (vocals, harmonium), Hamsika Iyer (vocals) and Mandar Gogate (tabla) in a studio in Mumbai, India. Picture by Greg Simmons
Recording an acoustic ensemble performing a fusion of South Indian and South American music. Muti-miking into the studio's Protools rig. Picture by Greg Simmons
Recording Kaushal S Inamdar (vocals, harmonium), Hamsika Iyer (vocals) and Mandar Gogate (tabla) in a studio in Mumbai, India.
AudioTechnica ATM4050 microphones configured in MS Blumlein for recording Lhamo (Tibetan opera) at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts in McLeod Ganj. Picture by Greg Simmons
Recording an ensemble of Burmese musicians in a studio in Yangon. A direct-to-stereo recording made with a pair of Rode NT6s into a Nagra LB location recorder. Picture by Greg Simmons
Recording Kaushal S Inamdar (vocals, harmonium), Hamsika Iyer (vocals) and Mandar Gogate (tabla) in a studio in Mumbai, India.
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Recordings
Every sound expedition includes a number of recording sessions covering techniques from close-miked multitrack to distant-miked direct-to-stereo. Some expeditions also include a 24 Hour Album Project. Sessions take place in studios, monasteries, temples, huts and even outdoors. Before each recording, sound expedition leader Greg Simmons will explain his microphone choice and placement and the outcomes he hopes to achieve. Contributions from sound expedition participants are always welcomed, and experimentation is encouraged. A review is held after each session to discuss how closely the recording came to meeting the intended outcomes, and how the techniques could have been improved.
“The educational value of these sessions cannot be stated strongly enough”, says Greg. “Each session challenges the participants with new instruments, tonalities and aesthetics, so the rote-memorised ‘industry standard’ miking techniques used for Western music are of little use. New thinking is required and demonstrated, significantly broadening the skills of the participants. Considering the ever-increasing number of graduates from audio schools and the scarcity of jobs, anything that provides a competitive edge over other graduates - such as the experiences offered on my sound expeditions - is definitely worth pursuing.”