The main microphones are some 20 feet away from the musicians, and 10-12 feet above floor level; one takes its sound mainly from the left-hand half of the orchestra, and the other from the right, though the sound from either half will overlap to some extent into the microphone on the other. The remaining microphones are placed near individual instruments or sections such as the timpani, brass and woodwinds, because in the circumstances of a recording these sections might be drowned by the strings-which usually predominate in any orchestra. If the recorded work is a concerto, the soloist, too, will have a separate microphone.
Balance The orchestra plays, and the sound engineers make fine adjustments to the positioning of the microphones and the sensitivity of their response-a process known as "balancing" Having balanced the response of the microphones so that the sound to go on record will accurately represent the proper placing of the orchestra and its sound intensity in a concert performance, everything is ready for recording to begin.
Recording During the actual sound recording, the recording director and technicians take station at the control desk, which is installed in a sound-proofed listening room from which they can see, through a double-glazed window, all that takes place in the studio. Cables connect the microphones to this desk, where the sound from the orchestra passes through amplifiers and mixers-electronic devices that relay it through the recording head of a tape machine to the tape that marks the end of the first stage in the production of a record. On rare occasions it is possible to record a piece of music from beginning to end in a single playing. Usually, however, the conductor of the orchestra or the recording director will feel that some passage or movement might be improved upon, and will ask for a repeat-perhaps even for several. Before the recording session ends, there may be dozens of these "takes" in all. Editing When every note has been taped, including all repeats, the recording director and the conductor listen to all takes and decide which of them are best. Only the best will be heard in the final performance.
The assembly of these is the work of the tape editor. His is an exacting task, and a good editor can, quite literally, remove a single note from one take and substitute it with a note from another. Armed with a cue sheet and a copy of the orchestral score (which he must be able to read), he splices together the selected takes to produce the final, "master" tape.
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Edison's phonograph recording music during the Handel Festival at Crystal Palace, 1888
Modern recording equipment.
