ZRI Performance Showreel

23/10/2018

On 22nd October, I finally got the pleasure of recording my 2nd cousin’s group alternative classical quintet 'Zum Roten Igel' aka. 'ZRI'

The group required a showreel done to send to agents and labels to really show off what they can do.
The university of Hertfordshire utilised the project as an opportunity for field experience for their third year film production students and provided a film crew with a significant amount of cinema-grade equipment.

Project - Video performance showreel
Activity - Audio recording and mixing
Equipment - Apogee Ensemble Thunderbolt, Audient ASP880, C414 XLS matched pair, C414 XL II matched pair, x2 SM57, x2 SM57b, Rode M5 matched pair, Assorted XLR leads, Apple MacBook Pro & Logic Pro X.
Location - Childwickbury House, UK

About ZRI

"Beginning with their radical re-scoring of the Brahms Clarinet Quintet to include accordion and santouri (dulcimer), ZRI has developed equally captivating programs which re-imagine Schubert’s great C major quintet, adventure with Charlie Chaplin, and waltz with Schoenberg. The group has performed at major festivals across the UK and abroad and has made critically-acclaimed discs of both the Schubert and Brahms Quintets."

Ben Harlan - Clarinet
Matthew Sharp - Cello
Max Baillie - Violin
John Banks - Accordion
Iris Pissaride - Santouri

If you haven’t heard of a Santouri, you are forgiven. I hadn’t until I first encountered ZRI. The Santouri is the Greek island hammer dulcimer and is quite an interesting instrument, looking like the inside of a piano, 3 strings per note.

Recording setup

My recording process was based around my previous experience recording in the piano room at Childwickbury and some research into recording both Accordion and Santouri. Neither of which I had recorded before.

I had to whip out the inputs from my recording studio as I don't have a large enough mobile rig to handle such a large recording session. So out came the Apogee Ensemble Thunderbolt and Audient ASP880 straight into the laptop.

Room
The classical recording technique to mimic a pair of ears within an audience. A classic XY stereo matched pair of AKG C414 IIs were used for the room mics. Set to their cardioid polar pattern, positioned about 3-4 metres away from the quintet and angled slightly downwards have their capsules point directly towards the group.

Accordion
I discovered there were multiple ways to record an accordion, using mono or stereo setups with capacitor or dynamic microphones. Due to the live nature of the recording location and the arrangement of instruments, I opted for a stereo setup using Shure SM57s. This arrangement ensured minimal direct bleed from the Clarinet (which was positioned next to the accordion) or room ambience.

Santouri
My research dictated that a standard XY configuration pencil condensers was the optimum setup to capture the Santouri. I used a matched pair of RODE M5s as close to the instrument as possible without physically blocking the performer's beaters. I had concerns about bleed using this setup so I positioned a single SM57b directly between the XY configuration to have more control in the mix. However, the ambience and bleed of the M5s actually landed itself well to the whole sound of the quintet, and the Santouri was much louder than I expected, allowing it to cut through.

Clarinet
Ben really moved around as he was performing, so a dynamic mic was too directional and his level would have varied too drastically to have been usable. I used a mono AKG C414 XLS, set to the hyper-cardioid polar pattern instead, which capturing an even level despite is swinging side-to-side as he performed.

Cello
The static nature of the Cello (as the player was sat down) allowed for a more directional and isolated mic. So I used a single SM57b pointed at the bridge from about 10 inches away.

Violin
A mono AKG C414 XLR, set to the hyper-cardioid polar pattern. Max varied from standing to sitting, which meant the height of the microphone needed to be altered between pieces.

Now to put all that into context, here is the full recording of the entire piece I used for the examples.

Takes

As everyone was live, there was no room for error and the pressure was on. The film crew needed to get a feel for each piece so they could be shooting the right player/instrument as the right time - during a solo for example.
The band weren't particularly familiar with having four cinema cameras and their operators watching them, so there was a little red light fever, but nothing detrimental. They were incredible musicians and each take was usable. It was just about getting THE take.

Mix

Classical musicians tend to be exceptionally good at self balance and ZRI were no exception. Not wishing to alter their natural balance I took the time during setup to make sure this was captured on the way in.

Compression
I used light compression on almost every channel in order to tame the dynamics slightly across the band. Iris the Santouri player really hoped to hear the lower frequencies and sustain of her instrument in the recordings and I used compression to assist with this.

EQ
I shaped the band with some EQ across the spectrum. Particularly adding some much needed bass to the cello, Santouri and accordion. Also, a simple high pass filter on the Clarinet and Violin to cut the low end bleed.

Mastering
As per my desire for a modern classical sound, I mastered the tracks up to 0db with an L2 from Waves. Standard EQ (which actually should have been linear...) to give the whole sound a bit of brightness.

The results

After a very successful three days, I found myself pretty excited to see and hear the results of the session and they didn't disappoint.
In hindsight, I would have liked to try using a small diaphragm condenser on the violin to achieve a bit more isolation from the rest of the group, leaving me with more control in the mix.
Overall, I'm really pleased with how the recordings sound and I very much hope the band will be too.

At the time of publishing, the final videos are not yet released, but I will be editing this blog post to include a playlist of the videos once they are available.

Discover ZRI

Website - https://www.zrimusic.com
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ZRImusic
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/ZRiMusic