Recording of anechoic symphony music

Abstract

When designing the acoustics of a concert hall, it would be beneficial to be able to use real recording of a symphony orchestra in auralization. The technical constraints for such recordings are high. First, the instruments have to be recorded separately, as in simultaneous recording the cross talk between microphones could not be avoided. Second, the recording room should be anechoic. Third, the instruments have different sound radiation patterns, thus they should be recorded with multiple microphones around them. Therefore, we end up recording each instrument individually in an anechoic chamber with multiple microphones. The remaining problem is to achieve a common timing as an ensemble between the individually recorded instruments. This was solved by first recording a video of a conductor conducting a pianist playing the whole score. The players in an anechoic chamber then followed the conductor in a monitor while listening the pianist on headphones. Four short passages, from two to four minutes, from different music styles were recorded. The recordings were made with 20 low-self-noise microphones, mounted on the shape of a dodecahedron. Finally, we discuss the musical and technical quality of recorded sound, and the response by the musicians, who were professional orchestra players.