At 23rd of December I went downtown with my recorder to test a new mic setup in Rycote windshield. It was perfect weather for such things, calm, dry and not too cold.
I have mentioned it before, but binaural recording is almost useless for me in street recording. It is the law of nature that I will be disturbed by someone I know within every ten minutes. So my usual tools to let people know I am busy are fur windshield, boom pole and recorder bag.
This outfit really works. In one evening I recorded undisturbed few hours of street music.
This time I was using my newest MKH8040 ORTF microphone setup, instead of MS as usual.
I totally fell in love with this setup. It will be my “action setup” in the future.
Listening to the ORTF recordings in headphones gives a nice “natural soundspace”. In fact it sounds almost as Binaural. MS recordings can sometimes sounds out of phase, especially when it contains a traffic noise.
Following recording is a “mix collection” of eight music occurrence this evening. It is not all I recorded but just a small taste of what was going on downtown Reykjavik just before Christmas especially when the weather is nice as this day.
Quality headphones are recommended.
Jólatónlist á Þorláksmessu
Þann 23. desember 2012 var fádæma gott veður í Reykjavík. Það var því kjörið að hljóðrita jólastemningu í miðbæ Reykjavíkur.
Fyrr um daginn… í raun allan daginn, fór litið fyrir þessari stemningu. Sérhagsmunaklíka í miðbænum lét bíla vaða um allar götur með fyrirferð, reyk, háfaða og eimyrju langt fram á kvöld. Það var því fátt annað að gera en fara heim og bíða fram á kvöld þegar búast mátti við að líf færðist yfir bæinn og fólk fengi óhindrað að ganga um götur.
Gekk ég þá nokkrar ferðir um Laugaveg, Skólavörðustíg, Bankastræti, Austurstræti og vestur á Hallærisplan og hljóðritaði ýmiskonar “götutónlist” sem víða mátti heyra.
Meðfylgjandi hljóðrit er stutt samantekt af nokkurra klukkustunda efni sem ég náði þetta kvöld.
Ég er ekki viss um hvaða listamenn eru þarna á ferð, en sumir kynna sig. Það væri því vel þegið ef einhver gæti gefið upp nöfn þessa listafólks, annaðhvort í athugasemd hér fyrir neðan eða á myndasíðunni.
Best er að hlusta á hljóðritið í góðum heyrnartólum.
Download mp3 file (192Kbps/38Mb)
Recorder: Sound Devices 744
Mics: Sennheiser MKH8040, ORTF setup / Rycote Windsheild (see pictures)
Pix: GoPro3 black / Nokia N82. (See more pictures)
HLJÓÐMYND - SOUNDIMAGE 
Very nice – The stereo field appears similar to binaural – I noticed that it also isn’t so forgiving, as the field shift is quite noticeable where you repositioned yourself or moved the boom pole about (similar to head movement when recording with in-ear binaurals), nevertheless a nice wide stereo-field!
I liked your GoPro arrangement shown on one of your photos – do you have any video on the blog recorded with this setup – I wondered how the camera performed compared to an HDSLR?
Happy New Year to you and your family.
Thanks for your comment.
What I like, this ORTF setup is very light and well balanced. It is therefore more robust than the heavier MKH30/40 setup.
Because I travel normally with all my gear on a bicycle or with bike trailer on bumpy routes I end up to tape both M-S mics together. They collapse several times inside the windshield that destroy my recordings.
Sorry, I have no useful video taken on this GoPro camera. I notice that after I got this camera my computer are too old and slow for HD video. Anyway, I was not exactly looking for video when I invest in this camera. It is more or less the wide angel lens, compact, lightness, weather and waterproof case, and the time laps option I was looking for.
I think the picture (video) performance is far away as good as most HDSLR. I have no comparison but GoPro have very small sensor and the still picture quality is similar as from 5Mpix camera in my Nokia N82 cell phone.
I really like the possibility to fix the camera on the boom pole because this GoPro camera have WiFi remote control and I can take a picture of the sound source I am recording when ever I like, without „click“ noise.
One day (hopefully) I will start to take video with my recordings and publish it on this blog.
Anyway, I have notice that this camera give me lot of new possibility´s to play with the media.
I wish you happy holiday and a new year.
I really like this Magnus. I think this has to be my favourite of all the recordings you’ve published. You’ve captured Reykjavik at Christmas perfectly. The quality of the music and the singers is matched only by the superb quality of your recordings. Brilliant!
I wish you a very Happy New Year and I look forward to more great sounds in 2013.
Thanks Des.
I appreciate your comment. It is hard to make as good street recording as yours.
But I try to do my best. After I got the ORTF setup I think I am one step closer to your quality 🙂
The quality of the musicians surprise me a bit because I have not been downtown this evening for a long time (normally working). All this music was not there twenty years ago.
Probably is it the weather change that change it all.
I am not sure how the music is organized. It looks like some musicians are paid, some are promoting as musicians and other are there just for fun.
I wish you too a very Happy New Year.
This is a most wonderful recording, Magnús. The only word, which can describe my feelings is the Icelandic word „Dásamlegt“. You seem to have made a very natural sound just like the listener being at the spot. Congratulations! You are still making progress.:)
Thanks Arnþór.
….Your binaural recording from this evening is totally outstanding.
Á 3.mín má heyra Lúðrasveitina Svanur flytja Suzy Snowflake
Takk Stefán. Gott að fá svona upplýsingar.
Á 15.-16. min má heyra Ljósakórinn úr Mosfellsbæ syngja.