David Harbin wrote:

>>I am tired of engineers heavily miking star violinists / violists.  For
>>example, many of Pearlman's recordings make him sound beefy.  I am told
>>that, live, he can sound much sweeter.

and Mike Leghorn insightfully wrote:

>I suspect that part of the cause is money and competition in the music
>market.  A loud, in your face sounding recording will invariably sell
>better than a "musical" recording of the same music.

As an engineer who has recorded a number of fine string soloists,
pianists (with and without orchestra) as well as several string quartets,
I'd like to respectfully point out that the initial mic set-up and final
edited sound mix is often not the engineer's call.  I routinely run into
soloists who demand an "in your face sound" or if the soloist doesn't,
the producer (or often times) the soloist's agent does.

Given my own preference, and given a good sounding venue, I will usually
use a (4) mic, dual stereo array for a string quartet.  Two spaced omni
mics for the main pick up which includes the room ambience, plus (2)
cardioid mics in a ORTF configuration centered between the omnis for
more string "detail".  This allows some control over the ratio of direct
to reflected sound and also results in a solid stereo image.  Just last
month I recorded a string quartet who's cellist INSISTED that she have
a spot mic on her cello since she feels that her recorded cello sound
is not prominent enough.  I had no choice but to comply, although the
recording was probably not as good as it would have been without the
spot mic.

So, please go easy on the poor engineers.  It's often not our fault.:-)

Nick Yasillo
Chicago