Thanks, everyone, for your great insights!
For what it's worth, as an amateur violinist, my favorite mic
for the string section of an orchestra is an overhead AT 4051a.
Micro lav mics on each instrument are okay (expecially
good for an orchestra of mixed skill levels)...assuming
good >18kHz frequency response, and assuming there's a
really good set of hands at the mixer. Instrument mics
make string players nervous, however: "Will somebody trip
on a cord and damage my instrument?" Hence the roll of
gaffer tape in my gig bag.
Ben Crowell <crowell08@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> It may be true that there's a little anharmonicity in the
> very high harmonics, but the strong partials are much more
> harmonic.
Good point. I was thinking of how people judge *pitch* based
as much on the harmonics as on the fundamental[1],
but I should have been thinking about the arithmetic of
mixing waves. (Though I'm still fascinated by the possibility
of applying Helmholtz's idea of roughness.)
> Anyway, any such inharmonicity is going to be negligible
> compared to the frequency variations caused by vibrato.
Good point. With n>=3 instruments, it's difficult to
distinguish the individual vibratos. But with n=2,
both the individual vibratos and their sum are apparent.
More evidence that we're safe with n=(2+2).
> Of course, it's not as though two-instrument unisons never
> occur in quartet music.
Or in "first desk only" sections of orchestral music.
Which leads me to think that even the n=2 "problem" is solvable.
As I dig through my memory a little more carefully, I remember
hearing competent duets sounding good, and not so good in unison.
Surely it's affected by acoustics (perhaps noticeable in the
"near-field" sound, not so noticeable with typical room acoustics),
by playing style (worse with strong, uniform vibratos?), and by
subjective factors (is it "sparkle" or is it "dissonance"?).
[1] see http://www.acoustics.hut.fi/~hjarvela/publications/icmc00
_text.pdf
--
Paul
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