Chorus Director now too loud

[steve]

chorus members have complained to me that they can't hear the music behind her.

Is that a piano I can hear in the background?
Do your chorus members need to hear the piano in the recording, or is it just the choir that they need to hear more clearly?
If it's the piano, or piano and choir that the need to hear, then where is the piano?

Am I correct in thinking that the current layout is roughly like this, where
"c" = choir,
"D" = Director
"H4" = H4 recorder
"S" = loudspeaker where the director's amplified voice comes from

Code: Select all

|                 |
|      ccccc      |
|    ccccccccc    |
|   ccc    cccc   |
|                 |
|       D H4  S   |
|_________________|

[hedera]

Your drawing (clever, that; when you say "drawing" I think of paper and pencil!) is correct, although it represents the room as smaller and squarer than it is.

Yes, that is a piano. Sorry, I forgot it. The piano is on the stage (recessed into the wall on the right of your drawing). If it's the chorus' piano (and I think it is), we moved it up there when we moved into the space. When we decided rehearsing was better on the floor facing the wall (sound bounce off the wall helps), I suspect we didn't want to pay to move it again, and we weren't sure our hosts (the local Masons chapter) would want to have it on the floor of an auditorium that they also use. There's a remote possibility that it's the Masons' piano which we're using and that our piano is in storage. I don't know. The piano position was better for recording when the director was directing from the stage, but the chorus had trouble hearing other parts as the sound went into the backstage opening.

And yes, the singers do need to hear the piano. But they need to hear the singers more. As an alto, I need to hear all 4 parts.

[steve]

I'd suggest that you try these two microphone placements and see which works best.
Also you could perhaps turn down the director's mic a little.

Code: Select all

|                 |
|      ccccc      |
|    ccccccccc    |
|   ccc    cccc   |
|                 |
|       D     S   |
|______H4_________|

Code: Select all

|                 |
|      ccccc      |
|    ccccccccc    |
|   ccc    cccc   |
|                 |
|   H4  D     S   |
|_________________|

[hedera]

I tried the second position you requested last night. We'll see how it comes out. And I'll talk to the guy who runs the mic about volume control. Part of it, of course, is how upset or annoyed the director is...

I really appreciate all the help you've given me.