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Recording choir and orchestra together
A Requiem, a Messiah, a symphony with a choral finale: the orchestra setup you know plus a hundred voices on risers behind it and four soloists in front. The orchestral pickup barely changes. What changes is how you reach the choir and keep it in the same room as the orchestra.
Where the choir sits
In most halls the choir stands on risers behind the orchestra, across the full width of the stage or in a block behind the winds and brass, sometimes in a choir loft above and behind. The riser steps matter to you twice over: each row is higher and further back than the one in front, which spreads the sound sources vertically, and the back row is a long way from any microphone in front of the orchestra. Get the riser plan from the orchestra's operations staff and put it on the stage plot before you place a single mic.
Start with the orchestral pickup
The Decca tree, outriggers and section spots stay where they would be for a symphony. A tree at 3.5 m over the podium already hears the choir, and in a good hall that pickup carries a surprising amount of the choral sound with the right blend of hall. Listen to the tree alone before deciding how much choir mic you need; the common mistake is to plan the choir mics as if the tree were not there.
Choir mics
Choir mics fill in what the tree loses with distance: diction, the inner voices, and the back rows. The usual approaches:
- A spaced pair or three omnis (or wide cardioids) in a line across the front of the choir, 1.5–2.5 m in front of the first row, 3–3.7 m (10–12 ft) high, angled down at the back rows. Three across covers a wide choir without a hole in the middle; two suits a block.
- One mic per section (sopranos, altos, tenors, basses) when the layout is in blocks and you want control of the balance. Same height and distance; aim each at its block.
- Flown whenever the hall allows it: choir mics on stands at 3.5 m sit in the brass players' sightlines and in the way of the percussion. A bar on two points above the front of the risers is cleaner.
Keep the choir mics back from the first row. Close choir mics hear the two singers nearest each capsule, and a section of forty becomes a duet with a halo. If the back rows are weak, raise and tilt the mics rather than moving them in.
Soloists
Vocal soloists stand downstage of the podium, between the conductor and the audience, or just inside the first violins. Each gets a spot — a cardioid or wide cardioid about 1 m away at mouth height, slightly above and pointing down to keep the breath off it — plus, for a quartet, a stereo pair across the group as a safety. Keep the soloist spots low in the mix with a touch of the hall return; a soloist dry against a wet choir sounds pasted on. Put the soloist positions on the stage plot: the stage manager needs them, and so does the conductor.
Organ, continuo and the odd ones
- Organ: it is usually behind the choir and above it. The choir mics and the tree hear plenty; a dedicated pair high in the hall, pointed at the pipes, gives you control without a close mic that only hears the swell box.
- Continuo (harpsichord, chamber organ, cello and bass): close spots, because they are quiet and the ensemble depends on hearing them.
- Children's choir, offstage brass, bells: one spot each where they are, with a note on the plot about when they enter, so the crew knows the stand is not a mistake.
The paperwork
A choral-orchestral session is where channel counts jump: thirty for the orchestra, four to six for the choir, four soloists and a pair, organ, continuo, hall — forty-plus is routine. Two things keep it manageable:
- Group the input list by role — mains, outriggers, string spots, winds, brass, percussion, choir, soloists, hall — so the mixer can find a channel by what it does.
- Draw the choir risers and the choir mic heights on the mic plot. The crew will build the orchestra first and the risers second; if the choir mics are on a separate sheet they get forgotten until the choir arrives.
Questions engineers ask
How do you mic a choir with an orchestra?
Keep the orchestral pickup (tree, outriggers, spots) as it is, then add two or three choir mics in a line 1.5–2.5 m in front of the first row at about 3–3.7 m, angled down at the back rows, flown if the hall allows. Soloists get individual spots about 1 m away.
How high should choir microphones be?
Around 3–3.7 m (10–12 ft), tilted down toward the back rows of the risers. Height evens out the rows; moving the mics closer instead makes the front row dominate.
How many microphones does a choral-orchestral recording use?
Forty or more is routine: about thirty for the orchestra, four to six for the choir, a spot per soloist plus a pair, and extras for organ, continuo and hall ambience.
Where do the soloists stand for a recording?
Downstage of the podium, between the conductor and the audience, or just inside the first violins, each with a close spot at mouth height and a pair across the group as a safety.
Draw the choir risers and the choir mics on the same plot
MicPlot places the orchestra, risers and every microphone on one 3D stage and prints the mic plot, stage plot and input list for the whole session, free.
Open MicPlotRelated guides
- Decca tree placement: a practical guide
Starting dimensions, height, outriggers, and what to move when the balance is off.
- Microphone heights for orchestral recording
Height is the adjustment that changes an orchestral pickup the most and gets written down the least. These are working heights for each…
- Orchestral input list template, with an example
The columns, a channel order that holds up, and a worked example for a full orchestra.