Recording church bells

[Wingwalker]

Dear all,

 

I'm a lampie but know the funamental basics of sound and can get my head around your average small gig / piece of theatre.

 

My Fiancee does church bell ringing and likes the idea of ringing her own peal which can then be used as background music for our wedding for when the guests arrive, as the ceremony will be taking place at a manor house with no nearby church in site.

 

The question is, how can I successfully record the sound of the peal without blowing the capsules to bits if I were to rig a quantity of mics on stands in the bell tower? I could of course record the sound from the outside using rifles but think that even though they are fairly directional, I would still pickup unwanted background noise such as traffic etc. The plan is to setup 4 x SM57s or something similar (one in each corner of the tower) into a mixer and out to a CD recorder.

 

Any thoughts most welcome.

 

David.

[pete10uk]

I'm sure that someone will correct me if I'm wrong but unless you plan on actually using a SM57 to hit the bell, it would be pretty hard to kill the one with a bell.

I know that church bells are loud but these things live inside a drum kit most of the time.

 

I would be interested in other thoughts, as if I were to be asked to do something similar, I wouldn’t even consider this in the equation. (maybe to my embarrassment)

 

Also views on the number of mics would interest me, as I would possibly only utilise a single mic, considering that it isn't going to be re mixed afterwards!?

[mervaka]

the two obvious places for close miking for me would be the mouth of the bell, and perpendicular to the outer body of the bell, near the lip.

 

something else to think about.. does the bell itself moves on a bell frame? that makes close miking that much more difficult. you may need to attach mics to the bell frame in order to pick up a consistent ring.

 

this site looks very informative, and hints at places to move the outer mic.

[Bobbsy]

I've only ever recorded church bells from the outside, on a quiet evening to avoid background noise. However, I have been up a bell tower a couple of times.

 

From the OP, I gather this is a standard church peal, not a carillon, which is a slightly different thing. To go against the flow of replies, I think the thing to avoid is close miking--you would risk picking up too much clapper noise and not enough resonance. (Think kick drum...but, in this case you don't want the "click".)

 

I'd try keeping it simple--probably a single dynamic mic (nothing wrong with the SM57) up in the tower but as far from the actual bells as you can. You might have to play a bit with the position to get the balance between the bass notes and the smaller bells--but the bells will be loud enough that you should pick them up from anywhere inside the tower.

 

As a thought, unless they've changed recently, the BBC mic Big Ben with a single dynamic carefully placed in the tower.

 

Bob

[mervaka]

fair doos. I cant say I've recorded bells, but my gut instincts were to approach it like a very big cymbal!

[paulears]

Church bells record much better at a distance - because the actual bells are separated in the tower, so the balance is better from further away. I did it many moons ago with a small pair of condensers, old AKGs with CK1 capsules and the screw in pads, on a small T bar extended out from the top of the tower on a video boom - worked quite well.

[Robin D]

I'm with Paul on this. Part of the 'appeal' (No pun intended) of church bells is that what you here in most settings includes resonance and echo of nearby buildings etc. If this is wanted for a wedding at a hotel, unless you can hoist the speakers up a similar size tower and put it in a location with similar buildings, trees etc around, you will hear something quite different to what you would hear at the church itself.

 

Edit: SPAG :)

[Jivemaster]

In the belfry the sound will be topside of 120dB, There will be the clatter of the bell frame, stays and sliders and possibly some rope slap. However try if and see.

 

Bells move a LOT while ringing and the tenor would typically weigh a ton (20 cwts) so don't mess with them they kill.

 

I'd look to do three recording tests, one in the bell chamber, one say 30m away and one 50+ metres away. Chose one.

 

Iwas once told that the BBC used an "apple and Biscuit" mic, in the chamber of Big Ben as it was then the only mic to withstand the sound level reliably.

 

Have you thought what sound system will be used to play this performance at the wedding, (you may be busy!)

 

A concurrent post has been automatically merged from this point on.

 

Mic overload with one little bell!

[i_hate_fisicks]

Many bell towers have multiple levels. Perhaps you can put a mic or 2 on a level up or down from the actual bells. I wouldn't go for the ringing floor as then you'll have all the noise the people make to contend with, but perhaps if there's a level between there and the bell floor, that would be worth a try.

[James]

Dear all,

 

I'm a lampie but know the funamental basics of sound and can get my head around your average small gig / piece of theatre.

 

My Fiancee does church bell ringing and likes the idea of ringing her own peal which can then be used as background music for our wedding for when the guests arrive, as the ceremony will be taking place at a manor house with no nearby church in site.

 

Sounds lovely but is a peal overkill - do you need 4 hours of bells?

 

The question is, how can I successfully record the sound of the peal without blowing the capsules to bits if I were to rig a quantity of mics on stands in the bell tower? I could of course record the sound from the outside using rifles but think that even though they are fairly directional, I would still pickup unwanted background noise such as traffic etc. The plan is to setup 4 x SM57s or something similar (one in each corner of the tower) into a mixer and out to a CD recorder.

 

Any thoughts most welcome.

 

David.

 

David - last time I did live Sound Re-enforcement using church bells* I rigged a single SM57 above the frame which picked up the whole ring perfectly.

 

If you are recording outside I would be careful of ambiant background noise and wind interfearance

 

If you are setting up inside the tower then try not to get too close to the bells - the bearings on the headstocks can be noisy - you are likely to get rope/ropeguide noise and stay noise (unless they use hastings stays in your fiance's tower?)

 

Obviously anything you rig in the tower needs to be very carefuly thought about and rigged with the full co-operation of the steeple keeper / tower captain as you can't risk anything getting tangled up in the bells or getting dislodged - a peal is about 4 hours long and towers do move a lot during ringing.

 

Good Luck

 

On another note - I know a ringer who got married in a church without bells so borrowed one of these (I think there are a few in the counrty) and parked it in the car park oposite!

 

 

James

 

 

 

* Yes you did read that correctly - it was a fairly special gig....

[dbuckley]

On another note - I know a ringer who got married in a church without bells so borrowed one of these (I think there are a few in the counrty) and parked it in the car park oposite!

Just when you think you've seen it all...

[Wingwalker]

Thanks for all the replies so far guys - looks like a single SM57 suspended from above may be the general answer. Fortunately I know the tower captain very well as I work with him so it shouldn't be too much of a problem there. Yes a full peal is pretty long but I was just going to record around half an hour or so then stick it on a loop - it is only background music after all. As for the portable system - well what can I say but.......different :unsure:

 

I'm going to the church tonight as it's the last session before a short summer break so will have another look in the bell tower and see what can or can't be done. Aftwerwards its then another session in the pub, something at which I would consider myself to be quite an expert at

[jamesperrett]

On another note - I know a ringer who got married in a church without bells so borrowed one of these (I think there are a few in the counrty) and parked it in the car park oposite!

 

There was something very similar at the Mid Devon Show on Saturday. It was an interesting idea but I got the impression that the bells are smaller than normal church bells and they certainly didn't have the same sound or volume level.

 

James.

[Jivemaster]

Yes, with the tenor bell usually weighing 8 to 20 cwt and the rest of the bells being each a little less, there is NO way that a car could pul a full sized ring of bells. But the idea certainly is interesting. However the OP's intention is to have a recording of the bride ringing in a peal on her tower's bells