I was once again more than thrilled to immerse myself in all things musical this time at The Ark Studios. My first visit here a couple of months back was both terrific and inspiring. There’s just something indescribably appealing about dimly lit tungsten-lighting rooms with impeccable wooden finishing that added to the rustic feel of a cabin in the woods.
However, due to time constraint, I only managed to complete one interior angle and some shots of microphones. Here are the pictures.
I used two studio strobes (one gridded strobe bounced off just under the speakers’ ceiling above, and another bare head bounced off the opposing end of the ceiling for a balanced coverage) in the shot above with some warmth added in post. Yes, it was lit by flash but made to look as if it was ambient-only lighting. If you want some great speakers check out these reviews by speakerxpert.
As my monobloc strobes were already setup from the previous interior shoot, I used them for some shots of the microphones. As the items were small, I used barn doors and grids to keep the lighting controlled and prevent spillage.
One bare strobe was bounced off behind me at low power to provide on-axis fill; thank goodness for the nicely positioned white wall. A second gridded strobe kept the beam tight on a small circular area behind the microphones. That served as a background separation light. The third and final strobe was bounced upward to provide me the main key light coverage.
As I was working fast without a tripod, I shot the above at 1/200 sec, f/8 @ ISO 200. The “sponge board” (to absorb stray sound/noise during recording) caught my attention during my first visit and I knew it would make for a good background. Indeed I was right. The rich texture of its pyramid-like jagged surface popped conspicuously when light raked along it at an angle.
I was made to understand the microphone at the middle; a Brauner Phantom (anniversary edition) was in the price range of four-figure (USD), while the two tilted microphones were a mere three-figure worth. Bowing in respect!