Which Stereo Microphone

Question

I need to record an orchestra + choir in stereo, but don't want to faff about with hundreds of mics. I need one microphone that I can just plug into my laptop and get on with it...
Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Hopefully this isn't for a CD release or anything. Not that you can't get good quality with a stereo mic, it just doesn't seem enough for an entire orchestra and choir.
Speaking of Danish Pro Audio, DPA, I really enjoy the 4006s. Check out the frequency response on those bad boys. Kinda amazing. The parent company, Brüel & Kjær, originally made microphones for accurate acoustic testing. Engineers later picked up on these microphones and started incorporating them into classical recording.
Anyway, I would suggest 2 4006s for the job. Hopefully the hall is great sounding too. Make sure you don't space them too far away or else you are going to get a sense of a "hole in the center" when recording. You will also want to work with the critical distance, that is the distance at which the direct source and room reverberation are roughly equal. From there you can add more reverb by moving back or less reverb by moving forward.
A nice big stand would help too. Try and get the mics up over the conductors head high enough that the strings aren't too shrill, but clarity of the wind instruments and choir is still there. Always a though thing to do IMHO.
If you want to try some other mics, try the Neumann SM69/USM69 stereo microphone. It's going to have a different taste since it's a coincident pair, but you can play around with the different capsules' polar patterns and setup.
Another idea is Schoeps Microphones. They make an ORTF and XY microphone that you just throw up and it works as it says. You have to do the work positioning, but they are two fine stereo microphones.
Note a lot of these microphones are very expensive. The 4006s are roughly $1,800 each, the USM69 is $5,700, the Schoeps are around $3,750. These are all professional microphones and are famous for "classical" recordings. I suggest you rent some stands and microphones for this job if you can.
Good luck!
~trevor
Edit: You will want a good interface if you want a good recording. Good converters, pres, and a 24 bit depth is essential. If you are doing this for something cheap to reference and it doesn't have to be good quality, you should buy a pocket recorder. The Zoom, Edirol, and others aren't too bad. Check them out here.
http://www.sweetwater.com/c860--FlashPlayersRecorders
These are less likely to crash too! This might actually be your best bet.