Ringing Forums

ISTR that the Hawkear recommendation is to be central above the bells, which seems sensible.
It assumes the microphone can handle very high sound levels without distortion. Many years ago using a less robust microphone I found that on the stairs outside the ringing room worked quite well. That might have been helped by the louder bells being further from the door though.

Take a look at https://www.hibberts.co.uk/recording-bells-for-analysis/

If you can do so instead, outside, around 15 metres away from the tower, with the microphone pointed about halfway up the tower works well. Or are you looking for it to be a permanent fixture?

We too adopted Adrian's approach and used an external microphone when making a film about bell ringing for BBC2 some years ago. We used a 'rifle' mic - it's quite long and highly directional (it helped that we had a good mate who was a reporter at the local BBC radio station!)

We stood in the backyard of a neighboroughing terraced house so that the wall around the yard screened us from any close-by extraneous noises and pointed the mic at the louvres on the side of the tower furthest from the tenors which we considered to be the loudest bells. The result was perfect.

Positioning a microphone above the bells will probably eliminate the sound of ropes rattling up and down but will probably pick up the clatter of the sliders being kicked from side to side.

Recording the bells from outside works well if you're sat in a car with the window down, as this helps cut out any wind/background noise.

Thank you all very much for your most helpful responses. The microphone would have to be inside, as it is intended to be a permanent fixture. I will pass your comments on to the company which is installing the church's sound system.
Happy New Year!