Anyone recorded instruments outdoors?

Just curious - Anyone ever recorded music outdoors?  

I got a chance a few years ago, to record a rock kit off a huge flat outdoor parking lot surrounded by fir trees..  The sound was extremely focussed, clear and sharp.  The dynamics really stood out in the absense of any sort of ambience decay.  The only reflections to the mics were the initial ones off the tarmac in front of the kit.  It was a great effect, but it took some setting up, and good weather.      

I'm planning some impulse experiments to see if it's possible to remove some unwanted ambience from an instrument or voice recorded in an average and usually bad sounding room using convolution tricks, and then if desired, re-introducing ambience of a chosen character.  

I guess it's impossible to some extent with a large instrument like a drum kit, which is not a point source, but that's where my mind is wondering ATM.  Of coarse someone will have worked this out if it's possible, and will have a web-site with equations and diagrams.  

Yean, I record a lot of the local bluegrass festival each year. I've braved rain, cold weather, thunder and lightning, mosquitoes, and the bubonic plague...  We put out a CD each year with the best of the previous year's performances to raise some money for our club. We get a rider in each artist's contract that let's us do this. We've had to turn down a VERY few artists over the years who didn't agree. Mind you, we pull a crowd of about 3500 people on a good day.

You're right; it does need a very focused sound to get this right. I've discovered over the years that condensor mics are pretty much useless outside in anything less than absolutely perfect conditiond. Even with the best breath socks, nylon stockings over, etc. etc. The slightest breeze will play havoc. I pretty much stick to dynamic mics now.

Incidentally, some people find this out the very hard way. A nearby native-American band wanted to do something similar when they have their powwows several times a year. There are fascinating performances of hoop dances, prairie chicken dances, drumming, chanting, and other art forms.  A couple of their guys dropped out to see what we did, looked bored for one evening, and then disappeared. Later I found out that they went to the high-end music store in town armed with the band chequebook and bought a wheelbarrowful of equipment. One of the things they bought was a matched pair of CAD Equitech E-200 large condensors. These mics have two 9 volt batteries inside which allows them to be used for about 4 hours without phantom power. They wanted to set these up on low stands in order to catch the performances out in an open field. After fiddling around with these things for about 2 weeks, they brought them back and complained that all they got was grass rustling, moccasins shuffling, wind blowing, and very little of the music performances. The music store took the mics back on consignment and I snapped them up for about a third of the new price.

I hope the band bank account was a fat one...

-Phil