Described by Music Director Radek Barczak as ‘probably the largest sound capture with Austrian Audio microphones in the world’ a recent open-air concert staged by the Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra in Konin, Poland featured 20 violins, seven violas, six cellos, four double basses, harp, four French horns, two flutes and piccolo, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, three trumpets, three trombones, four timpani, gran casa, snare drum and two stands of percussion.

‘Prior to the Poznań Philharmonic concert, our agency – ViolinArt – already owned an arsenal of Austrian Audio microphones. We had 16 CC8s, four OC818s, four OC18s, an OC16 and an OD5, but we couldn’t put on the concert without additional Austrian Audio mics. Thanks to the strong support of two companies – the Polish distributor ESS Audio, who quickly imported 20 CC8 microphones for us, and Mateusz Szternel’s Music Service rental company, who exchanged their four CC8s and two OC16s for our four Neumann KM184s and two AKG C314s, we were able to obtain what we needed.’

Barczak’s choice of microphones for the recording included Austrian Audio CC8s for the string quintet, woodwinds and overhead percussion, OD5s on timpani and snare, OC818, OC18, and OC16 on brass and an additional stereo pair of OC18s over the conductor and OC18s with an additional AKG C480B ULS CK69 shotgun for the solo violin. Using Studer preamps and a Soundcraft Vi1000 console, Barczak says that there was ‘no need to sculpt the EQ’.

‘The first time I worked with the Austrian Audio OC818 microphones was during the pandemic in 2020, when we put on a series of streaming classical music concerts from the Wawel Royal Castle in Krakow,’ he continues. ‘At the time, we had AKG C414 XLS and Neumann KM184 rider microphones at our disposal and I tested and paired the Austrian Audio OC818s with these highly regarded microphones.’

He maintains that Austrian Audio microphones are ‘different, unconventional and do not simply copy the ideas of other manufacturers’. He quotes their linear frequency response as being among the most important features, with no top end boost.

‘Most microphones have a boosted upper band,’ he confirms. ‘Now, imagine 60 condenser microphones on stage with a 12 box line array per side and double basses and cellos almost directly underneath them – and each microphone has a boosted top? Thanks to Austrian Audio mics’ natural, unhyped frequency response, there is no need for a lot of EQ and there is no need to struggle to achieve a natural violin sound, for example, by eliminating high-frequency jitter.’

Amplifying the orchestra involved of delaying signals of the individual microphones to match a stereo X-Y pair from an Austrian Audio OC18 over the conductor’s head. A final touch was added to the sound by Lexicon reverbs from a Soundcraft Vi1000 console and a 1993 Roland SRV-330 reverb processor. The result, Barczak says, ‘was a full and natural representation of the orchestra for the audience’.

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