Among the events marking Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee, the English National Ballet staged a series of performances at the new 500-seat Theatre at The Concourse Performing Arts Centre in Sydney, Australia.
‘The theatre is a very intimate space so my goal was to make the mix as transparent as possible and merely bring the orchestra image out of the pit, without it sounding like the PA was even on,’ says the venue’s sound designer and production engineer, Owen Ironside.
To achieve this, he put a selection of DPA microphones on the Willoughby Symphony Orchestra: ‘In total there were 29 musicians situated in the open pit, beneath the stage,’ he explains. ‘I opted to mic each section with, with the addition of a solo mic on first violin, as opposed to a traditional Decca Tree approach.’
On Ironside’s recommendation, the Concourse Arts Centre acquired 12 DPA 2011C Twin Diaphragm directional microphones, which were supplied by DPA’s regional distributor, Amber Technologies.
‘I used directional microphones because the orchestra was situated directly under the PA,’ he says. ‘To mic the venue’s Steinway piano I used the directional DPA d:vote 4099P instrument microphone set mounted inside the piano with magnet holders, making it almost invisible. This was a last-minute addition, chosen for aesthetic reasons when the director decided to move the piano on and off stage during the performance.
’I also used DPA Reference Standard 4015A wide cardioid microphones for harp and timpani in order to minimise proximity effect. The harp sounded quite boomy before amplification so I certainly didn’t want to accentuate this. The wide cardioid pickup pattern also suited the harp and timpani’s wide radiation, while for the single double bass I used a d:vote 4099B instrument microphone. This allowed me to close mic and gave me maximum control within the mix.’
‘I was extremely impressed with the sound engineering for the Willoughby Symphony pit orchestra in the Theatre at The Concourse,’ comments Gavin Sutherland, Music Director and Conductor for English National Ballet. ’The sound emanating from this moderately sized pit of 29 players, out front has a fulsomeness, richness and clarity worthy of some of the larger pit orchestras in Europe. A great natural sounding result was achieved.’
Following the success of the English National Ballet performance, the Concourse Arts Centre has increased its stock of DPA microphones by investing in ten d:fine headset microphones, which it is using for musical theatre productions, and is also considering investing in different capsules for its Reference Series microphones for recording in the Concert Hall.
More: www.dpamicrophones.com
