this production was set on stage by the polish Director Krzysztof Warlikowski.
Live streaming
We needed to supply -23LUFS and a max Peak at -4dB PPM and I think we were at -22LUFS, so that's fine. A TC Reverb 4000 was used on preset 34 "Deep Vocal" with a decay time of 2.6 sec for the orchestra. On the voices we used a shorter reverb of 1.8 sec in the desk.
Microphone setup
On the string section were 4 Schoeps MK4V, which were used for fold back on stage for the singers.
Also the Mandoline and the clavecimble were amplified so they needed cardioid microphones.
Both had a stereo microphone; the mandolin had an MS configuration with an old Schoeps so the center microphone was used for the fold back and the stereo signal could be used for the recording. The clavecimble had a Schoeps MSTC (ORTF). On the double bass was a Neumann U87 and on the timpani was a Neumann KM184. We installed also 2 "wings" with dPA 4006 to have some fill in for the orchestra. Also the Clarinets had a DPA but all other microphones in the pit were Schoeps MK4, MK4s or MK4V.
In the hall we suspended 4 AKG C414, two near to the pit and two further to the back of the hall but we did not use the latter in the mix. On stage there were 5 Schoeps MK4 as directional boundary microphones on the proscenium. 2 additional KM150 were placed each side of the stage for the Bühne Musik and a central hypercardioide Schoeps in the center, hidden behind a prop on the floor.
At last we taped a wireless dPA microphone to a table on stage to pick up the singers in the final scene where the Comendatore comes to dinner.
All singers had Wireless Microphones but we tried to use as much as possible the boundary microphones because they give a more natural and open sound.
Mixing Process
Mixing was done in collaboration with a Musical Producer, send by Belair Media.
Only One compressor was used on the orchestra bus. This was a fairchild emulation that only reduced 3 dB on the orchestra. All other dynamic compensation was done by fader riding. We spend the time necessary to get the delay compensations right for all microphones and did not use any EQ except some HP filters. This approach was new for me but worked out fine. We did some EQ automation to accentuate some sounds from props or the set. On the bus with boundary microphones I setup a multiband dynamic processor to take care of the proximity effect. This way the distance to the microphones is compensated in the low band and the high band. The mid band is not processed.
The reverb on the orchestra and the singers are two Waves Trueverb "Vocal Spread" preset whit which we played around to get the right colouration. 2.6 sec for the orchestra and 1.6 for the singers.
To open up a little the voices on the wireless microphones, I added an Mid-Side plugin after the short reverb and lowered the center with 6dB.
Fighting comb filters
When recording singers who are moving on a stage of 12m by 20 you need to have wireless microphones. As soon as the singers are farther away than, lets say, 3 meters from the boundary microphones you will have too much ambient noise from vans etc. and more reverberation than direct sound. Half of the time there was a wall that cut the stage in half and so acoustics were ok to work with these microphones as much as possible. But then some singers are on the floor in front of a microphone while others are at 5m. So the differences are too big. In this kind of situations you d'like to open only 1 microphone at the time to prevent comb filters so you work on the wireless microphones. Other times the singers are that close that one singer is singing in the wireless microphone of the other singer. If you open both singers microphones, you will have comb filtering too and so you have to choose which one of both sounds best.
More pictures can be found here
