Directional Boundary Microphones.
Most of the time we place 5 or 6 Schoeps MK4 as close as possible to the stage floor to prevent comb filtering. We tried with some other brands but find the Schoeps most suitable because they sound good off axis too. Whenever a single singer moves around the stage you do not like to have all 5 microphones open because you will here some strange phasing when passing from one microphone to another, especially when these microphones are relatively close to each other. So often it sounds better with only one microphone open but this microphone has to have a good off axis response.
The boundary microphones have to be directional because we place them just above the orchestra which is in the pit in front of the stage. This position makes a huge difference with a cardioid or shotgun microphone installed in the pit on a high boom. you will have a lot less of orchestra bleeding into your vocal microphones. This separation is crucial for having a nice and natural vocal sound.
Wireless Microphones
Whenever recording live Opera for video purpose, you want to have a wireless microphone on the singer. Recording with directional Boundary Microphones gives a very natural sound an you can hear the singer moving around the stage. This is particularly interesting for radiophonic recordings where you have to translate the actions on stage without the listener actually seeing the opera. As in film, the voices are often mixed in the center of the stereo (or multi-channel). Often the video director does not want to see the microphones on the screen and so it is a big challenge to get a good sounding voice with the microphones hidden in wigs or cloths (which can make a lot of noise).
Most of the time we start out with DPA microphones on the singers but some voices sound better with Sennheisers. We never tried other brands.
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten