SYDNEY — Owen Ironside, sound designer and production engineer at the 500-seat Theatre at The Concourse here, used DPA Microphones from DPA’s Australian distributor, Amber Technologies for a series of 14 sold-out shows pairing the English National Ballet and Australia’s Willoughby Symphony Orchestra. The series was part of this year’s Diamond Jubilee festivities marking the Queen of England’s 60th year on the throne.
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On Ironside’s recommendation, the Concourse Performing Arts Centre invested in 12 DPA 2011C Twin Diaphragm directional microphones, supplied by Amber Technologies. In all, there were 29 musicians situated in an open pit beneath the stage. To achieve the transparent sound Ironside was hoping for, he miked each section with DPA microphones, with the addition of a solo DPA mic on first violin, as opposed to using a traditional Decca Tree approach.
“The Theatre is a very intimate space, and my goal was to make the mix as transparent as possible and merely bring the orchestra image out of the pit, sonically speaking, without it sounding like the PA was even on,” said Ironside. “I chose to use directional microphones for the instruments because the orchestra was situated directly under the PA.”
To mic the venue’s Steinway piano, Ironside used a pair of directional DPA d:vote 4099P instrument microphones mounted inside the piano with magnet holders, making them 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. Ironside also used DPA Reference Standard 4015A wide cardioid microphones for the harp and timpani in order to minimize proximity effect.
“The harp sounded quite boomy before amplification, so I certainly didn’t want to accentuate this,” explains Ironside. “The cardioids’ wide pickup pattern also suited the harp and timpani’s broad radiation. For the single double bass, I used a d:vote 4099B instrument microphone, which allowed me to close mic and gave me maximum control within the mix.”
The combination of Ironside’s attention to detail and the superb audio quality of the DPA microphones won much praise from the audience, performers, musicians and venue staff.
“I was extremely impressed with the sound engineering for the Willoughby Symphony pit orchestra in the theatre at The Concourse,” says Gavin Sutherland, music director and conductor for English National Ballet. “With the sound emanating from this moderately-sized pit of 29 players, the auditorium was filled with a fulsomeness, richness and clarity of sound 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 10 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 to use during recording in its Concert Hall.
