DPA shoot angel in Holland

News

Andy Wood Jul 2 2008, 9:00am

DPA 4017 shotgun mic provides solution in Dutch opera production

The DPA 4017 shotgun mic has provided an ingenious solution for Broadcast Facilities Nederland (BFN) for the radio broadcast of Olivier Messiaen’s opera St François d'Assise at the Muziek Theater Amsterdam.

Soloist Camilla Tilling, in the role of the angel, had to descend from heaven, with her vocals captured clearly by chief broadcast sound engineer Rob Heerschop from BFN - without showing the microphone. Heerschop asked DPA’s Dutch distributor Amptec if he could try out the 4017 and found the results to be so good that BFM ordered the shotgun right away.

The 4017 was mounted in two different positions during the production. The first was on a stand in the middle of the orchestra, aimed at the angel 10 metres above.

“The microphone was in the middle of a large woodwind section but this had hardly any effect on the angel’s voice, which was open and transparent,” says Heerschop. “Then, in the third act, the angel was singing high above the stage and the audience, so we clamped the shotgun to a beam near the ceiling of the hall, and again pointed it in her direction. The distance was even greater this time, and again the sound was beautiful. This is the first time we’ve experienced such results with a shotgun.”

Heerschop was also using an armoury of DPA microphones including the 4003 omnis, 4015 wide cardioids, 4011 cardioids, 4041-T2 large diaphragms and 4060 miniature omnis, to record the orchestra and ambience.

“The 4060s were hung up high in the hall, between the very large stage and audience,” he says. “Due to their extremely small size they couldn’t be seen, and were very good mics for the surround channels and ambience.”

All the other DPA mics were used for the orchestra, and as this was situated on stage rather than in a pit they had to be placed low so as not to obstruct the audience’s view.

“My favourite DPA mic for most of my orchestral recordings is the 4041-T2 because of its incredible warm sound,” continues Heerschop. “If possible I used them as an AB stereo pair but of course in opera you have to improvise a little so as not to obstruct the audience’s view of what’s happening on stage.”

For percussion, woodwind, trumpets, trombones and horns, Heerschop used the 4015 and 4011s, with the 4003s on the strings.

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