A recent open-air concert by the Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra in Konin, Poland saw the deployment of almost 60 microphones from Austrian Audio to capture the sound of each instrument and section.
Radek Barczak, the music director for this concert, explains, “This was probably the largest sound capture with Austrian Audio microphones in the world. Producing a large symphony orchestra concert is quite an equipment challenge! Prior to the Poznań Philharmonic concert, our agency, ViolinArt, already owned an arsenal of Austrian Audio microphones: we had 16 CC8s, four OC818s, four OC18s, an OC16 and an OD5, but we couldn’t put on the concert without additional Austrian Audio mics.
“Thanks to the strong support of two companies — Polish distributor ESS Audio, who quickly imported 20 CC8 microphones for us and Mateusz Szternel’s Music Service rental company, who exchanged their four CC8s and two OC16s for our four Neumann KM184s and two AKG C314s — we were able to obtain what we needed.”
Barczak states that he finds that the Austrian Audio mics have a more “natural” sound: “Most microphones have a boosted upper band. Now imagine 60 condenser microphones on stage with a 12 line array sound system per side and double basses and cellos almost directly underneath them — and each microphone has a boosted top? Thanks to Austrian Audio mics’ natural, unhyped frequency response, there is no need for a lot of EQ and there is no need to struggle to achieve a natural violin sound, for example, by eliminating high-frequency jitter.”
The Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra performed in Konin with a line-up of 20 violins, seven violas, six cellos, four double basses, a harp, four french horns, two flutes plus piccolo, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, three trumpets, three trombones, four timpani, a gran casa, a snare drum and two stands of percussion.
Barczak chose the microphones for each instrument and section — CC8s for the entire string quintet, woodwinds and overhead percussion, OD5s on timpani and snare, OC818s, OC18s, and OC16s on brass and an additional stereo pair of OC18s over the conductor and OC18s with an additional AKG C480B ULS CK69 shotgun for solo violin.
Recreating the orchestra’s sound consisted of delaying signals of the individual microphones to match a stereo XY pair from an Austrian Audio OC18 over the conductor’s head. A final touch was added to the sound by Lexicon reverbs from a Soundcraft Vi1000 console and a 1993 Roland SRV-330 external reverb processor with 3D surround reverb.
