A record crowd of more than 15,000 converged on Garner Park in Madison, WI last Saturday night for the 14th annual Opera in the Park, featuring performances by professional opera singers, the Madison Opera Chorus and the Madison Symphony Orchestra.
Jonathan and Susan Lipp, Full Compass Systems CEO and chairman of the board, respectively, as well as Bag End owners Henry Heine and Jim Wischmeyer once again donated their time and equipment to help the event deliver quality sound reinforcement. The team is rounded out by a number of Full Compass staff members and Sennheiser national key account manager Adam Livella, who also volunteers time and lends equipment to the event.
“It’s the largest concert of its kind in the nation per capita, and who knows, maybe the world,” Susan Lipp states. “Which is totally amazing. You’d think San Francisco or New York would have the largest, but no, it’s right here in Madison.”
Now in it’s 13th year of aiding Madison Opera, the group is expanding, adding grandson Jake Lipp to the team in recent years. The 25-year-old comes from Chicago each summer to mix audio alongside his grandfather. He’s the third generation to make music and sound his career, working with the IATSE Local 2 as a stagehand, engineer and audio freelancer around Chicago.
Instead of close-miking instruments, the team deployed a minimum number of overhead mics to help the instruments blend naturally.
Further, Sennheiser MKH 800-P48 microphones were also placed at the front of the stage for the vocalists. In this instance they were set to the figure-8 pattern. The approach helps eliminate sound from the sides, reducing feedback and affording more control over the sound projected. This allowed the team to set up side-facing Bag End floor monitors at the front of the stage so the vocalists could hear themselves, while also saving space on a full stage.
The team also utilized Sennheiser A5000-CP passive antennas to send directional wireless signals to remote loudspeakers placed high up the hill at Garner Park. It streamlines the process in eliminating the need for cabling while also being resistant to dropouts.
