Mojave Audio and Royer Labs for both pre-recording and the live events at the recent 92nd Academy Awards show at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood microphones were used from Mojave Audio and Royer Labs.
Emmy- and Grammy-award winning recording engineer, scoring mixer, and record producer Tommy Vicari, working in conjunction with his brother Danny Vicari, owner of LAFX Studio and Rentals in addition to his work as a live sound engineer, were tasked with audio responsibilities for this year’s show. Both for the pre-records and the live event, they employed Mojave Audio MA-101, MA-300, and MA-1000 mics as well as Royer Labs R-121, R-1122V, and SF-24V models.
“The pre-records for this year’s show took place at Capital Studios in Hollywood,” Danny Vicari says. “As part of this effort, we used three Royer R-122 MKII ribbon mics at the front of the bell to capture French Horns, three R-121 ribbons on trumpets, three R-122v mics for the trombones, and two SF-24V stereo ribbons—one each for brass and woodwinds.
“On the Mojave side of the equation,” he continues, “we used five MA-300s and two MA-100s. The MA-300s handled the saxophones while the MA-100s were used to capture a wide range of percussion instruments. We also used some MA-101s to mic flute, piccolo, and some additional woodwind instruments.”
For the live show, the combination of Royer and Mojave mics was very similar. “We used two Mojave Audio MA-1000s for overheads on the drums,” Danny Vicari adds. “With their ability to handle the sharp attack transients characteristic of percussion instruments, the MA-1000s were the ideal choice. We also deployed Mojave MA-101 mics on the saxophones. On the Royer side, three R-122 MKII mics captured the trombones, three R-121s captured the trumpets, while another three R-122 MKII ribbons were used on the three French Horns.
“By largely using the same combination of microphones both on the pre-records and for the live show, we were much better positioned to have greater consistency of the overall sound,” he concludes. “Both the Mojave and the Royer mics are really exceptional. They handle a wide range of dynamic contrast, they’re very adept at handling high SPLs, and the fact that they can be used on a variety of instruments with basically the same output level is a huge advantage.”
