symphony in an acoustic black hole

[5flagsaudio]

This is something of a offshoot of a thread I posted last year about a damaged Neumann USM-69. I provided audio services for the local PBS station in their large studio A which is acoustically a black hole. It was on this gig that the Neumann was damaged.

With 3 layers of sheetrock on all the walls and 3 inches of rockwool, there are no reflections except what comes off the concrete floor, and the lighting instruments.

Anyway, I thought the documentary turned out quite well. And all things considered, the sound of the orchestra is A-OK.

Check it out starting at about 35 minutes in.

YouTube - WSRE | Pause Life, Play Music

[Gutbucket]

Very interesting, thanks for posting. I can hear room reverberance in the bloom of the bass region. Was any artificial ambience added to compensate for the 'black hole' aspect of the room? Also interesting to hear the cross-fade at the finale from the studio to the less immediate, more distant sounding church acoustic.

Conductor crooning along? I hear someone singing in parts, audible in the credits clip as well.

[gareth.h.rees]

Really interesting video - will be checking the rest out.

As someone who doesn't know much about 'classical', it makes for a good education!

Sounds fantastic too, naturally!

[5flagsaudio]

Originally Posted by Gutbucket

Very interesting, thanks for posting. I can hear room reverberance in the bloom of the bass region. Was any artificial ambience added to compensate for the 'black hole' aspect of the room? Also interesting to hear the cross-fade at the finale from the studio to the less immediate, more distant sounding church acoustic.

Conductor crooning along? I hear someone singing in parts, audible in the credits clip as well.

Yes, the conductor did some crooning. I actually had him miked with a wireless lav for easy com with the control room, but that was not in the mix.

Regardings ambience, yes, I used Altiverb, specifically, I think I used the Berlin Philharmonie, to provide ambience.

The crossfade at the end was a suprise to me, as I was only involved in the Studio A recording of the orchestra and none of the other shots. I'm guessing that the ending was taken from the season final concert the night prior to the taping of the orchestra in the studio. Primary reason for the guess is, although the taping was open to the public, the dozen or so audience members applause didn't make for a very spectacular ending.

[Gutbucket]

Your studio recording sounds very good to my ear. Clear and present without sounding shrill or overly section mic'ed & mixed. Starkly superior to the location audio used throughout the rest of documentary. Nice touch with the Altiverb, very natural. Congradulations.

Very cool that their dress rehearsals and that studio session are open to the public.