DPA Microphones Delivers Freedom of Movement to Raymond Gubbay's Opera Singers

	"Classical Spectacular" at the Royal Albert Hall with DPA Microphones.

For the first time in its history, Raymond Gubbay's "Classical Spectacular" at the Royal Albert Hall used DPA Microphones' d:fine omnidirectional headset microphones to amplify the sound of the show's two stars.

The lavish spectacle, which runs twice a year in March and November, combined the classical opera of singers Stephanie Corley and Jesús León with the musicians of the Royal Philharmonic orchestra, a light show, lasers, and pyrotechnics. Classical audio specialist RG Jones Sound Engineering, which celebrates its 90th birthday in 2016, provided the audio crew, PA, monitors, control, and microphone package. The company has a large selection of DPA microphones and regularly turns to DPA's UK distributor Sound Network for new additions to its stock.

For front-of-house engineer Phil Wright, this latest "Classical Spectacular" represented his first time working on the show.

"I was delighted to be asked by RG Jones to join the 'Classical Spectacular' family," says Wright. "The show is one of the most respected of its genre and there is certainly no room for error; audience and artist expectations are very high."

Making the decision to move to d:fine headset microphones meant that the singers had much more freedom of movement and could better express their characters. In previous performances they were positioned in front of microphones on stands, which naturally limited their movement around the stage.

"I wanted to go over to radio mics, but without a proscenium arch I knew I'd have trouble with omnis in their hairlines," says Wright.

The answer was to use d:fine omnidirectional headset microphones mounted on a short boom, set back from the singer's mouth, but close enough to give the required separation.

"Once I made the case for the mics visually, the production team was more than happy with the sound in rehearsals and subsequent shows," says Wright. "The performers were happier too, with the comfort of the d:fine headset and the sound they got back. It was a real win-win situation."

Acoustically, Wright praises the transparency of d:fine headset microphones and the lack of overload artifacts -- an important consideration when dealing with a sound source as dynamic as an opera voice.

"We used two headsets, one on each singer, with a Shure UHF-R radio system utilizing the URM1 miniature packs," he says. "I also had a d:screet 4061 miniature microphone on a second system as a backup in the event of a microphone or radio system failure. The RF performed impeccably. The show also used a Digico SD7 console with dual-redundant Waves servers and Martin Audio MLA as its PA system."

A much-loved heritage venue, the Royal Albert Hall can nonetheless present its own acoustic challenges. "The main issue is mixing at concert levels while maintaining a natural, transparent sound," says Wright. "It's not a film score sound, more of a Deutsche Grammophon CD sound: absolutely natural reinforcement, but at concert levels."

To achieve the sound he wanted from the musicians, Wright specified DPA d:dicate 2011C cardioid microphones and d:vote 4099 instrument microphones.

"It's no secret that a good source is imperative, and this is particularly true in classical music," says Wright. "I like using DPA mics on strings and chorus in particular: sources with a lot of very complex tonal information. On 'Classical Spectacular' we used the d:screet 4061s on the high strings, d:vote 4099s on the low strings, and d:dicate 2011Cs on the chorus. I also placed a d:vote 4099 mic inside the harp for low end, and a d:dicate 2011C on the outside for bloom and top: an amazing combination."

As an engineer who regularly works on large productions, Wright says he invariably turns to DPA because the company's microphones make his job much easier.

"Many of the productions I work on have more than 150 microphones on stage, and each one can add distortion and other unwanted artifacts into my mix. Multiple, great inputs are much easier to wrangle into a great mix," he says.

Billed as the ultimate in classical music shows, "Classical Spectacular" has been running for over 25 years and has now shown in 11 different countries. Impresario Raymond Gubbay also delivers a wide range of concerts, operas, and ballets in major venues around the world and is established as one of the UK's leading promoters of popular classical music.