Tag Archives: spring 2010

Orchestral Recording

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I have the opportunity to record each performance of the Champaign Urbana Symphony and Sinfonia da Camera, a chamber symphony orchestra led by Music Director/Conductor and world-reknown pianist Ian Hobson. Both orchestras call the extremely desirable acoustics of the Foellinger Great Hall at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts home.

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Foellinger Great Hall

Sinfonia da Camera, here under the direction of Fred Stoltzfus

Foellinger Great Hall Recording Control Room

Midas console

Recording a Sinfonia da Camera concert

Verses That Hurt

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Verses That Hurt Flier

Verses That Hurt is a Poetic/Theatrical/Musical performance that took place March 5th and 6th, 2010 at the Armory Free Theatre on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  I collaborated primarily in the area of sound, but also contributed in the original development of the performance, along with the project’s originator, Grant Bowen.

A main element of my sound design for Verses That Hurt was the subway atmosphere.   A main idea of the treatment of the performance space was that we wanted to place the audience actually in a subway station.  The main environmental element of the experience of being in a subway station is its sound (or maybe its smell, depending on which city…).

Here is a short clip of the subway atmosphere and a train arrival that I created for this show.

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More details on the show and sound design can be found in the documents and photos below:

Verses_That_Hurt_Documentation

Verses That Hurt System Diagram

Verses That Hurt

Verses That Hurt

New Philharmonic

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This semester, I have been assisting Jon Schoenoff recording the New Philharmonic Orchestra, under the direction of Music Director and Conductor, Kirk Muspratt.

On April 23rd and 24th, I had the opportunity to record the orchestra myself, which was a great learning experience.  This example is from one of the concerts from that weekend:

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This is the documentation for the concerts I was involved in recording:

New_Philharmonic_Recording_Documentation

New Philharmonic Recording System Diagram

The following photos are from the January concertized opera performance of Puccini’s Turnadot.  The orchestra mic’ing was supplemented by microphones on the front edge of the stage to highlight the solo singers, and mics were placed in front of the choir and on the organ loudspeakers.

New Philharmonic - Turnadot - Mic Placement

New Philharmonic - Turnadot - Soloist Mic Placement

Soloist Mic Placement

New Philharmonic - Turnadot - Choir Mic Placement

Choir Mic Placement

New Philharmonic - Turnadot - Organ Mic Placement

Organ Mic Placement

New Philharmonic - Turnadot - Recording Station

New Philharmonic - Turnadot

Matt Jacklin, percussion

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Recently I had the opportunity to produce and record a project with percussionist Matt Jacklin.  We completed two sessions, one week apart in Foellinger Great Hall at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.

Matt_Jacklin_Recording_Project

We recorded three pieces:

Session I (4.11.2010):  Bernard-Francois Machet – Phenix (for vibraphone and 9 tom-toms)

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Session II (4.18.2010): Andrew Thomas – Merlin (for marimba),  Jacob Druckman – Reflections on the Nature of Water (for marimba)

Session I Photos:

Matt Jacklin, percussion - Francois-Bernard Machet - Phenix

Session II Photos:
 


Merlin


Krannert Audio

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Team Krannert Audio

Krannert's Audio Team for Ellnora '09 - The Guitar Festival

I work and study at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. My activities include providing live sound reinforcement, recording and sound design for many of the performances at the center, as part of the audio team.

Krannert Center for the Performing Arts

Krannert Center for the Performing Arts

Recently, the graduate students, Andy (Krumeich, the Krannert Audio Events supervisor) and I have been doing major upgrades to the facilities and equipment.

Current Audio Facilities:
Audio Offices
Great Hall Recording Studio
The Kitchen (storage)
The Vault (maintenance, testing and storage)

Current Audio Facilities being renovated:
Post Production Studio (currently in use)
Graduate Audio Lab (being renovated in to Sound Design Studio)

New Audio Facilities (coming Summer 2010):
Audio Archive
Video/Surround Studio
Festival Theatre Multi-track Studio

Here are some photos of the facilities as they are right now:

This is the Krannert Audio graduate student office. Yes, that\'s Vegas on the wall

KCPA Audio Office

Cable storage in the Audio Office

Great Hall Studio

This is the Great Hall Recording Studio

Great Hall Studio
This is the monitoring position for the Great Hall recording studio. This studio is equipped with 8 Channels of Buzz Audio preamps (True Systems, Yamaha, other pres available for more channels), an Alesis HD24 hard disk recorder and Meyer HD-1 monitors. The Midas console is used for live to 2-track (CD) mixing and monitoring.
Post Production Studio

This is the new Post Production Studio. It is not done, but has been forced into action by the many projects I have going on. Soon to come are: A rack, a small console, a couch and further acoustic treatment. It's actually a pretty good sounding small control room.

Post Production Studio

Visible here are the acoustic treatment panels on the ceiling. This design was developed by Andy and I.

Archive Room

This is the room that is becoming the archive room. A WORK IN PROGRESS!

The Vault

The Vault, the KCPA Audio Department's newly renovated maintenance shop/electronics lab.

The Vault cable storage

The Vault also has storage for less frequently used cable and equipment.

Entering The Kitchen

The view as you enter The Kitchen, the main equipment storage room.

The kitchen

Gear in the Kitchen

Gear in the Kitchen

More gear in the Kitchen

Cable storage in the Kitchen

Cable storage in the Kitchen

What It Is! featuring Mavis Staples, Booker T. and JJ Grey

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On Tuesday, March 30, 2010, Krannert Audio had a great time setting up the system and running the show for R&B/gospel legend Mavis Staples and Hammond B3 master Booker T. It was a ton of fun – one of the best shows I’ve worked on or seen.

Booker T's Band

Booker T's Band

Mic and Organ

Darien Gray's Drums

Darien Gray's Drums

"Super Boom"

Darien's kit again. Notice the "Super Boom" for his vocal mic!

Contemplating monitor placement

Contemplating monitor placement...

Hammond B3 from Analog Outfitters

Beautiful Hammond B3 from Analog Outfitters (http://analogoutfitters.com/)

Andy at the console

Andy mixing at FOH

The view from front of house

The view from the FOH mix position

Aaron mixing monitors at soundcheck

Aaron mixing monitors at soundcheck

Stacks

Nexo array and Bag End 4X18in subs

Charlotte Mattax, Harpsichord – Suites of Pierre Fevrier

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Harpsichord Session, Follinger Great Hall, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts

John Phillips Harpsichord in Follinger Great Hall, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts

On 01.04.10 and 01.04.10, I had the wonderful opportunity to assist engineer Jon Schoenoff in recording harpsichordist Charlotte Mattax performing several suites of baroque comoser Pierre Fevrier for an upcoming release on Centaur Records.  The session took place in the Foellinger Great Hall of the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, my favorite space (for sentimental reasons in addition to sonic ones).  Keyboardist/Choral Conductor Kerry Heimann was present as producer.  Added to all that, Mattax performed on a beautiful new instrument by John Phillips of Berkeley, CA, which belongs to the University of Illinois School of Music.  Phillips was present to assist with production and with keeping the instrument in tune – a challenge given the extremely cold and dry weather (the instrument had to be moved in on the first day of recording).

Mics used:

  • 3 Schoeps CMC6
  • 1 Neumann U87

Techniques:

Two CMC6s were placed L and R, on high (~12′) Atlas iron-based stands.  A single CMC6 (wide cardioid) and the U87 were placed next to each other (giving two options for “main” mics) about 4′ high and about 5′ or 6′ in front of the instrument.