The concerts covered the French singer's concept album Histoire de Mélody Nelson and Jean-Claude Vannier's L'Enfant Assassin des Mouches and featured vocalists such as actor Mathieu Amalric, Placebo vocalist Brian Molko, French singers Daniel Darc, Alain Chamfort, Brigitte Fontaine, and British singer Martina Topley Bird; the Orchestre Lamoureux; a rhythm section comprising drummer Pierre-Alain Dahan, bassist Herbie Flowers, guitarists Claude Engel and Thomas Coeuriot; and a young Parisian choir.
This provided a challenge to the sound engineers, who had to manage a huge input count, including more than 70 voices. This is where the two MSS6000 microphone summation systems came in. Designed to reduce 10 or more individual mics down to a single stereo pair, each MSS6000 features independent level and pan controls, allowing the engineers to considerably reduce the amount of inputs to the mixing console, while also cutting down the quantity of cabling on stage.
"The 4060s were perfect for this application for several reasons, firstly of course for their sound characteristics, but also for their mounting accessories, which enabled us to close-mike each violin," says Cité de la Musique engineer Bruno Morain, who oversaw the sound and mixed the concerts. "We showed the musicians how to attach the mics to their instruments just once and then they did it themselves for the following rehearsals and concerts without any problems."
(Jim Evans)
