Sound designer Jody Elff turned to DPA's 4052 Compact Omni-directional microphones to capture the dizzying array of musical sounds created by the relentless motion of the water. "The obvious technical challenge is how to amplify a bowl of splashing water," Elff said. "At various points in the show, the water is extremely quietno more than tiny dripsand yet these sounds are essential to the larger picture." Elff also noted that another, more obvious challenge was to keep the microphones dry enough so that they would not fail during some of the more aggressive passages of the show that involved much more water splashing.
"For this task, the DPA 4052 mic fit the bill perfectly, in part because of its excellent sound reproduction capabilities, in addition to the fact that the mic is well-protected in its capsule and is "waterproof" to a certain degree," Ellf explained. He added that although the mics were not actually submerged in water, they were placed in close-enough proximity to the water bowls to allow water to contact the capsule.
Commending the performance of the DPA 4052, Elff said: "The output of the mic is very clean even at higher gain settings, allowing the subtleties of the water performance to come through the mix very cleanly."
Moreover, Elff said that compact, omni-directional microphones are extremely popular as A-B stereo pairs in concert hallssuch as the Walt Disneywhere the beautiful architecture has to go hand-in-hand with quality recordings.
DPA Microphones Inc. president Bruce Myers was excited to be part of Water Passion¹s LA premiere and glad that DPA products could help. "This was a fascinating and unique concert and I¹m proud that a DPA product could rise to the occasion," Myers said. "The 4052 mic is perfect for all types of on-camera and on-stage use where high definition audio is a top priority."
(Lee Baldock)
