Hodgson selected a wide range of DPA microphones to assist him in this complex task, which presented many challenges. The largest of these was the building itself. A beautiful cathedral dating back to 1093, Durham provided an amazing backdrop to the concert, but its solid stone construction threw up some serious reverb problems. As the concert was also being filmed, clean sight lines were essential.
"The cathedral has a lovely sounding reverb, but it's at least five seconds long," recalls Hodgson. "The only way to make it sound good was to close mic all 38 musicians. The biggest challenge I foresaw was the string section, and looked to DPA's 4099 series of instrument mics to capture a good recording."
This approach proved so successful that Hodgson extended his use of the 4099s to the brass section. "The sound wasn't compromised, the look for the director was better and I didn't have any problems with the acoustics of the cathedral," he says.
DPA 4011 cardioids were used for all vocalists. "They sounded really, really good; Sting's voice in particular sounded excellent," says Hodgson.
The large amount of percussion, from darbuka and bass drum to bells, chains and keys, was a concern in the reverberant environment, but Hodgson found the 4023 compact cardioid to be a good tool.
For the Welsh harp and Sting's lute, IMK 4061 kits featuring miniature omni microphones with mounting accessories were used. These captured a good sound without any spill.
Hodgson also got chance to try out the DPA 5100 mobile surround mic, as the show was recorded and mixed for stereo and 5.1.
(Jim Evans)
