It also featured a six-piece live, progressive rock band and 16 accompanying singers and dancers. In order to best address the breadth of sound that comes with combining opera and rock music, Oriti selected DPA Microphones' d:fine 88 Directional Headset Microphones for all of his vocalists.
Oriti had already started to note the benefits of the DPA headsets before the curtains opened. "Our FOH engineer Dennis Moody had a great mix for our preview show at El Portal, which is a live room," Oriti explains. "I expected problems, but DPA's d:fine Headsets provided 12 channels of pristine lead and background vocals. Many audience members believed we were running playback harmonies, but it was all live."
With plans to take the show on the road in Manila, Philippines, Oriti and Moody are already aiming to add DPA to their tour rider. "It would be foolish to try out a different product when we just had a successful experience with all 16 singers on stage," adds Oriti. "We noticed that the DPA mics did not distort like the handheld brand we used previously and the flat frequency response proved to work much better." Though the production team used a competitor handheld microphone for the four singers who portrayed Pontius Pilate and the Pharisees, they are considering making a change to their equipment on the road."
In order to use the microphones in a wireless arrangement, the duo chose Lectrosonics transmitters. "The mics and the transmitters worked amazingly together," says Oriti. "We had zero problems with frequencies and nothing but a clear signal."
(Jim Evans)
