greg@olivej.UUCP (Greg Paley) (06/19/84)
The June issue of the West German mag "Fono Forum" has several articles of interest that cover topics I haven't seen here yet. There are two separate articles detailing recording projects where mention is made of changes in miking philosophy by the respective companies. The first is a set of orchestral recordings sponsered by English Decca with Solti and the Bavarian Radio Orchestra. Having experimented considerably, they have hit on a setup where a total of 22 mikes are used, but of which 2 are mixed at a much higher level than the others. According to the article, the difference added by the remaining 20 at low-level is subtle and was used to preserve orchestral details that they were simply unable to catch with the 2. Personal comment: how come Mercury was able to do it with only 3? The other company switching to a 2-mike setup for a series of Mozart orchestral/concerto recordings in London is Deutsche Grammophon, which is interesting since they've been champions of multi-miking from way back. Perhaps significantly, sharp-eared critics have been complaining about the lack of ambient information on their recordings since well back into the days of analog-only. Another article mentions a series of recordings sponsered by Denon which are, at this point, intended for release on CD only (!). Although the currently release schedule calls for standard two- channel CD's the masters are actually being done Quadrophonically (!!) in case Quad should revive. Among the first recordings is a set of the Schubert "Winterreise" cycle with Hermann Prey (I can't remember off-hand the name of the pianist - a name new to me). One of the interesting points in this article is that Denon seems to be finding a silver lining to one dark cloud: most of the major artists being already under iron-clad contracts to other companies, Denon has found its only real choice has been to seek out and encourage young talent. This has been the current policy and they appear to be having enough success to continue. Their other problem is that their recording budget is significantly lower than the large record companies, which makes matching the fees that already famous celebrities demand. This is also the reason, incidentally, that those Denon CD's which feature major forces (opera and full- orchestra symphonic works) are primarily performed by Iron Curtain interpreters - Dresden Staatskapelle, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Herbert Blomstedt, etc. - Greg Paley