“I used
d:vote™ 4099s as close up mics for the strings, in conjunction with an overhead system,” he explains. “All other instruments were miked from a distance. In my opinion there is no other choice than the d:vote™ 4099 because it is the only close-up microphone where you don’t have to touch the equalizer.”
Kummel, who has handled projects for a wide variety of top shows and artists (including Robin Gibb, Al Bano Carrisi, Anna Netrebko, Jonas Kaufmann, The Harlem Gospel Singers and the Eurovision Song Contest), is best known for his ability to deliver exceptional live sound in complex environments, with and without an orchestra.
For the Disney in Concert tour, Kummel had various issues to overcome – not least the fact that the very loud PA was behind the orchestra and there was also a band on stage supporting the orchestra because it was a crossover show.
“I had to get close to the instruments to avoid crosstalk,” he says. “As far as I know there is no other microphone that works as well as the
d:vote™ 4099 without using the equalizer. These microphones make my job much easier because they deliver such good sound that I can make adjustments prior to the soundcheck and that really speeds things up. In total we had about 120 channels from the stage, but we were able to complete the soundcheck in less than 10 minutes.”
Jürgen Erhard, System Engineer for the Disney Tour, adds: ”The Main PA (L-Acoustics 12 x K1, plus 6 x K2) was flown eight meters behind the front of the stage, as otherwise the audience would have had line-of-sight obstruction to the big screen. Even with a very large amount of condenser microphones, Carsten was able to work without feedbacks, due to the length of the PA, which reached a directivity up to 50Hz.”