“The DPA mics worked just as expected,” adds Steinman. “I selected the
4060s for the violins to minimize the accumulation of room tone when the string instruments are layered in multiple passes. I wanted the miniature mics to serve as a contact mic to ensure that the room didn’t get in the way. I chose the
4006 for bass and tympani to achieve a more consistent sound, as well as for the double bass to reduce the potential for tone variation. No matter how often you tell students how to aim their instrument at a microphone, they're going to move. Also, the development of the
sound from the tympani and the double bass is a difficult thing to capture. The tympani with that 4006 sounds like you are in the room next to musician, I could not be happier with the way that recording turned out.”
Part of the difficulty of recording the musicians stemmed from the need to utilize a vacant dormitory, where each musician had their own personal recording space and equipment setup. “The dorm being a large concrete building and not exactly built to be a studio at least gave us one advantage in that every room sounded the same,” explains Steinman. “We had three days of recording instrumentals in the dorms, followed by about eight days of filming with the singers who sang to the pre-recorded music. For the instrumental recordings we used click-tracks along with the live audio mix, which everyone heard through their headphones, in addition to the live conductor providing cues for the musicians via a virtual platform.”
Steinman was in one room and the conductor, Jeff Schweitzer, and arranger, Tom Matta, were each in their own rooms. “We utilized audio talkbacks to ensure smooth communication between takes,” adds Steinman. “Aside from each musician having their own unique headphone mix, there was also a sound mix fed to the on-site production manager, Jamie Davis, and the director, Tony Peluso, who was based in Orlando via a high-quality audio stream.”
In addition to the 15-scene “Christmas at DePaul” concert itself, the recorded production also includes filmed opening and closing remarks from the University’s President and his wife, using
4060 miniature mics as lavaliers. A narration of the Christmas story by two of the University’s theater students, which is weaved throughout the production, was captured by DePaul alum, Joe Hampton, using the 4060s and a DPA
4017 Shotgun Microphone with a wireless pack, to ensure social distancing. “The 4060 and 4017 are very natural sounding in terms of voice capture,” concludes Steinman.