Another one of the major issues he faced this year was the inability to physically attach anything to Grammy®-Award Winning Musician Joshua Bell’s violin. “Even the no-impact DPA rubber mounts that I have used with many other artists were not allowed,” says Bevan. “This is a four-million-dollar instrument and cannot be touched by anything except Joshua’s fingers. I put a DPA
d:screet™ SC4061 Miniature Omnidirectional Microphone on Joshua’s lapel on the opposite side of the violin, which gave a lovely warm sound from the violin. Joshua was also the evening’s M.C. and the microphone on his lapel picked up his spoken introductions perfectly. The TV producers greatly appreciated not having to put a vocal mic in front of him.”
The second performer, Cuban soprano Larisa Martinez, also had a d:screet™ SC4061 hidden inside her hairline with clips, which was invisible to the audience and cameras, but gave a beautiful natural sound, with all her wonderful dynamics. Using small Sennheiser wireless packs allowed the performers plenty of freedom of movement.
Another challenge presented was the producers’ desire to have the piano lid removed, so that there were no unwanted reflections on the set. “This was an added challenge in having hidden mics, while reducing the amount of bleed from the rhythm section and orchestra into the piano mics,” Bevan said. “I achieved this with a couple of
d:vote™ 4099P Instrument Microphones for Piano on magnetic mounts. Their excellent supercardioid, off-axis rejection kept bleed to a minimum, while capturing a very natural piano sound. Finally, I rounded out the instruments by using a
d:vote™ 4099S Instrument Microphone for Saxophone.”
Bevan had also been wanting to try DPA’s
d:facto™ MMC4018V Supercardioid Microphone Capsule for Vocal for some time and the perfect opportunity presented itself when he needed to capture vocals for recording artist Dave Matthews and Cuban singer-songwriter Carlos Varela, both of whom also participated in the series. “Dave Matthews has somewhat of a ‘low-mid’ heavy voice and the extra clarity from the
d:facto™ MMC4018V capsules helped in reducing the amount of EQ-ing I had to do to get his lyrics to be very clear over an orchestra and rhythm section,” he says. “Carlos Varela sounded wonderful on this microphone too. His soulful songs were even more chilling with the wonderful air and clarity that this microphone provided.”
This recent Live from Lincoln Center project was entitled Joshua Bell: Seasons of Cuba. The concert was taped at the world-renowned performance arts complex Rose Hall and featured Grammy® Award–winning violinist, Joshua Bell, Dave Matthews, The Chamber Orchestra of Havana and several Cuban musicians and singers.