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A recent recording Sounds session at the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra—and just some of the audio tech it requires. from a Distance Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Thrilling sound is one of the defining characteristics of orchestra concerts. But the pandemic has reordered priorities: outdoor performances and safety protocols like masks and distancing require new approaches to acoustics. Plus, audiences are listening on laptops, phones, earbuds, and more. How do audio engineers convey the sound of music? by Brian Wise hen orchestras began moving Fenway Park for a filmed performance of their activities outdoors amid Christmas music, Lead Audio Engineer the pandemic, recording engi- Nick Squire set up a remote studio in the Wneers were often thrust to the front lines. Red Sox dugout, adjusting mic levels over At the New York Philharmonic’s series of the din of helicopters and highway noise. amplified pop-up concerts, using a rented In Chicago, Charlie Post, the Chicago pick-up truck dubbed the Bandwagon, Symphony Orchestra’s audio engineer, Audio Director Lawrence Rock enabled reported a cornucopia of sounds of “traf- the music of the small chamber groups to fic, kids, pets, and nature” as he mixed the rise above the urban cacophony, be it in Virtual Day of Music on June 21, a day Manhattan’s Herald Square or a neighbor- of digital premieres of videos featuring hood park in Brooklyn. CSO musicians, filmed in living rooms When the Boston Pops’ brass and per- and backyards and posted every half hour cussion sections took to the outfield of on the orchestra’s social-media channels. 44 symphony WINTER 2021 ing on their engineers’ ears to find their signature sounds amid a thicket of new safety protocols. Empty halls have been turned into video production studios, and outdoor performances have sprouted up in drive-in theaters, stadiums, parks, and front porches. While much of this land- scape is temporary—and even best prac- tices for plexiglass barriers between mu- sicians are continually changing as new studies about their efficacy are released— video streaming is likely to stick around long after a vaccine is widely distributed. Houston Symphony Recording Engi- neer Brad Sayles remembers the first day of listening to a chamber group of the orchestra’s musicians in the 2,900-seat Jones Hall, with players seated some eight New York Philharmonic New York feet apart. “It sounded awful,” he recalls, This summer, the New York Philharmonic’s Bandwagon brought music and musicians to though that was not through anyone’s neighborhoods throughout a famously noisy city. fault. Seats in the auditorium had been removed to accommodate an extended, [Full disclosure: I am the producer of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s national radio broadcasts.] In these and similar set- tings, recording engineers had to deliver an acoustic that matched the setting—a gen- erous reverb would be inappropriate to a front porch—but was nonetheless pleasing to the ear. Yet some of the biggest recent revela- tions for engineers have occurred on the stages where they have worked for years, if not decades. Dmitriy Lipay, the Seattle Symphony’s Grammy Award-winning recording engineer, said that physi- cal distancing measures, which create a minimum six-foot gap between adjacent musicians in order to limit the spread of aerosols, can upend the sense of balance, pitch, and tonal cohesion. “This is my big- James Holt/Seattle Symphony gest challenge,” he says of the distanced At the Seattle Symphony as at other orchestras, mics and other high-end tech are increasingly setups, which take place on the stage of an familiar. empty Benaroya Hall for streamed video releases. “The musicians are not hearing each other like when they were shoulder League Webinars to shoulder, breathing together and tun- The League of American Orchestras has recently presented timely, practical webinars ing to each other.” Without the sensation on how and why orchestras are utilizing audio technology and digital platforms of being part of a dense mass of sound, during the pandemic. “Balancing Acoustics and Physical Distancing as Orchestras violinists risk overplaying to be heard over Return to Their Halls,” sponsored by Threshold Acoustics LLC, examines how to the brass. “Of course, we have some tools create safe spaces for performers and audiences while maintaining the unique and I can rebalance the orchestra myself,” acoustics of orchestras. The “Shifting from Stage to Screen” webinar explores multiple says Lipay, “but performance-wise, I would aspects of digital concerts and events, including technical, strategic, and marketing prefer them to be more comfortable with considerations, led by digital experts and orchestra executives. Watch the webinars each other.” on demand at https://americanorchestras.org/conferences-meetings/on-demand- Lipay’s experience shows the extent to webinars.html. which American orchestras are now rely- americanorchestras.org 45 60-by-60-foot stage for video. “I thought, I’m going to have to completely rethink what I do.” Sayles be- gan supplementing his omnidirectional micro- phones, which are hung over the stage to get a Tommy Joe Anderson, blended room sound, recording engineer at the Atlanta Symphony with spot mics, placed Orchestra in front of individual players, to achieve the right balances. But oth- er challenges emerged. During a rehears- al of Mozart’s “Prague” Symphony, the woodwinds seemed to be lagging behind the violins. “It sounded fine in the hall but Boston Symphony Orchestra then I went in my [studio] and it sounded A holiday video by the Boston Pops shot at Fenway Park presented unusual challenges for like they weren’t together,” he says. Know- recording engineers and musicians. ing that sound travels at about one foot per millisecond, Sayles measured a distance of about 40 feet from the concertmaster to Prioritizing Audio or Video tives. “Typically, we have anywhere from the woodwind mics and entered that into The Detroit Symphony Orchestra has 1,500 to 2,000 people in the hall and we his mixing console. It automatically com- live-streamed concerts from Orchestra are filming that. Now, we are taking the pensated for a 40-millisecond lag. Hall since 2011 but has encountered some approach that the cameras come first.” unexpected twists since relaunching the Detroit’s safety protocols include up to American orchestras are now series in an empty auditorium in Septem- twelve feet of spacing around woodwinds relying on their engineers’ ber. “It’s been a big adjustment for us to and brass, supplemented by some modest put video first, rather than putting it after plexiglass shields. In chamber music rep- ears to find their signature the ‘regular concert,’ ” says Marc Geelhoed, ertoire, spot mics are sometimes attached sounds amid a thicket of new the orchestra’s director of digital initia- to music stands, or to a soloist’s clothing. safety protocols. Other, more mundane adaptations dur- ing the pandemic involve everything from hygiene (heavily-touched microphones are notorious vehicles for germs) to aesthetics (nothing ruins a perfect camera shot like a forest of mic stands and ca- bles). Face masks, while crucial, do not come naturally to some vio- Hilary Scott linists or violists, whose Nick Squire, recording chins come into con- engineer at the tact with their instru- Boston Symphony ments, and wind players Orchestra have to figure out how to deal with masks for themselves and their instruments. For some orchestras, safety protocols mean that tech- nicians are no longer in auditoriums dur- ing recording sessions—and thus unable to At the Boston Symphony Orchestra, health precautions including masks and social distancing, make quick adjustments. which requires a stage extension, mean that audio engineers have had to adapt. 46 symphony WINTER 2021 video performances in- nated audio engineer volved uncharted terrain. at the Chicago Sym- “Symphony Hall in a phony, aims for a bal- normal concert would be ance while recording filled with 2,500 people, chamber ensembles in absorbing the sound and circular arrangements changing the acoustic to (chosen for sightline some extent,” Squire says. benefits) and using “When empty, Symphony spot microphones on Chicago Symphony Orchestra Charlie Post, the Hall is still gorgeous but individual players. Chicago Symphony Chicago Symphony Orchestra a bit washy sometimes.” Some recording en- Orchestra’s audio With a 30-foot stage ex- gineers say they must The Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s “CSO from Home” videos engineer require sophisticated sound coordination. In photo: Assistant tension, the musicians mix audio that will Principal Oboe Michael Henoch, flute/piccolo Jennifer M. Gunn, are widely dispersed and meet the subconscious horn Oto Carillo, Assistant Principal Bassoon William Buchman, Squire’s standard array of expectations of viewers. When a cellist or and Assistant Principal Clarinet John Bruce Yeh. 40 to 50 microphones has clarinetist is seen playing a solo on cam- grown to nearly 70. “Usu- era, for example, viewers will expect that ally, we can rely more on performer to be slightly louder, says the In a September performance of Bach’s a main pair of mics over the orchestra for Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s longtime Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, Principal the majority of the sound,” he explains. Flute Hannah Hammel donned a Broad- “That method doesn’t work as well any- Physical distancing measures, way-style headset mic. “I don’t know if we more.” His job requires a grasp of polar which create gaps between would have done that in a live concert,” patterns, which are the ways in which mi- musicians to limit the spread Geelhoed admits. “I highly doubt that crophones pick up sound waves from dif- we would have amplified her through the ferent directions. The goal is to capture the of aerosols, can upend the sense of balance, pitch, and tonal cohesion.

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