Roger Kulp:
> I don't think you are talking about
> the classic "Decca Tree",are you?
Indeed I was speaking about the DECCA tree.
> I don't think it was used on the
> early Decca digital recordings.
The DECCA tree was in steady use up to the demise of the DECCA/London
recording centre demise in december 1997.
> I have a copy of LDR-10001-2 ("New Year's in Vienna!") right here.
That used Schoeps microphones in their black versions to avoid reflection
glare from the spotlights used by the TV crew.
That event was described in detail in one of the English HiFi magazines by
Angus McKenzie who had spoken to the recording engineer in charge, James
Lock.
It was being stated quite clearly that the main microphone pick up used the
DECCA tree populated with Schoeps omni microphones. Together with necessary
extra spot microphones as deemed necessary by the recording crew.
> The cover shows two microphones,at the ends of what must
> have been very long cables,that snaked back and forth over
> the orchestra.They were so low,that a flautist,and a
> clarinetist,might have hit their heads on them,if they were
> not careful when they stood up.Almost like a two microphone
> twist,on the Mercury single microphone technique.
It must be remembered that the New Years concert by the Vienna Philharmonic
is being miked by at least three recording organizations.
Austrian TV and also Austrian Radio together with the latest record company
interested in recording and releasing the event on compact disk.
The whole event is being rebroadcasted over the whole of Europe by the
European Broadcating Union, EBU, so is a main event for literally millions
of people on January 1st.
So you might count well above 50 microphones in use by the above three
recording teams.
An informed guess is that the two microphones you saw in the record picture
was spot microphones over the winds put there by any of the recording crews.
In fact the mics in question might also have been put there but was never
used at all because when listening to the main microphones there was enough
winds in there so the spots was not needed at all.
Anything you see in pictures may or may not mean a thing.
--
Best regards,
Goran Finnberg
The Mastering Room AB
Goteborg
Sweden
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Learn from the mistakes of others, you can never live long enough to
make them all yourself. - John Luther
