An immersive production of Puccini’s Tosca was recently staged in the courtyard of the Palazzo Farnese in Northern Italy’s city of Piacenza, using Outboard’s TiMax spatial audio processing and Point Source Audio’s CO-8WL omnidirectional waterproof lavalier microphones.

Due to the necessary social distancing of the audience and performers, the production called on many more technical elements than is usual – from projection mapping around the facade of the courtyard used for the staging, to the immersive audio environment created by the TiMax system, thr performance used technology to transport the audience back to Napoleonic Rome. Creating the kind of audio environment where every nuance could be reproduced naturally and precisely required premium components at every stage of the signal chain.

‘Point Source Audio’s CO-8WL offered many strengths for this production,’ explains sound designer and mixing engineer, Federico Bianchi. ‘First and foremost was the quality and the linearity of the sound. I needed to make very few adjustments to the timbre of the microphones, which were already “flat”, and able to preserve all the dynamics and colors in the singers’ voices. In addition, the mic size and shape made them invisible to the audience, while allowing useful positioning and precise capture.’

Performers wore the microphones on the forehead or on the ear, depending on the hairstyles and stage needs. ‘In both cases, the result was excellent right from the start,’ Bianchi reports. ‘The mics allowed me to make the most of the amplification and provide good monitoring on stage – which was needed, given the distances – despite the omnidirectional characteristics of the microphones and the proximity of the monitors in some scenes. Another important capability of the capsules was the resistance to external agents such as humidity, water, sweat and makeup, a fundamental aspect considering the positioning and the climatic conditions faced, from the afternoon heat to the high humidity in the evening.’

The end result was a production that Bianchi is proud of. ‘In all of the rehearsals and during both performances on stage there were never any problems,’ he says. ‘The sound performance remained the same, proving the excellent qualities of the microphones.’