Facing particular technical challenges, the Los Angeles Philharmonic assembled at the Walt Disney Concert Hall for the Deutsche Grammophon label to capture two classical works in multiple digital recording formats as part of the LA Phil Live series of recordings.

The orchestra was conducted by its Music Director, Gustavo Dudamel, with Friedemann Engelbrecht from Teldex Studio in Berlin as producer and Enno Mäemets from Editroom Oy in Helsinki as engineer. The recording system centred on Merging Technologies’ Pyramix DAW and the company’s Horus Networked Audio Converters,

Mäemets has been using Pyramix since 2006 and has used Merging Technologies’ flagship products on many recordings with Esa-Pekka Salonen, the LA Phil’s Conductor Laureate. Mäemets’s connection with the orchestra goes back to a recording of Witold Lutosławski’s First Symphony, made in the hall to complete the cycle of Lutosławski’s symphonic works started some years ago by Maestro Salonen and recently released by Sony Classical. When asked to record the latest concerts with Gustavo Dudamel, Mäemets wanted the Merging items to be delivered in time for the first recording of La Mer by Debussy and Stravinsky’s The Firebird. Once completed, the recordings were edited and mixed, and delivered to Bernie Grundman Mastering for immediate release.

‘We had to record, edit, and mix and master these projects very quickly, and Pyramix is the only feasible choice for this,’ Mäemets explains. ‘In addition, Merging is the only company offering a choice of high-end recording formats, so we can respond to requests for DSD or DXD delivery as well as 192kHz or 96kHz PCM.

‘The big bonus with Horus is that, as in most symphony halls, we have to suspend microphones from the roof. We can have a Horus in the roof that handles 16 mics and a second Horus on the stage with an additional 24 mics and eight return lines. The Ravenna connection means that these are connected and controlled by a single Cat6 cable so we can set up the levels, filters and routing from the control room and have the microphone cables as short as possible. This is really a breakthrough.’

‘Pyramix and Horus provide us a top-notch system to capture a variety of recording projects with a range of size and scope,’ agrees Chris Ayzoukian, VP of Philharmonic & Production for the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

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