Renowned for the quality and diversity of its operetta, opera, musicals and ballet, Vienna’s Volksoper also a busy theatre with staging around 300 performances each year between September and June.
Supporting such a high volume of work requires a dedicated team, especially in the sound department: ‘To cope with such an intense workload, our sound equipment has to be flexible, durable and very hard working,’ says Head of Sound & Multimedia, Martin Lukesch. ‘This is why we use DPA microphones. For many years they have played an important part in providing the amplification for the orchestra, for actors in musicals and for actors and singers in every kind of show. Opera and operettas, of course, require no amplification – that’s all down to the power of the human voice.’
He explains that DPA mics were initially chosen for their quality and reliability: ‘They also work beautifully with our Sennheiser D9000 multichannel digital wireless systems,’ he says. ‘In total, we have more than 200 DPA microphones, including d:screet 4061 Omnidirectional Miniature Microphones and d:fine 4066 Headset Microphones, d:facto Vocal Microphones and d:vote 4099 Instrument Microphones, which we particularly like because they clip easily onto any instrument and make no compromises when it comes to sound quality.’
Volkoper’s DPA microphones are currently being used for a production of Man of La Mancha, which opened in October 2015. Inspired by Miguel de Cevantes seventeenth-century masterpiece Don Quixote, it tells the story of the ‘mad’ knight through a play within a play, performed by Cervantes and his fellow prisoners as he awaits a hearing with the Spanish Inquisition.
Volksoper’s version stars actor and Volksoper director Robert Meyer, who plays Cervantes/Don Quixote. The staging for this production is unusual because the actors are located in the raised orchestra pit, while the orchestra is positioned behind them on a part of the stage that moves up and down, allowing the musicians to become more and more visible as the show progresses.
‘Over the past 50 years, since this musical was first performed, audience expectation has changed dramatically,’ Lukesch explains. ‘These days everyone expects the audio to sound like a recording, which means that every instrument and every actor must be miked. That involves a lot of work for the sound department because everything has to be carefully placed for each rehearsal and each show. Without a flexible and hard-working mic system like DPA, this would be very difficult to achieve.’
For this particular performance, the orchestra is located behind the stage where all of the instruments needed to be amplified as the audience cannot clearly hear their unamplified sound. DPA d:vote 4099 Instrument Microphones proved to be the ideal solution because they provided excellent sound quality and were also very quick and easy for the musicians to use.
‘Even though this was a show with amplification, it really doesn’t sound like it because the audio delivered by the microphones was so natural and clear that if felt as thought the orchestra was right in front of you,’ Lukesch says. ‘It was our intention for the audience to feel as though they were hearing a recording rather than the amplified sound. In order to do this we needed a really high quality audio chain, which started with the DPA microphones and incorporated our wireless system, mixing desk, amps and speakers.
‘Our monitoring system allowed us to deliver different mixes to the conductor and the various musicians playing double bass, guitars, drums, woodwinds and brass. For these mixes, quality was important so we needed microphones that could deliver great sound,’ he adds. ‘All the actors were fitted with d:screet 4061 microphones and d:fine Headset Microphones, so quality wasn’t an issue and their voices transferred perfectly to the musicians behind the stage.’
DPA’s d:screet 4061 and d:fine Headset Microphones are also often used to amplify actors taking part in Volksoper performances: ‘Sometimes we hide our DPA microphones in the actors’ hair and costumes, but usually we try and get as close to the mouth as possible to ensure the best possible sound quality,’ Lukesch says. ‘Actors in musicals are all professionals and are therefore used to wearing microphones. Usually, after a few minutes on stage, they forget about the mics and the transmitters. However, to avoid problems during the show, the sound, make up and costume departments work closely together so that we can find solutions that are comfortable for the actors but also protect the microphones from any damage.’
More: www.dpamicrophones.com
