Producer Julian David took the very deliberate decision to ditch the PA in favour of wireless headphones in order to provide a completely immersive experience for the audience as well as the best possible conditions for audio capture and recording. The event was supported by DirectOut who provided much of the equipment to make the event possible.
In total, DirectOut supplied two Andiamo.MC microphone amplifiers, five Breakout.AN160 terminal extension boxes and two MA2CHBOX.XL reference class headphone amplifiers. A total of 48 channels were recorded on two systems with full redundancy. The Andiamo.MCs were used both as A/D converters and mic preamps in order to amplify the vast number of signals collected across the stage.
Both devices were controlled remotely via USB on a separate laptop running Directout's dedicated ANDIAMO Remote software. Producer and engineer Julian David used the MA2CHBOX.XL connected via MADI in order to monitor and control the recording with the highest possible quality whilst maintaining flexibility. He was delighted with the results.
"The performance of the various DirectOut elements was utterly convincing and even exceeded my expectations," he declared. "The audio quality of the recorded signals is absolutely superb and the entire system worked perfectly. The ability to absorb such a high number of audio channels with such a compact setup and yet absolutely no compromise in terms of performance and flexibility was extremely impressive, and a real blessing. Thanks again to DirectOut for their generous support."
The live album is due out this month along with the video production from music film production company klangmalerei.tv. In addition to the technical support from DirectOut and other pro audio companies, the event was also supported by the Rotarian Jazz Fellowship and a number of private sponsors.
(Jim Evans)
