A mutual friend introduced us to a Northamptonshire preparatory school who wanted to take their Christmas music offering online so parents could enjoy both a virtual nativity and watch and enjoy the musical performances of their children and classmates.
I realised right away that sound would be key – viewers will forgive even ropey phone videos but if the speakers or musicians can it be cleverly heard then the recording is of no value. We knew we could provide great video that the audio was more of a celled, and without budget for a sound operator we had to take on that aspect if the work ourselves,
We have invested in some quality audio kit over the years and decided to go with a three mic set up, all Sennheisers. We used a 416 on the wide camera for ambient and room sound, a c-stand high boomed 416 over the main soloists and a high boomed MKH50 for depth and width.
Because we were literally running from one location to the next we recorded direct by cables into the camera and partly mixed on site I camera and partly in post. I have to say the stereo on the camera that was receiving the 416 and the 50 sounded amazing and the music’s director enjoyed plugging her own headphones in to listen.
The quality of performance was really very high and it was a pleasure to record and then listen to and hear back during the many hours of post-production. Sadly we can’t show you anything for Safeguarding reasons.