SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH-- Every Sunday since 1929, the “Music and the Spoken Word” TV and radio broadcast has brought the Mormon Tabernacle Choir into audience‘s living rooms. The size of the group (the choir is made up of 360 members) and the performing space (the dome-shaped Tabernacle in Salt Lake City) make it difficult for Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Senior Audio Engineer Trent Walker to obtain an accurate surround mix. Using Holophone‘s® H2-PRO, Walker is able to truthfully capture the depth and dimension of the choir‘s live performances.
“The decision to use the Holophone H2-PRO for our broadcasts was based on our desire to have a realistic sound space,” Walker explains. “When we set up the H2-PRO for the first time, we were amazed at the spaciousness of the sound and the in-phase picture on the scope.”
The H2-PRO is hung upside down from the ceiling in the tabernacle. Its signal feeds into Millennia HV-3 preamps, then a Euphonix AD and into the core. The broadcast is mixed in Euphonix System 5 and monitored on Wilson Audio Watt/Puppy System 8 loudspeakers. As a single-point source, the Holophone is able to provide Walker and his crew with all the “audio height” that the Tabernacle naturally creates without the use of a multiple mic setup. Walker explains the H2-PRO has been a real asset during the broadcast which has a complex audio setup.
“We are using around 60 microphones to cover the broadcast and any help keeping a consistent sound stage is beneficial,” Walker continues. “The H2-PRO helps keep the sound of the Tabernacle consistent. The space has five to six seconds of reverb empty and drops to two to three seconds when full, making it important to bring in an ambient mic to give some consistency to our audio transmission.”
In addition to weekly broadcasts, the H2-PRO is being used to record the Tabernacle Choir for an upcoming CD. For more information on Holophone's products, visit www.holophone.com.
