CE Exeter Cathedral: Wed, 13th November 2019 [L[

[Vox Humana]

My guess is that unless you go in quite close the organ would tend to swamp the choir in a lot of the music.

I'm not at all sure about that. It's not a very loud instrument. In years of yore I accompanied services at Exeter on a few occasions and one of the most glorious things about that organ was how much of it you could use without any danger of drowning the choir - not far short of full organ at ff climaxes. I don't know any other cathedral organ where you can use so much (which helped to make it one of my favourites). The last service I played there was a big civic service for the Queen's Golden Jubilee in 2002. It was held in the nave and the cathedral was packed to the seams. For such a large congregation the organ was barely adequate - and my goodness, that minstrel gallery chorus was needed. Ah, happy times! So far as I know the recent rebuild didn't made the instrument any louder, though it's certainly somewhat different - a bit clearer and brighter, I think.

[mw963]

I'd agree with you VH when it's a case of being there in person. But microphones have a funny habit of not producing the same balance as that of a combination of ears and mental processing....

[Ein Heldenleben]

Thanks for the very detailed explanation - I am a great mic counter as well! . It sounds as though the balance was a fair reflection of the sound as experienced listening in the choir . But having listened in the choir a few years back I don’t remember being able to pick out individual treble voices but then ears aren’t the same as microphones and visual perception modifies aural perception.I guess forty years ago the whole thing would have been done with a couple of coincident pairs and the odd extra mic . Presumably the mic array yesterday featured a couple of sound-fields or have things moved on ?

[Ein Heldenleben]

I'd agree with you VH when it's a case of being there in person. But microphones have a funny habit of not producing the same balance as that of a combination of ears and mental processing....

We have cross posted . Yes that’s absolutely right .

[mw963]

Thanks for the very detailed explanation - I am a great mic counter as well! . It sounds as though the balance was a fair reflection of the sound as experienced listening in the choir . But having listened in the choir a few years back I don’t remember being able to pick out individual treble voices but then ears aren’t the same as microphones and visual perception modifies aural perception.I guess forty years ago the whole thing would have been done with a couple of coincident pairs and the odd extra mic . Presumably the mic array yesterday featured a couple of sound-fields or have things moved on ?

Well certainly a co-incident pair (or two) and a spaced pair would probably have been the starting point in yester-year, and with good reason, reliable, detailed, and mono-compatible. No, no Soundfields, I couldn't make out what the mics were, too high up and too dark.

[gradus]

I enjoyed the service but was surprised by the Finzi which sounded extremely tricky.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Thanks. Thinking about it I guess with a live broadcast they would have doubled up on the mikes thus creating the impression of multi mic overload! don’t suppose much thought is given to mono compatibility now with the the exception of broadcasts intended for global relay ie King’s at Xmas on the worlds service ..mind you I have a feeling that a lot of that is internet only .As you can tell I am a bit out of touch but I do remember being told that recording a choir plus organ in a Cathedral acoustic is very demanding. From googling I see that Soundfields are still in use and that an early experiment with a Calrec tetrahedral array took place in Merton College in 1971 ...

[ardcarp]

I agree entirely about the qualities of Exeter organ as an accompanying instrument. You sit to play it [for those who don't know] up on the screen and on the south side of the main case. In theory, it seems far-removed from the choirstalls, but in practice it is 'easy'...perhaps not the right word...to feel contact with the singers. And there's the usual closed-circuit TV screen.

[mw963]

re my remarks above about the lack of an appearance by anyone from the BBC before the broadcast: I have now gathered that it wasn't possible (for a good reason) for the pre-show talk to take place, so I withdraw completely my previous observation about Auntie and her manners!

[Alison]

I have a soft spot for Bullock in D , beautifully rendered on this occasion.

Plenty of indefinible spirituality around this broadcast.