At the October 2017 Audio Engineering Society’s national convention in New York, HEAR Now presented a special ‘reading’ of Shakespeare MacBeth Act IV, Scene 1, while at the same time shaping some staging around a binaural microphone head, that plays with proximity, intensity, and arrangement. The result was a combination of live theatre-going and full-cast audio drama, though in a highly immersive sense, since it sounded to the listener as if they are sitting center stage, atop the very cauldron containing the witches’ brew.
The performance, inspired in part by the recent Tony winning Broadway show “The Encounter,” featured a Soundman dummy “head” with 2 DPA mono omni-directional capsules. The co-directors took special care to create the actor’s staging around the binaural microphone head, which considered the proximity, intensity, and location arrangement. Sound design elements were added to the mix to compliment the “listening” experience.
The result was a combination of live theater-going and full-cast audio drama, though a highly audio immersive sense, it sounded to the listener as if they were sitting center stage, around the very cauldron containing the witches’ brew. In some ways similar to the Broadway show, while at the same time unique for the presentation of “audio fiction.” As this program was broadcast/streamed live during the performance, care had to also be taken to maintain the performance for the broadcast stream.
Ray Archie mixed the event. The audience listened via wireless headphones (provided by Sennheiser). The sound effects were all triggered live using Maschine. The performance was recorded on Logic Pro X.
The original performance was in Kansas City at the annual HearNow festival. You can read more about that here: http://www.hearnowfestival.org/audio-tonight1.html
– AES New York 2017
– AES New York 2017
