After Dark Presents和 LEWITT

[LEWITT]告诉我们一些有关“After Dark Presents”背后的理念？

[丹尼尔马库斯·克拉克]After Dark 是一系列的使用通常不习惯于音乐会的空间活动。上个赛季我们进行了六场表演，利用一切从隐藏的树林到被遗弃的学校。这是一个有趣的项目，所有我们用有趣的方式挑选声乐表演的艺人的行为-是可以玩不插电或轻微放大 - 但使用乐曲和作曲创造不同的东西并且这在目前流行音乐的总体事件中是独一无二的。

[LEWITT]你是怎么想出的这个主意？

[丹尼尔马库斯·克拉克]在德文郡有一个被称为达廷顿庄园的地方，一个漫长而又令人惊叹的承载艺人历史的地方，我们受邀而来并进行了一系列的活动。我们（丹尼尔和迷幻作者贝卡吉尔）认为，这不仅仅是传统的使用场馆，这将是多么美妙的利用达汀顿庄园不得不提供的无人可及的不寻常的空间。

这个空间是如此的有活力和特色，我们希望他们能够影响我们挑选行为的那种。所以，每一个活动是围绕程序化空间而非空间被行为所选。

[LEWITT]LEWITT麦克风在活动中扮演什么角色？

[丹尼尔马库斯·克拉克]当我们开始认为活动变得清晰-因为行为的质量和节目的亲切自然，音质是非常重要的。此外我们也希望每个捕捉的行为在一些更不寻常的空间，太小，有一个观众和的现场会议，所以我们开始的想法黑暗礼物会议之后。当我们遇到LEWITT话筒来到我们意识到他们真的为我们完美的匹配。其可用性意味着我们可以在非常快的时间，得到非常非常好的声音，并为工程师无形的，录音师与行为。因为麦克风有这样的低噪底，我们没有必要担心，他们有这样的透明的声音，我们可以只捕捉到演出的艺术家们打算他们！

[LEWITT] What recording techniques did you use?

[Daniel Marcus Clark] We made a decision early on that we would use only two mics so all of the After Dark Presents sessions just used two of the LEWITT LCT 550 microphones and we were experimenting with different ways to do that. Be it that each instrument was miked separately; or sometimes the guitar and voice would get miked separately, and sometimes we would using MS recording. So we were kind of using different techniques, based on the acts.

[LEWITT] Please tell us about your experiences with the LEWITT microphones at the After Dark Sessions.

[Daniel Marcus Clark] The sound engineer and I had a lot of fun figuring out the best way to bring the sound out with the limitations of just two microphones. If you see The Mountain Firework Company it was astonishing to me what you can do with just two mic’s. On both The Mountain Firework Company and Moulettes videos we were recording MS and the others were just using one mic or two mics. It seemed really straightforward, pretty quick and pretty seamless. For some of sessions the Mid Side technique didn’t work – mainly for the smaller acts or those in more challenging spaces acoustically, and so we miked them differently like in the This is the kit videos. We really had no problems, because the microphones were easy to work with.

[LEWITT] What microphone worked best on what?

[Daniel Marcus Clark] I know that a lot of the engineers we worked with completely fell for the MTP 940 CM and MTP 740 CM. They were so clear and so easy to work with and give such a true sound - both for vocals but also for instruments. For one of the sessions we miked up a celeste - a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard that has a very gentle, delicate sound and is an instrument that is used in the Sugar Plum Fairy most famously - and that worked incredibly well with the MTP 940 CM - it just gave so much detail and crispness. We were recording the After Dark Presents sessions with the LCT 550 and they were astonishing, because they have this zero db noise floor that means that you can really pick up very very quiet things and when it comes to the mix at the end, all you hearing is detail rather than the sound of the microphones themselves.       

[LEWITT] What was the recording chain?

[Daniel Marcus Clark] A lot of the time for the live sessions we were just running straight into a zoom recorder, so it was a very simple chain we were going for and it worked incredibly well. It meant we could turn up in a very remote location and the microphones were powered just by the recorder itself. So that was the setup we quite often used. Then we also tried it with some of the Universal Audio Preamps and that also worked incredibly well. We found that we got a lot more out of the microphones that way, but the versatility to being able to turn up in a space that has no power and no access to power and being able to use two very detailed condenser mics like the LCT 550’s was just incredible.

[LEWITT] Have any of the musicians commented on the microphones or their sound? 

[Daniel Marcus Clark] I think all of the artists have enjoyed the sound of the microphones that they’ve been using. I know that Adem, a famous producer and recordist who has produced an album for Philip Selway - the drummer of Radiohead - absolutely loved the sound of the MTP 740 CM vocal mic. But mainly it has been the sound engineers themselves and the people that were arranging the sessions that have being knocked for six by them. We had quite a lot of people asking where they can get LEWITT microphones, because of the quality of them. We had also quite a few sound engineers, who expressed an interest in replacing their SM 58’s with LEWITT microphones, because just sounded so much better!

Daniel asked some of the sound engineers about their experiences with the LEWITT microphones:

[Olly Wickes, DBS MUSIC] The mic's were a joy to use during the After Dark events. It's always a bit of a gamble using something you are unfamiliar with for the first time but I genuinely impressed with the entire range. Build quality was excellent and the microphones seemed very robust. The intimate nature of the events called for honest, transparent and detailed microphones in order for us to achieve fully authentic sound reinforcement of the sources on stage. The detail of the condenser vocal mic's in particular were incredible and you could have heard a pin drop in the room with how silent they were. I was able to achieve a lot of gain before feedback, which really helped with the quality of the recordings whilst not compromising the integrity of the sound in the pa or monitors. I'd happily use these microphones again and would love to see them more widespread in the industry.

[Jimi Stewart - CAPE KHOBOI] We used a pair of LCT 550’s for a bunch of different applications and they sounded fantastic. Warm and clear in every situation from acoustic guitars to tenor sax. Couldn't recommended these any more highly. I can see them becoming a studio staple for years to come.

[LEWITT]  Any tips and tricks? 

[Daniel Marcus Clark] Just to not be bound by what others have done before and to have fun with your imaginations and see what is possible! In terms of the sound for the events we had quite a lot dreaming time around what the sonic character of each event would be and how they would feel. That really helped I think. But tips for other people - I think the main thing is to allow artists to be able to focus on what they do well and that comes from being invisible and being good at what you do and that was the great thing about working with LEWITT microphones - because we didn’t have to worry about the technology, we could just focus on making the artists feel comfortable. 

[LEWITT] Anything else you want to say?

[Daniel Marcus Clark] As well as making great microphones it was such a pleasure to deal with all of you LEWITT Guys and it feels like you’re very open to artists and the artistic journey! The impressions I get is that you are a technical company that are making microphones for people to be creative with. 

Outside of the After Dark Presents Sessions I used the LCT 550 for voice overs to try them out and I found they worked incredibly well. They are so transparent and  detailed and the clients all came back and were saying how great they sounded and how happy they were with the recordings. I was running the LCT 550 directly into an Apogee Duet and in an Mac.

[LEWITT]  Are you planning to continue the After Dark Sessions? 

[Daniel Marcus Clark] We’re planning a next season - starting hopefully in the spring.

After Dark Presents: