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Michael C. Morgan
Audio Producer/Engineer

DPA Mics Help Provide Entrée to NPR Performance Today
Though he's had numerous live concert recordings broadcast on 90.7 WMFE-FM's weekly Central Florida in Concert series, only recently was the program's audio producer, Michael Morgan, able to capture the ears of National Public Radio's "Performance Today" engineers.

On May 18, 28 and 29, NPR broadcast two pieces with pianist Leon Bates that Morgan recorded in early March at The Bach Festival held in the 10,000 square foot great nave of Knowles Memorial Chapel on the campus of Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida. Morgan, who is also a freelance audio engineer and opera and recital vocalist, attributes at least part of the "break-through"

"I had the opportunity to record Mendelssohn's Elijah, with full orchestra, chorus, and soloists," says Morgan, "a solo piano recital [Leon Bates], the Bach Double Piano Concerto, and one of the Bach Brandenburg Concertos. For all these recordings, I used the same pair of microphones - the DPA 3532-S. Try doing that with your favorite mic!"

Miking the Steinway
For the Bates' piano recital, Morgan found his challenge in miking the nine-foot Steinway concert grand. "Capturing a coherent piano sound along with the instrument's room decay required some experimentation," he says. He mounted the mics on the stereo bar, six feet from the piano into the hall, and twelve feet above the stage. "The microphone heads were located on the same plane as the fully opened piano lid, resulting in the lid being removed from the sonic equation, and a perfect balance between the piano and the room."

Morgan describes the greatest strength of the 4041-S - which is how the DPA designates the mic in the singular - as being its extremely revealing nature. "It takes much less time to find the right 'spot' with this mic. You can easily hear

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