Sound Reinforcement for Alvaro Sanchez and a Classical Harp

Alvaro is playing a Lyon & Healy Style 2000 Electroacoustic Harp. But I didn’t use the harp’s output signals, because one of the two channels was not working. Instead, I mic’d the harp with:

1. A Shure SM-81 right in front of one of the sound holes of the resonating cavity; you can see the microphone between Alvaro’s legs;
2. A RØDE NT2A about 1 metre away from the centre of the strings, at a shallow angle.

Mic #1 and mic #2 were mixed with a gain ratio of around 3:2. Eq for mic #1 was flat, while mic #2 had a bit of lift in the bass and treble. A modest amount of reverb was added. Alvaro’s voice was mic’d with a RØDE NT2A. Flat eq, some reverb. Other components in the signal chain:

• Soundcraft Ui12 mixer;
  
• REDGUM Black i120ENR integrated amplifier;
  
• Axis VoiceBox FLS loudspeakers.
  

As in the previous concert, Alvaro thought that he might need separate foldback, particularly for his voice. But once again, he found that this way of doing sound reinforcement completely eliminated the need for foldback.