A large quantity of DPA microphones have been used to record the soundtrack for a new film production of Hans Christian Andersen’s classic fairytale, The Wild Swans. The production has a strong link with the Danish royal family, as the Queen of Denmark, Margrethe II, worked on the backdrops and visual designs for the film, using an imaginative technique incorporating decoupage and paintings which, combined with green screen technology, create elaborate and dramatic film sets. The Queen Margrethe, known for her work on many stage productions, also designed the film’s costumes.
The film score, written and directed by Sven Skipper, was played by the Odense Symphonic Orchestra, a fitting tribute to the great Danish storyteller who was born in Odense.
DPA’s Mikkel Nymand was asked to collaborate on the musical production by Peter Juul Kristensen, who runs Clear Production. Kristensen rented the Pyramix/Digital Audio Denmark rack from DPA’s in-house studio, together with a large number of mics, and worked with Nymand on the recording, music master edits and 5.1 mixes. An S5c surround mount with 5015 (five DPA 4015-TLs) were used as the main surround array, with two 4015-TL wide cardioids as outrigger mics,. For miking the instruments, 4021 compact cardioids were used for violins, flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon; 4015-TLs for viola, cello and tuba; 4006-TL omnis for double basses, trumpets, trombone, timpani and percussion and 4011-TL cardioids for horns and percussion.
“As a long time user of DPA products, I was never in doubt that this unique event should be captured with DPA microphones and nothing else,” says Kristensen. “I was particularly impressed with the new 4015-TL, a superb mic that does the unthinkable: it combines the rich sound quality of an omni mic with the advantages of a cardioid.
“When recording a score, I find it very important to have a certain ‘acoustic distance’ to the music without losing the essential information, so that when mixed into the film, the track still has a nice musical energy to it without getting in the way of the dialogue. DPA mics make that an easy job.”
Adds Nymand, “The music is mixed in 5.1 surround sound and the result is very rich, lyrical, expressive and dramatic. The sound is extremely detailed, with an unusually high resolution for film music.”
Directed by Danish stars Ghita Noerby and Peter Flinth, the film is due out in cinemas across Denmark this autumn.
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