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5.20.2001 JAZZ FINDS NEW HOME IN SANTA FE WITH NEUMANN AND TRUE SYSTEMS   OLD LYME, CONNECTICUT: Move over, New Orleans. Step aside, Chicago. For serious jazz aficionados, Santa Fe, New Mexico, was the place to be from October 6th through the 22nd. The first annual Santa Fe Jazz and International Music Festival, sponsored by the Open Arts Foundation of Santa Fe, kept the 400-seat James A. Little Theater groovin' for 16 straight days with 34 concerts by some of today's premier contemporary jazz artists and world musicians. While the music was provided by recording luminaries like Gary Burton, Dave Holland and Bill Frisell, it was Neumann microphones and True Precision 8 pre-amps that helped bring the performances to life. Much of the Santa Fe Jazz and International Music Festival was recorded for airing on National Public Radio's Jazzset series featuring Branford Marsalis. Bruce Dunlap, executive director of the Open Arts Foundation of Santa Fe and recording artist on Chesky Records, handled recording duties for the festival with bassist and film composer Dan Kolton. Dunlap and Kolton selected the True Precision 8 pre-amps after using them for the past year in their recording studio. "I wanted to capture the same type of pristine signal chain at the festival as I use in the studio," Dunlap said. The True Audio Precision 8 provides eight channels of transformerless mic preamps, two of which can be used as direct instrument inputs with an impressive frequency response of 1Hz to 500kHz for robust, tight lows and clear, airy highs. As for the miking applications, Dunlap and Kolton employed an array of Neumann mics to capture the true essence of each individual artist's performance. For piano, a pair of Neumann 193s were used - sometimes mounted in the instrument, sometimes on the outside. Guitars were miked primarily with the new Neumann KMS 105 live performance mics. "Because several of the musicians play acoustic guitar very softy," Dunlap said, "we needed high feedback rejection from the microphone. The KMS 105 with its high rejection fit the bill perfectly and sounded great." Neumann 184 cardioid units were also used on guitars for their warm, rich sound. Two Neumann TLM 103 diaphragm microphones were positioned in a straightforward application, overhead the drum kits to provide the warm sound Dunlap and Kolton strive for when recording jazz percussion. Finally, miniature omnidirectional Neumann 183s were used to capture the ambient noise from the front of the stage and the back of the hall. "I've been a Neumann user for 25 years," Dunlap said. "Often, in a live sound situation, you can't use the microphone you really want. You always have to compromise between eliminating feedback and capturing decent sound. At this event, we wanted listeners to hear what was really happening onstage - and that's exactly what Neumann and True Precision delivered." The NPR jazz sessions featuring the Santa Fe festival will air in winter/spring 2001. Similar to the Austin City Limits concept, planners of the Santa Fe Jazz and International Music Festival are hopeful that the event's success will help them draw musicians to the area to live, record and learn with support from the foundation. Santa Fe is already famous for the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and the Santa Fe Opera. The Open Arts Foundation of Santa Fe is a non-profit, artist-oriented organization dedicated to the development and presentation of extraordinary musical talent on an international scale. www.sennheiserusa.com www.neumannusa.com |
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