Telarc's Michael Bishop Wins Sixth Grammy For Best Engineered Classical Album
CLEVELAND, OHIO: Telarc recording engineer Michael Bishop's rare blend of technical aptitude and musical intuition has earned him his sixth Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Classical. Although the Academy recognized his recording of conductor Paavo JŠrvi and the Cincinnati Symphony's performances of Elgar's "Enigma Variations" and Britten's "The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra" and "Four Sea Interludes" for the Grammy, anyone who has listened carefully to his work will realize that this is but one gem among many.
A reflective and unduly modest craftsperson, Bishop recognizes the importance of his tools and has slowly built a collection of truly superb equipment that works in consonance. "Almost every classical piece I engineer goes direct to stereo and direct to surround," he said. "So when I record, I'm making decisions that directly impact the final master. There's no second guessing and no safety net. Every piece of equipment in the chain is critical. The tools that I use are like ingredients in a time-tested recipe - they work very well together."
Since the mixes are committed to the hard drive at the time of recording, Bishop's ability to hear every fine distinction and shade of timbre is paramount. Whether at home in Cleveland or on the road, he relies on five ATC 150 midfield monitors. The highest of the high-end speakers, ATC 150s are often found in mastering studios. However, Bishop reasons that the qualities that make them ideal in a mastering studio also make them ideal in critical direct recording.
"The extreme resolution of the ATC 150s reveals the slightest shift in mic position or the subtle effects of changing atmospheric conditions," he explained. "At the same time, they're very musical and fun to listen to, even after long hours of tracking." Since a single ATC 150 weighs nearly 200 pounds, the fact that all five travel with him says something about their indispensability. "Stage crews are seldom happy to see us pack in with half a ton of speakers," he laughed, "but that's what I need to have to do my job properly."
In addition to revealing the nuance and magic of a performance, Bishop's guiding philosophy is to capture spatially engaging, three-dimensional sound. "The last thing I want is an orchestra plastered against the front speakers with ambience rattling around in the rear," he laughed. "I need a good bridge between the front and the rear channels, a three dimensional image that places the listener in the center of a very real experience." Consistent with this goal, his stereo signal originates with a Neumann KU 100 binaural dummy head, and his surround signal originates with a set of strategically-placed Sennheiser MKH-series condenser microphones and a Royer SF-24 stereo ribbon microphone.
As might be expected, Bishop keeps his signal chain short and minimal. He uses the same Upstate Audio custom mic preamps that are currently being used by Al Schmitt, Chuck Ainlay, and a few others. From the preamps on stage, the signals enter a "heavily modified" Studer 962 via the insert returns. Custom busses allow him to mix for stereo and surround simultaneously. Both masters are recorded on a Sonoma DSD workstation with EMM Labs DSD converters.
Since Bishop uses no spot microphones, a crucial component of his successfully engineered recordings is the feedback that he gives to the conductor. "The conductor is entirely responsible for the balance between instruments," he explained. "For the Grammy project, Paavo never questioned what he was hearing on the ATC 150s. He came in after the first take, listened for changes he wanted to make, and went back out and delivered on those changes. That sort of beneficial feedback would be impossible if the monitors colored the recording. Thus, the ATC 150s benefit everyone who I'm collaborating with in ways that are much deeper than most people appreciate."
In all, from start to finish, the very best tools in the hands of a master resulted in an exceptional recording.
ATC's drivers are manufactured in-house to exacting tolerances and are legendary for their many design innovations, such as the innovative SL magnet system and the company's renowned Soft Dome mid-range driver, which achieves exceptionally broad and even dispersion to produce a flat response anywhere in the room. Situated in Aston Down in rural Gloucestershire, England, ATC was established in London in 1974 by acoustics engineer and musician, Bill Woodman.
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