
Array of Microphones Deliver Total Transparency and Unrivaled Natural Sound for Virtual Performances Featuring School's Students, Faculty, Staff and Alumni.
DePaul University, the largest Catholic university in the United States, recently presented its 14th annual Christmas at DePaul holiday celebration as a virtual event. Long before the semester began, the school's administration knew it would need to make some big changes if the Christmas show was to safely go on during these unprecedented times. With some ingenuity and an assist from DPA Microphones, the school found a way to host the event virtually.
Leading into the school year, DePaul University's Director of Operations & Events, Melissa Grady, knew it was going to be hard to gauge what would be possible in a COVID world. We had to make the call very early that we were not going to have an in-person event this year, she says. The show's artistic director, Tony Peluso, and production manager, Jamie Davis, both alumni of DePaul, worked closely with the university to create a plan that would allow us to pre-record our show. While the show looks different than it has in the past, we were still able to use the exceptional talents of our students, faculty, staff and alumni while following COVID protocols to make Christmas at DePaul a reality this year. Dan Steinman, one of the professors in the University Sound Recording Technology Department, was instrumental in making the show a success.
To record and present this year's show, Steinman knew he was going to have to rely on different equipment and setups than previous years. Since the performers were recorded in their own separate dorm rooms, I needed microphones that didn't add any coloration and delivered an exceptionally natural sound, he says. As a professional audio engineer, I am very familiar with DPA's products and have used some of their 4011 mics for live and recorded applications in the past. I knew the DPA mics would be an excellent solution for this unique situation, and we deployed them for all of the strings, flute, and percussion instruments.
For the production, Steinman employed one DPA 4006 Omnidirectional Microphone on each double bass and the tympani; one 4011 Cardioid Microphone on each cello and the flute, as well as two on the harp; a 2011 Twin Diaphragm Cardioid Microphone on the acoustic guitar; 4060 Miniature Omnidirectional Microphones on two violins and one viola; and two of the 4015 Wide Cardioid Microphones for percussion.
The DPA mics worked just as expected, adds Steinman. I selected the 4060s for the violins to minimize the accumulation of room tone when the string instruments are layered in multiple passes. I wanted the miniature mics to serve as a contact mic to ensure that the room didn't get in the way. I chose the 4006 for bass and tympani to achieve a more consistent sound, as well as for the double bass to reduce the potential for tone variation. No matter how often you tell students how to aim their instrument at a microphone, they re going to move. Also, the development of the
sound from the tympani and the double bass is a difficult thing to capture. The tympani with that 4006 sounds like you are in the room next to musician, I could not be happier with the way that recording turned out.
Part of the difficulty of recording the musicians stemmed from the need to utilize a vacant dormitory, where each musician had their own personal recording space and equipment setup. The dorm being a large concrete building and not exactly built to be a studio at least gave us one advantage in that every room sounded the same, explains Steinman. We had three days of recording instrumentals in the dorms, followed by about eight days of filming with the singers who sang to the pre-recorded music. For the instrumental recordings we used click-tracks along with the live audio mix, which everyone heard through their headphones, in addition to the live conductor providing cues for the musicians via a virtual platform.
Steinman was in one room and the conductor, Jeff Schweitzer, and arranger, Tom Matta, were each in their own rooms. We utilized audio talkbacks to ensure smooth communication between takes, adds Steinman. Aside from each musician having their own unique headphone mix, there was also a sound mix fed to the on-site production manager, Jamie Davis, and the director, Tony Peluso, who was based in Orlando via a high-quality audio stream.
In addition to the 15-scene Christmas at DePaul concert itself, the recorded production also includes filmed opening and closing remarks from the University's President and his wife, using 4060 miniature mics as lavaliers. A narration of the Christmas story by two of the University's theater students, which is weaved throughout the production, was captured by DePaul alum, Joe Hampton, using the 4060s and a DPA 4017 Shotgun Microphone with a wireless pack, to ensure social distancing. The 4060 and 4017 are very natural sounding in terms of voice capture, concludes Steinman.
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
19/11/2025
Calrec gives Phoenix Broadcast Solutions its full support in strategic multi-year enterprise partnership New Singapore OB company invests in Calrec technology f...
19/11/2025
October brings a larger audience in front of TV screens. The cooler autumn weather and the continuation of new programming schedules brought increases in both t...
19/11/2025
IRVING, Texas Nexstar Media Group and Tegna filed applications on Nov. 18 with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) seeking its consent to transfer broad...
19/11/2025
Vitec has acquired Datapath, a developer of real-time video processing for large-scale video walls, AVoIP content distribution and KVM control in mission-critic...
19/11/2025
NEVADA CITY, Calif. Telestream has introduced ARGUS Version 2.3, which introduces Live Look, a feature that lets operators inspect live and on-demand streams vi...
19/11/2025
STAMFORD, Conn. and NEW YORK Charter Communications, Inc. has announced a major deal with Amazon Web Services (AWS) that establishes AWS as one of Charters stra...
19/11/2025
TOKYO Atomos has announced a major firmware update that brings integrated camera control to the Ninja TX GO and Ninja TX its new CFexpress-based monitor-recor...
19/11/2025
Berklee's Signature Series Reimagines the Musical and Visual Artistry of Col...
19/11/2025
PlayBox Neo departed the NAB Show New York 2025 on a high note. The company's all-new PlayBox Neo Suite made a splash on the show floor, drawing strong inte...
19/11/2025
AAVBR (American Audio Visual Baton Rouge), a leading full-service event production company serving Louisiana and the Gulf Coast region, has enhanced its product...
19/11/2025
In its mission to deliver live event services combining advanced engineering with a creative approach to captivating live sports and entertainment experiences, ...
19/11/2025
NEW YORK Short-form vertical video has exploded across platforms like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, but a new survey commissioned by Media.net, a provider of c...
19/11/2025
NEW YORK YES Network, the regional sports network home of the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Nets, and CAMB.AI have struck a partnership they said will leverage ...
19/11/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has issued detailed guidance on filings that were disrupted by the government shutdown. While many of those fil...
19/11/2025
NEW YORK The popularity of NFL games is largely responsible for continued seasonal momentum in TV viewership into October (measured Sept. 29-Oct. 26), according...
19/11/2025
DirecTV has announced that its MyFree DirecTV streaming service has added seven new channels. Those include four sports services, NBA FAST, Red Bull TV, DAZN Ri...
19/11/2025
SURREY, U.K. Mark Roberts Motion Control (MRMC) has launched Flair Bridge, a compact device that transforms how operators control the company's motion-contr...
19/11/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission, which is continuing to rapidly ramp up its operations after the end of the federal government shutdown, has se...
19/11/2025
IRVING, Texas Nexstar Media Group and Tegna filed applications on Nov. 18 with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) seeking its consent to transfer broad...
19/11/2025
November 19 2025, 08:00 (PST) BAY AREA HOST COMMITTEE AND DOLBY PARTNER TO DELIVER IMMERSIVE FAN EXPERIENCES
During the Week of Football's Biggest Game...
19/11/2025
Michael D. Higgins: Ireland's Ninth President features RT Archives footage and interviews across seven decades
Watch Wednesday 19 November at 9:35pm on RT...
19/11/2025
Scripps Research scientists receive $1.1 million to advance AI modeling for HIV vaccine development New AI system helps scientists rapidly pinpoint the most pro...
18/11/2025
Independent media across Central America are operating under intensifying financial pressure, yet there is a clear appetite for models that can sustain both ind...
18/11/2025
NBA Debuts New Comms Infrastructure and Systems for RefereesTwo-phase rollout is intended to improve game flow, enhance officiating accuracyBy Dan Daley, Audio ...
18/11/2025
Platinum White Paper: How Aggreko Delivers Certainty For Broadcasters On The Wor...
18/11/2025
Kiswe Extends DTC Products With Kiswe Core Cloud-Based Tool for Distributing Con...
18/11/2025
Spanish Basketball Federation partners with ScorePlay to power digital transform...
18/11/2025
HBS selects BBright encoders and decoders to connect ST 2110 live production wor...
18/11/2025
Ashes to Ashes: Inside TNT Sports' hybrid and maverick' production plan...
18/11/2025
SVG All-Stars: Mimi Fotopoulos, Director, Talent and Production Operations, Tenn...
18/11/2025
SVG LIVE! Conference Explores the Tech Side of Sports and Entertainment ConvergenceLive sports and music productions increasingly share gear and infrastructureB...
18/11/2025
LPGA Ups Its Production Game in 2026 With 50% More Cameras, SSMO's & Drones,...
18/11/2025
ESPN's Dunk the Halls Real-Time Animated NBA Game Set to Return for Christma...
18/11/2025
By Jessica Herndon
When Chilean filmmakers Diego C spedes and Giancarlo Nasi ar...
18/11/2025
Earlier this year, we announced the BAPE x SPOTIFY x SYNA by Central Cee (aka Cench) capsule collection, a collaboration that blends sound, style, and street c...
18/11/2025
Our mission to make Spotify the ultimate home for all things audio continues. St...
18/11/2025
SGL Carbon and the renowned Link ping University inaugurated an advanced coating...
18/11/2025
CANBERRA, Australia, Nov. 18, 2025 - L3Harris Technologies (NYSE: LHX) has launched a new, next-generation software device called NETCASTER - the NETwork Contr...
18/11/2025
Pictured are L3Harris ISR President Jason Lambert and Waleid Al Mesmari, EDGE President-Space & Cyber Technologies, signing with Carlo Igniades, L3Harris Region...
18/11/2025
During October, streaming's share of TV viewing in Mexico settled at 23.7%, a marginal shift of -0.8 share points from the previous month.
Disclaimer: YUMI...
18/11/2025
Broadcast Builds On Lead Over Cable, Driven by Football and Drama Programming Ga...
18/11/2025
CINCINNATI E.W. Scripps has issued a statement responding to news that Sinclair has acquired about 8.2% of the outstanding class A (nonvoting) shares in the com...
18/11/2025
TYSONS, Va. Tegna has announced that its shareholders have voted overwhelmingly to approve the proposed $6.2 billion merger with Nexstar Media Group....
18/11/2025
NEW YORK Short-form vertical video has exploded across platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, but a new survey commissioned by Media.net, a provider of ...
18/11/2025
SHENZHEN, China DJI today unveiled the Osmo Action 6, an all-in-one action camera featuring a variable aperture with a range from f/2.0 to f/4.0, the company...
18/11/2025
In the high-stakes world of film sound, there's no room for second chances. When an actor whispers a line with the weight of an entire scene, or lets loose ...
18/11/2025
Sonnet Technologies is having a sale on a selection of popular products, including a Thunderbolt 4 dock, an eGPU chassis, SATA and M.2 SSD PCIe cards, and mor...
18/11/2025
Amagi, a cloud-based SaaS technology solutions provider for broadcast and streaming TV, today announced the launch of 4Fangs, a new Free Ad-Supported Streaming ...
18/11/2025
Women In Media (WiM) announces its honorees for the 2025 Holiday Toast. The annual celebration recognizes legendary creatives whose work uplifts and inspires th...