Decca Tree, Ex. G, Full Section of Violins, Rear Desk Leading

TOR / ODESSA Montreal / Subject 1 / Anatomy of a Mix / Decca Tree / Example G

In this excerpt, the rearmost stand of players has been given explicit instructions to lead the section. As noted in the text accompanying the spot microphone submix, the section as a whole is playing noticeably quieter than when the first stand was given either explicit or implicit instructions to lead. As all excerpts have been roughly level matched, it will not be apparent upon listening in this format. What is apparent is that the violin section as a whole is playing slower and that the jetting that was so prominent in the previous iteration of this subject has decreased. The concentration of energy towards the front of the section in Subject 4F has been replaced by a more even and less dynamic stereo image, although occasionally the hall still pulls to the right. As the Decca Tree array consists of three omnidirectional microphones ("A" on the left, "B" on the right and "C" for center) placed in a triangle formation, stereo mixes reproduced from this system tend to have a quite heavy center perspective (due to the "C" microphone) which doesn't allow for the image of the musicians to be too decorrelated to the left and right.