Press

 

04.03.2002 - Los Angeles, California

Wizards and elves and dwarfs (and Neumann)

When John Kurlander was hired to record the orchestral score for the hotly anticipated "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, he purchased three Neumann M 150 large diaphragm tube condenser microphones to serve as the three principle microphones in his Decca Tree. The archetype and undisputed heavyweight champion of fantasy novels, the "Lord of the Rings" series marshaled Hollywood's best and brightest to transform the written word to a cinematic journey of unparalleled splendor. "Fellowship of
the Ring" has already made a grand appearance at theaters, while the two remaining installations loom on the horizon.


Independent film scoring mixer, John Kurlander, recording the orchestral score for "Lord of the Rings" with three Neumann M 150s as principle Decca Tree mics and KM 184s as spot mics.

Kurlander recorded the score for "Fellowship" and will record the rest of the trilogy as well. He got a colorful start to his career, working as assistant engineer on the Beatles' Abbey Road. He continued working at the famous studio for 29 years, rising through the ranks to eventually become Chief Balance Engineer for the studio and Chief Classical Engineer for EMI Records. Today, Kurlander operates out of Hollywood as an independent film-scoring mixer.

In April 2001 the first recording session took place in New Zealand with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in Wellington Town Hall. Originally slated as a preview score for the Cannes Film Festival, the 1/2-hour New Zealand recordings made it into the final feature as well. Because the score is traditional and devoid of electronic instruments, Kurlander opted for an equally traditional Decca Tree microphone arrangement. The only embellishments were surround microphones and a minimum of spot microphones.

He used his three new Neumann M 150s as the principle Decca Tree microphones. Two Neumann TLM 50s served as wides (or "outriggers" in his British vernacular), and two more TLM 50s served as surround sound microphones. Neumann KM 184s spot mic'd the woodwinds, harp and bass section. DPA 4006s covered the percussion. This elegant microphone arrangement fed Kurlander's stack of Avalon microphone preamplifiers. The pre amps went straight to ProTools.

In September and October 2001, Kurlander recorded the bulk of the movie's score with the London Philharmonic in Watford Town Hall, Watford, England. Much of the now defunct CTS studio's equipment is now installed at Watford, affording him the wonderful opportunity to insert Prism ADA-8 converters, a Neve Capricorn console, and a Sony PCM-3348HR digital recorder into the signal chain in place of the ProTools in New Zealand. The microphone complement and configuration was largely unchanged from the New Zealand session. Additional sessions took place around the same time at Abbey Road and AIR Lyndhurst.

Kurlander came to own his Neumann M150s based on his extensive experience with vintage microphones. He has a considered view of the benefits and detractions of using vintage equipment. At Abbey Road, he had access to one of the greatest microphone collections in the world. Among the various treasures that would make any engineer's jaw hit the floor were sixteen (yes, sixteen!) Neumann M 50 tube condensers. He and his peers organized them by serial number into sets of three that worked well together. Depending on availability and other engineers' requirements, he knew he could always grab one of those sets to record balanced, detailed, orchestral tracks.

Sadly, Kurlander's bank in California had just ended their special "get-16-vintage-Neumann-M 50s-when-you-open-a-new-account" offer the month before he moved to the states. He had to face facts. It was going to be very (very) difficult to purchase a matched set of three M 50s. Knowing how hard they had worked at Abbey Road to select sets of three from sixteen, how hard would it be to obtain three that worked well together from the used market? Very hard. Few come up for sale, and when they do, it's "take it or leave it."

He recalled a similar experience he had with ribbon microphones: "A few years ago, I purchased a brand new recreation of a vintage ribbon microphone. I was impressed. I thought, 'I'd rather have two reproduction AEA 44s that sound the same than try to find a matched pair of original 44s.'" So when Neumann created the M 150 in the spirit of their original M 50, the same principle applied. He could get three microphones that were perfectly matched and in perfect condition.

The reliability of new microphones over old microphones further sealed his decision. "In addition to phenomenal sound, we need reliability in this business," Kurlander noted. "When you're dealing with the massive costs of huge orchestras and choirs, if a vintage mic goes down and you don't have a spare, or if your spare doesn't match the rest of the mics, you'll be throwing money away."

While the Neumann M 150 is not a recreation of the M 50 in the strictest sense, it's built on the same principles and shares the M 50s unique polar pattern. At low frequencies, it's omni-directional. However, as frequency increases, directionality increases. Having worked with both M 50s and M 150s, Kurlander is more than happy to obtain that classic Neumann focus in a perfectly matched, perfectly reliable set of M 150s.

Neumann's award winning line of microphones has set the standard in the industry since 1928. In 1999, Neumann received the prestigious Technical Grammy(r) for their 70 years of innovation in microphone design and contribution to the music industry. A continuing commitment to provide innovative, technically refined products and engineering solutions of proven quality ensures that Neumann's stature will remain unassailable.

NEUMANN
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(860) 434-5220, Fax (860) 434-3148
http://www.neumannusa.com

Contact

Karl Winkler, Director, Marketing Communications
kwinkler@neumannusa.com, (860) 434-5220