For both the pre-records and live event, microphones from Royer Labs and Mojave Audio assumed a major role at the 91st Academy Awards in February.
Emmy and Grammy award winning recording engineer, scoring mixer, and record producer Tommy Vicari, working in conjunction with his brother Danny, were tasked with audio responsibilities for this year’s show. Both for the pre-records and the live event, the Vicaris used a healthy assortment of microphones from both Royer and Mojave. These included Royer R-121s, R-122Vs, R-122 MKIIs, and an SF-24V, while the Mojave arsenal included MA-100s, MA-101s, and MA-200s. Both Tommy and Danny discussed the project and their preference for Mojave and Royer microphones.
“The pre-records for this year’s show took place at Capital Studios in Hollywood,” Danny reports. “As part of this effort, we used two R-122 MKII ribbon mics to capture French Horn, with the back of the mic positioned over the bells of the instruments, three R-122V ribbons on trumpets, three R-121 mics for the trombones, and two SF-24V stereo ribbons—one each for brass and woodwinds. On the Mojave side of the equation, we used five MA-200s and six MA-101s. The MA-200s captured saxophones while the MA-101s were placed on the flutes and piccolos.”
When queried about the characteristics of these mics that made them so well-suited for this application, Tommy offered the following thoughts, “When you’re recording various styles of music, including classical, pop, big band, and rock, you really need microphones that can capture and handle extremely loud music and very soft music. With both Royer and Mojave mics, the sound quality remains the same, no matter the dynamic range.”
For the actual live show, the combination of Royer and Mojave mics was equally impressive. According to Danny, two Mojave Audio MA-100s were used for overheads on the drums while another two MA-100s captured a wide range of percussion instruments. Again, Mojave MA-101 mics were on flute and piccolo as well as six MA-101s for the saxophones. On the Royer side, three R-122V mics captured the trombones, three R-121s captured the trumpets while another three R-121 ribbons were used on the three French Horns.
