'Drop after Drop' - Kamerorkest van het Noorden
Introduction to the project.
'Drop after Drop'
In Drop after Drop, Chamber Orchestra of the North presents three generations of Ukrainian composers who live daily with the actuality of today's war: Valentin Silvestrov (1937), Sviatoslav Lunyov (1964) and Maxim Shalygin (1985). With beautiful melodious music, they reflect on the terrible horrors of war, on the innocent victims of all wars. Drop after drop is performed in one stretch, immersing the listener in an ever-deepening meditation.
Kamerorkest van het Noorden led by Teodora Nedyalkova
Maxim Shalygin - conductor
Maryana Golovchenko - vocals
Nico de Rooij - lighting design
Kamerorkest van het Noorden
Kamerorkest van het Noorden, which translates to "Chamber Orchestra of the North," is a professional, young, international and dynamic ensemble. Founded in 2016, the chamber orchestra is led by Teodora Nedyalkova (cellist) based in Groningen, the largest city in the Northern Netherlands. The orchestra consists of strings and is sometimes joined by winds and percussion. The musicians usually play without a conductor so they are in tune with each other like members of a string quartet.
The Kamerorkest van het Noorden fills a void in the musical infrastructure in the Northern Netherlands. Using its international network to enrich the cultural life of the Northern Netherlands with high-quality concerts, giving the repertoire played a new contemporary context. The orchestra shapes concerts innovatively, encouraging audiences to listen to music more creatively. KvhN believes it is important to create current presentation forms consistent with 21st-century innovation. Their main goal is to share classical music - old and new - more engagingly with the younger generations and to create unforgettable and unique experiences for the experienced listener.
The orchestra's mission is to bring the beauty and honesty of music closer to the public by actively developing new forms of presentation and exploring new ways of collaboration. The Kamerorkest van het Noorden presents concert programs that are predominantly thematic. Contemporary social issues greatly influence their creative process.
Maxim Shalygin was previously a guest of the Chamber Orchestra of the North and wrote: “From the first minute I worked with the orchestra, I felt how deeply these young musicians experience the music. They compose each program with great love and create the ideal conditions for the music to penetrate the heart.'
Fine Tune Audio
Fine Tune Audio, with our expertise in audio and sound design, was tasked with on-site sound engineering and recording. We worked closely with the composer and orchestra, employing various techniques to enhance the concert's message and emotional impact.
Our concert approach
Working on audio from a live event is something completely different to audio on a radio commercial or album recorded in a studio. Taking into account room sound, the various instruments on stage and how they interact with each other is crucial to create the sound image you want.
The goal was to create an event recording of the concert with high quality visuals, and thus audio to match that. To make this a larger than life experience even when watching it on video, everything had to be of grand quality.
Gear and setup
To capture this unique event, we employed a variety of techniques and equipment. Firstly, we used a Decca tree setup, a common method for recording orchestras, and is very adaptable to different room spaces. This setup utilizes omnidirectional microphones arranged in a "T-shape" to create a stereo audio image. For this, we used Neumann KM183 microphones.
Secondly, we implemented an ORTF arrangement for a secondary set of microphones. Developed by the Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française (ORTF), this technique captures stereo recordings using two cardioid microphones. In our case, we used Neumann KM184s, positioned at a 110° angle to each other. This arrangement relies on the direction and timing of the sound to replicate the on-site stereo experience.
Finally, to ensure we captured the deep low-end frequencies, we placed an additional microphone near the double bass section.
Audio processing
The quality of the recording makes the post-processing much easier. However, a lot of the magic still happens in post. We naturally go in and subtly EQ the audio. This is to filter out sounds and frequencies that sound bad to the ear and thus compromise the full audio experience enjoyment.
For this recording we also used Soothe, the plugin, to do some parallell processing. Essentially, processing a duplicate of the sound source, then weaving and balancing that in with the original sound.
Since this is an orchestral performance, we already captured a bit of room sound, but for the purpose of this event recording we used Altiverb as well. This is a plugin that replicates, and allows us to apply room reverberation from other spaces. Using this plugin we can use a grand space such as Concertgebouw Amsterdam to make the audio experience get this desired "larger than life" feel.
Composers
Of course, we would have no music to record and process if the music wasn't written. The selected composers for this event were, as mentioned earlier, Valentin Silvestrov, Sviatoslav Lunyov, and Maxim Shalygin. Valentin Silvestrov, born in 1937 in Kyiv, is known for his emotionally textured and serene compositions. His piece, "Stille Musik," is a poignant example of his signature style. Sviatoslav Lunyov, born in 1964, also from Kyiv, creates music that often suspends time, with his work "Tristium" evoking the flowing and gradually widening Dnipro River.
Maxim Shalygin, born in 1985 in Kamianske (formerly Dniprodzerzhynsk), not only composed for the event but also took on the role of conductor. His compositions, such as "Drop after Drop" and "Lullaby," are known for their eloquence and emotional depth. As the conductor, Shalygin seamlessly blended his music with the orchestra, ensuring that each piece resonated deeply with the listeners​
