The Gala event contained a great deal many other works and features and covered in by the Orlando Sentinel’s music critic Matt Palm. “Four Dimensions” was, by far, not the most important event in the production. Only two rehearsals totalling about 40 minutes was given to this fairly complex work. 

Nevertheless, previous to the concert night, the highly professional production leaders, led by Darren Schnieder (audio) Vincent LePore (video), and  Mike Stewart (live mix) carefully planned, staged and rehearsed every aspect of the show. The audio was sent from the Venue to be recorded in the Audio Temple, connected via fiber. There, an SSL Duality Hybrid console sent the signal to ProTools at 24bit 48kHz. My Max DSP expert Mark Pinsky and I sent the additional 6 audio channels of electronic music from my Apogee Ensemble/laptop to the huge list of mic and line signals. Another aspect of rehearsal was the preparation of Nathan Selikoff’s accompanying video for the rear LED billboard. 

The performance had good energy, but, because of the limited rehearsal time, the orchestra was not fully prepared to deliver as an cohesive ensemble. Many passages in many instruments were not played. If a musician is not sure of their place in the music, they simply don’t play: putting notes and thythms in the wrong place is more damaging to the overall musical coherence than leaving the space empty. In addition, the conductor, Dirk Meyer, was a guest – not having the time to develop the musical rapport and comfort zone with the orchestra’s  many individuals.

Even the long and impressive pro credit list/ experience held by the production teams could not completely overcome the compromises that had to be made. There were more musicians/ instruments  than mic inputs leading to some pairs of instruments having a single mic – which led to poor direct signal from intended instruments and tons of bleed from the nearby instruments on the very crowded stage (especially percussion and brass).  Mic adjustments became tedious and time-eating. And, this was the first time an orchestra had ever been heard in this multi-purpose venue, so surprises were bound to occur. Nonetheless, every string instrument was provided a DPA, other quality mics were everywhere, including two ambisonic Soundfields on opposite edges. 

I had issues with the electronics, too. Foremost was its intonation. Somehow the output pitch was too high – almost like it was playing a 44.1kHz recording at 48kHz. The result was painful when it was to match brass and play simultaneously, which thankfully did not often occur. My original mix, currently on YouTube and this site, re-sampled all of the electronic segments to correct this pitch problem, but it still had to be mixed with the bleed of the original performance. The overall bleed, the missing of chord members, orchestration doubling and whole missing contrapuntal phrases were not significant enough to impede the overall success of my ‘official document’ of the media.