But, for sound engineers struggling to contend with open-air environmental extremes that included winds of Gale Force 4, the key to success was a tiny miniature microphone from DPA Microphones. Sound designer and front-of-house engineer Cees Wagenaar from BV Oorzaak, supervised the critical matter of miking the artists. Wagenaar specified 114 of them in all, making it one of the biggest shows to standardise on a DPA type. All three models (4060, 4061 and 4065) were used with Sennheiser radio electronics, and, in order to meet such an unusually large specification, the production drew on two PA suppliers: Wim de Gelder at WG Theatertechniek purchased 50 DPA 4061s, bringing his rental stock of DPA miniatures to more than 80; Stage Pro, the principal rental company for the production, also topped up their inventory of DPA 4061s. Both sound companies had to make a substantial investment in windscreens and windjammers.
The worst effects of the gales were beaten by a customised windjammer developed by recording expert Onno Scholze and Tom van der Hoff (of Transtec, distributor of DPA Microphones in the Netherlands. Rigoletto’s front-of-house position included a pair of InnovaSon digital desks to pre-mix the orchestra, with a Yamaha PM4000 console pre-mixing the chorus and routing the radio mics. The orchestra premixes were then grouped on a Yamaha 02R before being sent to Wagenaar at another 02R.In total, 200 channels were routed to this one desk.
