BROADCASTING OPERAS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 11 September 1937, Page 4

BROADCASTING OPERAS

TECHNICAL DETAILS CHECKED When the Cincinnati Zoo summer operas went on the air over WLW and {he N.8.C.-Bluc network, each broadcast represented several hours of intensive study so that the programmes might be of the very best. Before the operas were broadcast Louis Barnett, chief pick up engineer of the nation’s station, arranged his microphones, looked after every detail, then “fed” the opera to the WLW recording laboratory, where records were made. Mr Barnett set up three microphones one suspended over the orchestra and two placed in the footlights, one on either side of the prompter’s booth. A fourth microphone, installed in the control booth, which was suspended over the stage, was used by Joseph Ries, narrator. Mr Barnett, himself an accomplished musician, attended each first performance of the operas broadcast. He handled the first hour as though the programme were on the air. After the finale he accompanied Conductor Fausto Cleva to the studios to hear the recording. Each record was played several times, while the engineering chief and matstro listened attentively. If everything did not sound just right, changes were made. A technical discussion of balance and levels was engaged in, and by the time corrections, if any, had been made, the broadcasts sounded over the air just as they do

to the visible audience attending the operas.