Lydie Auvray - Pure (2004) [SACD]

As we talked about recording the album "pure", it quickly became clear that this would be a unique recording situation. We wanted the accordion to fill the room with sound and reach the listener personally and directly. We wanted to create the impression that Lydie is sitting next to you and is playing just for you. Since it was clear from the beginning that the recordings would also be released as Surround Sound recording, we placed the microphones in such a way as to create a fairly spatial and natural reproduction of the accordion's sound.
We decided to use a Schoeps MK4 for the direct recording of the treble, two AKG C-414B TL II microphones for the bass (one microphone for the open and another for the closed bellows), two Schoeps MK2 S microphones for the frontal sound (about 1 1/2 meters away) and a Neumann SM69 for the "open room" (about 4 1/2 meters). All mikes were amplified with API 512 C microphone amplifiers. The audio signals were converted directly, using Apogee and RME 24-bit conversion systems, without additional mixing. Thus, during the recording phase we were able to avoid any additional audio processing, such as more mixing, EQ or compression, in order to capture the pure sound of the accordion with its wonderful dynamics, as faithful to the original as possible. We hope you enjoy the music.