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Amplified Art & Sound builds Jazz at Lincoln Center’s archive on Schoeps Colette microphones

Amplified Art and Sound LLC, the audio recording and mixing team for Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC), has been at the center of the institution’s archival recording, studio recording, broadcast, and streaming operations since 2021. Key to the team’s day-to-day work has been its selection of tools to ensure honest representation of the quality and energy of the performers, a task that always includes Schoeps Colette series microphones.

Amplified Art and Sound owner and chief engineer Todd Whitelock is a longtime collaborator of JALC’s founder and managing and artistic director Wynton Marsalis as well as a Grammy-winning engineer with a background at PowerStation, Sony Classical Productions, and Sony Music Studios. “The greatest performers in the world play on our stages and as such we take our responsibility to livestream and capture those performances very seriously”, he says.

“When our team first started with JALC, the goal was to bring a more ambient approach to recording that I’d done with Sony Classical so that we could purposefully capture these performances in a way that elevated them sonically while still being true to the players and their sounds they get on stage”, he continues. “Close mic’ing alone doesn’t adequately capture the power of the orchestra in full swing.” He adds that Marsalis had always envisioned that sound for the livestreams and records released by JALC’s label Blue Engine Records.

“Schoeps were the very first thing I asked for to hang as our main array”, details Whitelock. “We use seven Colette Series with MK 2 capsules hanging from the stage catwalks for all of our live performance recording sessions both in Rose Theater and The Appel Room.” Whitelock’s experience with Schoeps was influenced by his time at Sony Classical. They have since become workhorse microphones for him both in the studio and live at JALC.

On sessions where more Schoeps firepower is required, Whitelock will often hire the microphones en-masse from mobile recording provider Sound Mirror in Boston. When Marsalis was set to record a live performance of his opus “All Rise” for PBS for the 150th Anniversary of the Chautauqua Institution (including a full orchestra and a choir of 100), the call went out. “Sound Mirror has been a great partner in these instances and I told them to bring their entire stock of Schoeps for the taping”, says Whitelock.

Whitelock and his team placed upwards of eighty Schoeps MK 4 microphones around the stage strategically for maximum effect. “It was a massive choir in a loft above the stage and I knew we needed Schoeps for them - the MK 4 capsule is especially great for capturing choral elements and I honestly prefer them to large diaphragm condensers for choirs”, he notes. “They’re always asking us if we really need that many microphones, but when they hear the results it’s clear that the effort is worth it. We’re very proud of the audio production on that performance and Wynton felt we did justice to the maestro’s work.”

“That’s really the key to a strong jazz recording”, Whitelock concludes. “You want to capture that moment and hear every element of what the player or performer is blowing on their chosen instrument as part of the ensemble. I always use Schoeps as part of our process, they were the first mics purchased for JALC since Amplified Art & Sound has been involved.”

(Photos: Schoeps Microphones)

www.schoeps.de

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