Recording and Production in the News

Producer Michael Seberich invests in Prism Sound ADA-8XR converters

Italy – January 2006: Italian producer and sound engineer Michael Seberich is renowned for his individual approach to recording – and for the stunning results he achieves within the classical music arena.

Working with many of the world’s most influential conductors, orchestras and artists, Seberich has developed techniques that aim to achieve total control of all aspects of the sound. His recording philosophy incorporates several production strategies, combining analogic 300 kHz with digital 96/192 kHz mixing technology, special audiophile cables, specially developed Noise Shaping Algorithms, Room Simulators, 300 kHz Analogical Valve and FET Technologies (COMP/EQ).

Over the years, Michael Seberich has accumulated an extensive equipment list that includes Millenia-Media 300 kHz microphone-amplifiers, Schoeps microphones,  Sennheiser radio microphones, 150 96kHz recording channels, 40 192kHz recording channels and a selection of Prism Sound converters. These include the recently launched Prism Sound ADA-8XR multi-channel converter processor, which operates at sampling rates up to 192kHz and boasts even greater analogue performance than its renowned predecessor, the ADA-8.

The new ADA-8XR, supplied to Seberich by Paolo Orizio, head of Prism’s exclusive Italian distributor Funky Junk Italy, has already been put through its paces on a number of projects including recordings with Claudio Abbado, the violinist Giuliano Carmognola (a Deutsche Grammophon artist) and the Orchestra Mozart at the Bologna Mozart violinconcertos.

“For recording, I combined the ADA-8XR with a Motu HD192 and used a G5 and Digital Performer under 10.3.8,” Seberich says. “For the front end I used Schopes MK4 and MK2S microphones with my Millenia Media HV3-D Mic amps.

“I’ve also used the ADA-8XR for analogue remasterings in conjunction with Interlink cables from Transparent Opus. The aim of this was to change the structure of the sound and retain the analogue feel by combining the deep, smooth sounding frequency extension of the converters with the world’s best cables.”

Seberich adds that the ADA-8XR is particularly useful when recording main, ambience or soloists channels because it gives the sound such ‘stunning realism’.

Since starting his recording career in the mid-1980s, 42 year old Michael Seberich has notched up an impressive list of credits that include recordings with Claudio Abbado and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra; conductors Riccardo Chailly, Daniele Gatti, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Franz Welser Moest and Daniel Oren; singers Daniela Dessi, Mariella Devia, Juan Diego Florez, Luciano Pavarotti, Ruggiero Raimondi, Samuel Ramey, Cheryl Studer and Vesselina Kasarova; soloists Giuliano Carmignola, Helen Grimaud, Evgeny Kissin, Maurizio Pollini and Richard Stoltzman and orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Gustav Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Filarmonica La Scala Orchestra, the Accademia di Santa Cecilia Orchestra, the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester and the European Chamber Orchestra.

In the mid ‘90s Seberich became convinced that big opera studio sessions would soon become economically unviable, so he started to make Live-Opera recordings on CD using radio microphones. His first project was “Moise” at the Rossini Opera Festival in 1997, then “Cenerentola” with Kasarova/Florez in 1998/2000, “Falstaff” with Abbado in 1999, “Opera Roma Trittico” in 2002, “Don Giovanni” in 2002, “Faust” in 2003, “Boheme” with Zeffirelli in 2003 and “Marie Victoire” by Respighi in 2004.

Michael Seberich has also created different sound formats that entirely re-create the acoustics of a studio session, using this new technique in “Les Comte Ory”, edit by  Deutsche Grammophon in 2003 and in “La Matilde”, recorded by  Decca in 2004 and released in 2006.

Much of his work is carried out on a travelling system that can handle recording and editing.

“It is important to remember that, for the last five years at least, complex editing and mixing processes can be sent worldwide between editors, artists and producers using e-mail,” he says. “This is a major development for the industry as it means that material can be heard and checked in real time by all those involved, making the post production process both faster and more predictable.”