In this concert the goal was to seperate and highlight the soloist a bit from the quartet, while still keeping a clean stereo a precise stereo image.
The combination of multiple stereo microphone set-ups always needs attention detail especially within the aesthetics of classical music, as the sound sources - bow and strings of each musician - need to be located at the exact same point within all stereophonic sound images, otherwise the endresult will be blurry and inprecise.
To make sure that is guaranteed it is imperative to calculate and measure the room , the positions of each microphone set up in relation to one another and the exact recording angles and make them match. And then listen and adjust on the run.
Live But Better Than Live
Engineering a live performance does not mean creating a mere mechanical reproduction of the event - in fact it is quite the opposite. It means transcending the limitations of reality while preserving that live feeling. It means enhancing the performance of already phenomenal musicians. In a classical context that might mean creating a rather natural sound, but it does not mean copying the sound of the physical world. If the accompanying Orchestra is playing at full-blast fortissimo dynamic, the melodic line of the soloist would be barely noticeable. In an engineered live rendition it would be easy to make the soloist the focal point and rebalance the dynamics.
