Tony Faulkner - Recording Engineer

The first recordings I made with the Raphael Ensemble were the Brahms String Sextets. I was immediately knocked out by the standard of performance and preparation work the group had done before we arrived in the studio. However many toys the production team has at its disposal (there are a lot these days), there is no way to inject musicality, energy and atmosphere if it is not there in the first place. The Raphael Ensemble makes an engineer's job very easy, because the sound is so well balanced and alive.

Outside of the independent labels like Hyperion, chamber music has been the poor relation throughout the recent boom in classical music recording. Major corporate international record companies have concentrated on high-flying big name stars doing the same repertoire again and again, - when they do get round to chamber music it tends to be in order to promote the artists rather than the music. Not so here, the Raphaels' Hyperion CD's are something very special, and I look forward to the next one with eager anticipation.

For web browsers interested in technicalities, listed below is the equipment used for the most recent Raphael Ensemble recordings.

• Microphones: Neumann M250c original valve design.
  
• Mic. Audio Cable: Bryant oxygenfree silver.
  
• Mic. Preamplifiers: E.A.R. valve.
  
• Analogue to Digital converters: dCS, with 24-bit output.
  
• Recorder: Prism MR2024 / Tascam DA88.
  
• Interconnects: van den Hul carbon-fibre.
  
• Editing: SADiE PC 24-bit Workstation.
  
• 24-bit to 16-bit Conversion: Meridian 618, flat dither.
  
• For more information, why not visit Tony Faulner's Green Room Productions website?