When a Delta Rocket streaked into space to place a GlobalPositioning System satellite, freelance audio engineer Gary Fallerrelied on a stereo pair of DPA 4041S mics to capture all of the sonicnuances.
“I wanted to capture the sound of the rocket after the initialblast-off and it roaring up through the sky by using theselarge-diaphragm omni mics on a [DPA-provided] A/B stereo bar,” hesaid. Faller mounted the bar on top of the historic U.S. Air ForceHangar AE (the site of the first Apollo launch) at Cape Canaveral AirForce Station, about a mile away from the launch pad. “The mics Iused were rated at up to 144 dB SPL, so the mics and the preamps [DPAHMA4000] won’t overload.
“The hardest thing is to keep the recording clean, because therocket is making all different noises and harmonics and the airwavesare smashing — what I call ‘vortex smashing of theair’ — but the mics had more than enough headroom to let mecapture the sound accurately with the right balance andimpact.”
