Yellowtec iXm microphone excels at Glastonbury 2015

Lisa Mae and Paul Lund, producers of the Glastonbury Festival Sound Archive, relied on the Yellowtec iXm microphone – supplied by HHB Communications – for field interviews and other forms of audio capture at this year’s event.

“For us the Yellowtec iXm has a clear advantage in the environment of the festival,” explained Lund. “In such changing conditions – especially underfoot and from the sky above – you need recording gear that takes up little space, is easy to use and relatively robust when the rain comes and you need to cover up quickly.

“We mainly record field interviews, crowd sounds and clips of speech from the stages. We are in the thick of it, day and night, doing our best to capture the diversity of sound and comments from the fans. It’s rare to see another radio reporter or sound recorder doing the same, so either we are crazy or we’re at the forefront of capturing some of the most difficult field audio. In contrast, the BBC come to Glastonbury Festival with their huge resources and for radio they have the luxury of mobile studios and purpose built broadcast platforms – out of reach of the fans, away from the mud and protected from the wind.

“Most of the reporters’ microphones we normally use suffer when the wind blows, but I noticed how the iXm resisted picking up the wind in places we would normally have needed to turn away and shield ourselves from the short gusts.

“Not having to set levels or worry about the over peak from the occasional scream or shout from passing fans made our interviews quicker to turn around for broadcast for the on-site radio station. Editing would previously take longer as the sound wave would need to be cleaned of all peaks, interruptions, double takes because of wind blow, and so on.”

“The ease of quickly putting the iXm into a shoulder bag when the rain came or in the crush of slow moving crowds was simple and effective. No microphone cables, XLRs to unplug, or multiple cases and bags with support kit to carry."

HHB also recently announced that the new iXm Uplink app for the Yellowtec iXm digital recording microphone is now available for iPhone or iPad free at the Apple store. 

Pictured: A Glastonbury Festival Sound Archive volunteer (left) uses the Yellowtec iXm to interview Cara Williams (right), editor of Australian music and arts publication Beat Magazine.

http://www.yellowtec.com

http://www.hhb.co.uk