I think that this has been mentioned here before, but its worth
posting this link again:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...599348-0544657

This is the Amazon link for the DVD version of a BBC documentary
titled "The Golden Ring". Its a 90 minute BBC program from 1965
documenting the recording of Wagner's Ring Cycle by the recording team
at Decca. The price is $26 and that's a helluva deal for the best
movie about audio recording that I've ever seen. Watching these
tie-wearing Decca engineers is a humbling experience; they seem to
know as much about opera as they do about electronics and they are
just as comfortable with a soldering iron as they are editing tape.

A few technical highlights:

1. Decca engineers fabricating a triangular arrangement of three M50
microphones - so this is why its called a "Decca Tree" (D'oh!)
2. the tape editing sequence was too smooth to not be staged for the
camera crew - if it truly was footage of an actual edit, these guys
had some scary skills
3. the custom console (designed by the guys sitting at the faders)
was very cool. Set up sorta like a film console with a bank of faders
for vocal mics, one for orchestra mics and another for stage sound
effects.
4. with all mics going directly to 2 track, the stereo mix was
created in real time; that's a challenging job under the best of
circumstances. But these guys recreated the positioning of actors
moving around the stage by having the opera singers constantly moving
around with respect to the stationary mic positions. At one point it
looked like a game of "3 card monte" as the three vocalists kept
switching between the Left, Center and Right positions. All the
while, an engineering assistant was guiding them into position while
carrying their music stands and sheet music.
5. its amazing that any mics from that era still function. You can
not find 10 seconds of screen time without evidence of a lit
cigarette. Even the singers were never seen without a lit smoke.
There is one scene showing the nightly party that took place in the
engineer's flat above the theatre after each day's session; the crowd
includes the conductor, the producer, all of the engineers /
assistants and the 1/2 dozen opera singers - every single person has a
cigarette and a glass of straight liquor (no ice, no mixers).

The only downside to the movie is that it is liable to bring a heavy
case of nostalgia for the way things used to be (at least for anybody
over 40).

steve