It's too bad that Mr. Frost's taste runs toward emphasizing the singers at the expense of the orchestra - and his preferred orchestral balance is not the same as what the listener hears in the opera house. In the house, you can hear the orchestra in partnership with the singers; often, the instruments convey much more than the vocal lines. Unfortunately, in the telecasts and (especially) in the radio broadcasts, the orchestra is reduced to merely an accompaniment for the voices.
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If you attend Met HD performances, you quickly become aware that what you hear there is not what you hear in the opera house. There is an airiness that is lost in the transmission process. It may not be possible to duplicate the hall, but it would be nice.
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Many years ago I worked with David Frost (from a distance - I was in marketing) at BMG-RCA Red Seal. He is a first-class guy and a very talented individual.
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David Frost obviously does brilliant detailed and nuanced work with audio and more for the Met Opera.
However, it should not be lost on anyone that your heading - If He Does This (Met Opera) Job Well, You'll Never Know He Exists - can also be said about all good live sound engineers.
The unspoken and broadly accepted credo regarding the sound mix for any live performance is something like "If the sound and mix is what it's supposed to be, there's no comment". Or conversely, "the only comments about live sound are complaints - never compliments".
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@sol hurok
"If the sound and mix is what it's supposed to be, there's no comment". Or conversely, "the only comments about live sound are complaints - never compliments".
ditto that for those who record production sound (i.e., on the set, using microphones which must be hidden from camera's view) for movies.
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