A public arts school in the greater Orlando area and a US News & World Reports top-ranked high school, Osceola County School for the Arts (OSCA) has a long-standing tradition of excellence with many alumni having gone on to attend various prestigious university programs, such as The Juilliard School, Berklee College of Music, and more. Osceola County School for the Arts’ Jazz A Ensemble, specifically, is a two-time winner and five-time finalist at the Essentially Ellington Competition & Festival and has performed at many jazz festivals throughout the United States. When the program was in need of new and improved microphones, director, composer and veteran educator Jason Anderson turned to MXL Microphones.
“After learning more about the kind of instruments we were using, what the band was like and what we would be using the mics for, MXL came through big time and within a month or two we were using new microphones,” said Anderson. “Especially with jazz, you want to hear on the recording exactly how it sounds live, and I feel like that's exactly what we get with MXL. It can be challenging with so many different instruments trying to capture the balance of the band as well, and I feel like the microphones do a good job of capturing the specific essence of each individual instrument.”
In total, OCSA’s jazz band now has over 30 MXL microphones, which include two R77s, eight 770s, one 890, four R144s, six V67Gs, the brand’s Studio Drum Kit, which includes an A-55 Kicker, a 606, two Drum Cubes for toms, two 603s, along with the shock mounts and hard mounts that go with the respective mics, as well as two V67 Recording Kits, which includes a V67GS Large Diaphragm Condenser mic and two V67N small diaphragm condensers. The jazz band consists of a multitude of instruments, including saxophones, trumpets, trombones, a full rhythm section, piano, bass, acoustic piano, acoustic bass, guitar, jazz drums, a vocalist and percussion.
Since the upgrade, the band has relied on the mics for a variety of applications, from polished video submissions for college and competitions, recordings of practice for assessment purposes as a class, to live performances and concerts. With so many dynamics and different applications, Anderson has been most impressed by the flexibility of the microphones.
“While a lot of the mics are designed for recording purposes, we tried them live and it was crazy how well the mics translated,” said Anderson. “Jazz is an acoustic genre, and that really translated well in the live situation, so that was great.” Additionally, both the choral department as well as the orchestra department have begun using the mics too.
Another key feature of the microphones for Anderson is the durability, which he said has been great overall. For the students on the other hand, one of their favorite things about the mics seems to be the physical qualities, specifically of the R77. “Ever since I’ve introduced the gold R77 to the kids, they are always dying to use it just because of its look,” Although, according to Anderson, the students also have been intrigued by some of the mics’ specific features such as low cuts and the interchangeable capsules.
In addition to having the ability to supply his jazz band with upgraded microphones, what makes Anderson even more proud is seeing his students learn from experimenting with the microphones. “The more they read about what the mics do and how the mics do it, they start coming up inventive ways to capture different instruments, and that’s one of the best parts,” he said.
