Orchestra rehearsing beneath a Decca Tree microphone array

Enterprise technology · Classical music · Recording

Ray Miller

Building ideas. Performing the repertoire. Capturing the room honestly.

▶ Hear the work

Decca Tree array over a full symphony orchestra

01 / Perspective

Three disciplines.
One unusual point of view.

I understand the product, the performer and the audience—because I have worked on every side of the stage.

My career combines enterprise technology leadership with active orchestral performance and hands-on classical recording. That intersection informs a practical conviction: the best recording tools should make truthful ensemble capture more accessible, repeatable and scalable.

02 / Selected recordings

Current portfolio highlights

Four rooms. Four ensembles. Four different recording problems—approached with the same commitment to balance, depth and musical truth.

Conductor beneath a suspended orchestral microphone array01

Authentic 7-microphone array session

Mendelssohn’s Elijah

Soloist, chorus and orchestra in a single, demanding passage. Ray Miller: second clarinet and recording engineer.

4:36
Bass clarinetist's view across an orchestra toward a church organ02

The Organ

Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3

A live community-orchestra performance captured from the rear balcony near the organ with two AT2020 microphones. Ray Miller: bass clarinet and recording engineer.

1:30
Charles Ives Variations on America clarinet parts viewed from the ensemble during rehearsal03

Variations on “America”

Charles Ives

Noank-Mystic Community Band in the City of Groton Municipal Hall, captured with a Decca Tree and two wide outriggers. Ray Miller: E-flat clarinet and recording engineer.

2:00
Professional saxophone quartet performing beneath a Decca Tree microphone array04

Requiem in A Minor

Ian Forest

A professional saxophone-quartet session captured with the Decca Tree alone—the church’s natural acoustics supplied the width and spaciousness, making outriggers unnecessary.

0:55

03 / Recording practice

Honest. True. Transparent.

The musicians, score and acoustic space remain the subject. Technology should reveal their relationship—not call attention to itself.

Complete mobile recording system packed beside a car
A capable field system designed to travel with one engineer.

Mobile field recording system

Built for real rooms.

  • Zoom F8n Pro field recorder
  • Zoom H6 and Zoom H4 recorders
  • Grace Design Decca Tree
  • Three matched AKG P420 microphones
  • Two Audio-Technica AT2020 outriggers
  • Shure SM81 and Lewitt LCT 440 PURE
  • Six B&K long stands and Mogami Gold cabling
  • Isolation mounts and weighted safety sandbags
01Place

Listen to the room before choosing the array.

02Capture

Preserve image, depth, dynamics and natural decay.

03Refine

Edit and master without erasing the performance.

04 / Platform opportunity

The Neumann
Decca Tree Initiative

A matched-trio program designed to grow institutions from their first authentic Decca Tree to a complete orchestral recording platform.

Pair three matched Neumann microphones with education, funding support and a clear expansion path—then help schools, churches, community ensembles and professional programs build recording capability that lasts.

View the one-page initiative ↗
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Decca TreeMatched left, center and right
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Add outriggersWide left and right
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Extend the systemChorus, solo or featured source
Ray Miller performing bass clarinet in an orchestra

05 / The complete perspective

Musician.
Engineer.
Enterprise builder.

Principal bass and auxiliary clarinetist, concertmaster, recording engineer and enterprise technology leader. From orchestral repertoire to major strategic accounts, I translate complex systems into experiences people can understand and value.

Member, American Federation of Musicians · AFM Local 285-403