If a recording is to be made of an opera and released to the public, the best chance or securing funding is typically during the world premier of a piece.  This fact has allowed me to record a 1/2 dozen operas that have been released on CD. Even so, let’s be clear. There is no profit to be made from an opera recording. One could argue that there is no money to be made producing opera either but certainly not from a CD release. Both the production of opera and the sale of an opera recording is a labor of love. Both endeavors require the financial support of people who are passionate about opera as an art form. Based on my experiences recording opera and also working with other professionals who do it for a living, there is no easy or inexpensive way to do it. First, you have to secure the rights from the composer, librettist, publisher, etc…which is typically in their best interest so they want to support the concept. Then you need to secure agreements from the singers and musicians to allow a recording to be made for a public release. Assuming all that is possible, the next step is to find a team to capture the audio, edit it, mix it and then to produce a master recording which will be used to create a final CD.  One aspect of each opera I have recorded has been what was called the “patch session” which is a chance to record any parts that can’t be captured cleanly during a live production. The patch session may also be used to get a take of something that is otherwise compromised due to staging and blocking decisions. For example, where in the live production, a solo might be sung from up on a balcony, for the patch session, the solo might be sung from downstage center. Unlike many musical styles, opera has a very specific type of audience with certain expectations and those translate to an opera recording too. Having stumbled through the process myself in order to get to where I am now, I will say that at some point, if you’re serious about the recording and the final product, you’re going to want to hire someone with the best gear money can buy and the skills to use it. A typical opera recording might use as many as a dozen mics to capture the singing, a few dozen mics or more to capture the orchestra and all of those mics will need to be mixed in real time down to a stereo recorder for reference in choosing which performance / performances was the best take. Then hopefully the multitrack recordings will be compiled from the best takes and edited.