Klarinet Archive - Posting 000403.txt from 1997/11

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: Recording the clarinet
Date: Mon, 10 Nov 1997 22:03:29 -0500

At 05:06 PM 11/10/97 -0600, Dee Hays wrote:
>I have been aware for quite some time that the clarinet does not seem to
>record well on standard home cassettes. Lately one of the recent
>postings mentioned this phenomenum. What I am wondering is WHY this is
>so. Anyone care to comment?
>
Some instruments, most notably clarinet and piano, are very severely
affected in recordings by the phenomenon known as "flutter" in tape
recordings. This is a rapid speed variation that results in that
"underwater" sound. Digital recording mediums effectively eliminate
flutter, since their speed is controlled by a quartz clock releasing data
from a buffer, rather than an electric motor dragging tape across a head.
Flutter is especially a problem in cassettes, due to the low speed of the
tape (1 7/8 inches/second) and thus RELATIVELY large speed variations. Use
a reel-to-reel at 7 1/2 inches/second or faster and flutter is not much of
a problem.

Bill Hausmann bhausman@-----.com
451 Old Orchard Drive http://www.concentric.net/~bhausman
Essexville, MI 48732 http://members.wbs.net/homepages/z/o/o/zoot14.html

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is too loud.