Klarinet Archive - Posting 000784.txt from 1997/11

From: Detlef Kretschmer <detlef@-----.ca>
Subj: Re: Recording the Clarinet
Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 13:42:41 -0500

There is one point which, IMHO, is one of the major reasons for changes in
recording soud, i.e. the changed habits in setup. The best old recorings
were done either in a concert hall or a studio with similar acoustical
properties using only TWO microphones for the whole set-up, the best
companies using acually a dummy head with the microphones inside the
plastic ears (Deutsche Grammophon is one of them). The sound captured this
way is very different from the sound as captured by a microphone in front
of each instrument. The sound in the old set-up has gone through multiple
reflections and refractions, and after every reflection, the sound waves
have interfered with each other (believe me, the absorption characteristics
of the pant-bottoms of the bloke in front of you make more difference to
the sound than the material of your instrument). Looking at the two types
of recordings on an oscilloscope shows a drastic difference.

Cheers

Detlef

Detlef Kretschmer
Dipl. Ing., DSc., Prof.
Dept. Mechanical Engineering
Laval University
Quebec, QC, Canada G1K 7P4

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