Klarinet Archive - Posting 000800.txt from 1997/11

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: Recording the Clarinet
Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 18:39:02 -0500

At 12:43 PM 11/21/97 -0500, Detlef Kretschmer wrote:
>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.

This setup results in "binaural" recordings, designed to be listened to
with headphones only. I understand such recordings are spectacular, but
they are not widely available.

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.
>
If you prefer the sound of "minimalist miking" (and I do), try recordings
on the Telarc label. They typically use only two or three for a whole
orchestra.

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.