Klarinet Archive - Posting 000365.txt from 1999/10

From: "Benjamin Maas" <benmaas@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Funny Nielsen recording
Date: Tue, 12 Oct 1999 21:35:15 -0400

> Mark Charette wrote:
> >Now, how about when the conductor would re-record a section that
> didn't come
> >out to the conductor's expectations and the engineers carefully
> spliced it
> >into the analog tapes? Is that acceptable? How about chair scrapes being
> >deleted? How much editing _can_ be done before we call it an artificial
> >recording?
> >
> Of course, In the 21st century (almost) we should use what the
> technology have to offer, but the music have to be the master.
> The technology should serve the music. Mistakes are human and
> should be to accepted sometimes if the playing is good. In the
> case of Goodmans Nielsen recording I think evryone would agree
> that the playing is terribly bad even if they are great fans.

Once again, I feel compelled to make another response. We are discussing
splicing and poor performances. Listen to what everybody here has been
saying about Benny Goodman's Nielsen recording. Not many people like it.
Why? Because the poor technique is getting in the way of people's enjoyment
of the music.

This is exactly why there is extensive splicing in music CDs today. People
do not associate a recording with anything less than perfection. Splicing
has been an integral part of recording pretty much since analog tape was
invented. Today, even most "live recordings" are edited to fix
"imperfections," be it coughing or a missed note. Glen Gould stopped
playing in public because of the pressure of a perfect performance. He said
"Why should I play in public when I can get just what I want in the studio?
If I make a mistake, I can fix it."

As a musician and recording engineer, I am a firm believer in editing.
However, when I run a session, I like to take complete takes and use that
for most of the final edits. Anything not covered in complete takes gets
fixed, but usually in chunks large enough to keep musical continuity.

One last bit of editing lore... M. Pollini's recording of the Chopin
Etudes. Op. 10. #1 is rumored to have about 1,000 edits in it. For those
of you who don't know the piece, it equates to one edit every 3 notes. With
today's digital technologies, it is not only possible, but standard and
you'd never know...

--Ben

Benjamin Maas
Freelance Clarinetist and Recording Engineer
Los Angeles, CA
benmaas@-----.com
http://www.fifthcircle.com

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