Klarinet Archive - Posting 000064.txt from 2003/07

From: "Kevin Fay" <kevinfay.home@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] Electronic Acoustical Performance (long... from the Engineer's point of view)
Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2003 01:40:05 -0400

Benjamin Maas posted:

<<<. . . over the years charts have changed a lot to reflect the =
differences
in the technical approach to music. In the days when players were =
expected
to balance each other, the charts were written in such a way that =
everything
worked. Today, it is expected that there will be a mic on every player =
and
the job of balance has changed from the musician to the engineer. An
example- when you play a Benny Goodman chart, everything works. When =
you
play a Tom Kubis chart, you expect to need to have parts of the band
amplified to be heard. There is nothing wrong with the writing, but it =
is a
stylistic and orchestration issue. When the trumpets are all playing =
above
the staff, the bones have "ff" written, the drums are blasting and you =
have
an electric bass, the saxes and piano *are* going to get lost.>>>

This was a superb post, Ben. (IMHO, of course).

I've often wondered about Bill's tagline - what exactly is it that you
object to, Bill? Is it excess sound reinforcement or post-Kenton =
charts? =20

There's a nice jazz club here in Seattle called Jazz Alley. It's a =
fairly
large bar, which would make it a fairy small auditorium. I saw Maynard
Ferguson's band there a few years back - everybody amplified, of course.
While amplifying that band might seem redundant, it had exactly the =
effect
that Ben described - the balance was spot on no matter where in the room =
you
sat. OTOH, I've heard Eddie Daniels reinforced so high that I had to =
leave
- not his fault, but that of the moron diddling the knobs.

I don't think that a big band gets much louder than a Mahler symphony, =
at
least when one's only a row or two ahead of the trumpets. Perhaps this
explains why my hair loss started at the back of my head?=20

Kjf

. . . if you don't have to mike the saxophones, your trumpets are weak =
;-)

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