Klarinet Archive - Posting 000210.txt from 2009/02

From: Joseph Wakeling <joseph.wakeling@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Different reed setups and some shameless self-promotion
Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2009 11:14:08 -0500

What with the talk about different reeds and different performance
characters and characteristics, maybe it's a fun time to tell the
following tale ...

Last year a songwriter friend of mine asked me to join a new project of
hers. To cut a long story short, we spent some time in early 2008
writing songs (well, mostly she wrote songs and I added nice twiddles
and, importantly, wrote down everything we did:-) then she wrote some
other songs with our drummer, and then in July we went into the studio
(this studio here: http://www.upthelane.org.uk/ ) and recorded it all.

This was my first time in a recording studio so a big learning
experience on many counts. Beyond the obvious ('Stop moving around so
much, you're going off mic!') there were a whole bunch of things to get
used to.

To begin with there was volume control. Playing acoustically with the
band, I'd developed a fairly good sense of balance and in the last
section of our title track ('Mankind Walks') was playing very quietly,
so as to be audible but very much in the background -- almost like an
echo of what had gone before. I repeated this in the studio and found
to my shock that when we played back the tape I was almost inaudible.

The recording chamber itself was a challenge to get used to, with a very
dry, non-resonant acoustic -- it was designed that way -- and despite it
being summer, and warm outside, it was fairly cold in there, with some
unfortunate consequences: huge amounts of swabbing required, lots of
water under toneholes.

But the performance of reeds was one of the big surprises. Of course, I
knew intellectually that what the clarinet sounds like to the player is
not the same as what other people hear, but being professionally
recorded made the differences startlingly clear. Every tiny thing was
audible -- every breath, every slight nuance, every small (and often
unnoticeable-at-the-time) error in phrasing or articulation.

A reed that in the recording chamber sounded rich and focused came out
on tape as whiny and fuzzy with a huge quantity of breath noise.
Another that sounded too soft acoustically was rich and colourful when
the recording was played back. The choice of which to use on which
track became quite an adventure -- but a productive one.

There were other aesthetic concerns. The last track ('When there is no
time') was meant to have a clarinet part that sounded fairly crude, but
how crude should it be? If I messed up in some small way during the
take, should I keep it ('It's in character') or would it simply sound
sloppy? Should I record it with a click-track to keep me in time or did
the slight loss of metronome-perfect time suit the music?

The mixing offered further challenges. Mixes that sounded fine on
studio speakers might sound harsh on the car stereo as we drove home.
Subtle inflections of playing might get lost in the mix -- how could
they be rescued without distorting the part? How should we deal with
the fact that my playing employed a wide dynamic range, whereas the
guitar and drums were recorded at a fairly constant level?

(Years ago I remember some classical musicians playing the Mozart
quintet at a local music festival -- with amplification, since they were
in the open air. Early into the second movement someone in the control
box -- very skilled studio guys, but used to recording rock music --
realised 'Hey, the clarinet is the lead instrument here!' and cranked up
its volume, as you would for a rock vocalist. The musicians on stage,
who'd established a beautiful balance, almost fell over from the shock.)

Anyway (and here's the self-promotion bit:-) we finished the recording
and came up with a 7-track 'extended EP' (double EP?) in time for a gig
at the Monmouth Festival, another learning experience since it one of
the only times I've ever _played_ with amplification ('Joe! You're
STILL wandering away from the mic!'). We're working on some new
material to turn into a full-length album and 5 of the tracks are
available on MySpace:
http://www.myspace.com/mankindwalks

... though I must say that MySpace's sound quality is not as good as
that of the purchasable CD :-)

And, since we were talking about reeds, a challenge: on ONE of the
tracks (and only one) I used two different reeds. Which track and
where? It's obvious to me, but I'm curious to find out if it is to
everyone else ...

Hope you enjoy the music, comments welcome. :-)

-- Joe

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