Klarinet Archive - Posting 000216.txt from 2009/02

From: "Forest Aten" <forestaten@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Different reed setups and some shameless self-promotion
Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2009 17:46:26 -0500

Joseph

Sounds like you had a great time! Good go...

Forest

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Joseph Wakeling [mailto:joseph.wakeling@-----.net]
> Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2009 10:14 AM
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> Subject: [kl] Different reed setups and some shameless self-promotion
>
> 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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