 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2017-12-21 07:02
Sounds fake to me. Tennessee Waltz is the most exposed. But it COULD be a guy playing clarinet along with a midi track and then doctoring his or her clarinet recorded track with some software effects.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: Fuzzy
Date: 2017-12-21 17:26
Haha! You know...as technology puts so many things within reach of the general populace, there seems to be a blurring of the lines between art and machine. Whether in music, photography, or other. In photography, the line between photography and graphic art is nearly gone. With music, It's almost like looking at a portrait drawn by a sub-par artist...there's something just not "quite right" with the end product, and while it is hard to put a finger on exactly what's not right...the result remains, non-the-less, unsettling.
In music's case, we've witnessed computers/keyboards being able to more accurately mimic wind instruments (which has been anticipated for decades...and really isn't that shocking). What I personally didn't see coming, but have observed over the last 5-10 years, is this odd (to me) proclivity of real life instrumentalists to sound more like computers/keyboards. Perhaps it isn't the goal, but simply errant self-image of what we hear when we listen to ourselves?
At any rate - we seem to be hearing this more and more as instrumentalists record with their own backing tracks, and mix their own sound, etc.
For me, the sample provided in the original post displays the point where "synthetic" and "real" not only meet, but overlap. I can't deny that I'm slightly saddened to think that this might become the new "norm" to the ears of the next generation.
Just as digital photography increasingly produces "photos" of scenes which never existed in real life, so does digitally-enchanced "music" produce sound which never existed in the original performance.
Fuzzy
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Author: Dan Shusta
Date: 2017-12-22 02:35
Attachment: Ernie Sanders.jpeg (7k)
Thanks Alexi and Fuzzy for your comments. And, a special thanks to Katrina for finding the Google info that I missed. (I did a second Google search and was able to find both of them. I'll blame it on old age...)
It's interesting how we all interpret his clarinet sounds differently. To me, there are some segments that sound too mechanical (like from a keyboard) and other segments that sound like "the real thing".
I think Alexi hit "the nail on the head" so to speak. I, too, believe that some "tweaking" was done to get those long note fades, with and without vibrato, to be so perfect. However, because he's been playing clarinet and saxophone for over 50 years in seemingly countless small bands and groups, I sense that he's had more than enough time to practice those fades.
I did locate him on Facebook, however, his last entry was in August, 2016.
So, one thing is for sure...it's not a keyboard clarinet sound. It's a guy playing a Buffet clarinet. Now, as to studio tweaking and mixing, I think that will probably remain a mystery.
Just my 2 cents worth...
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Author: ned
Date: 2017-12-24 14:42
''...I'm beginning to believe it's a keyboard clarinet sound I'm listening to...''
It sounds like a real clarinet to me. He's playing in Bb (concert) which a piece of cake for a clarinet.
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Author: Fuzzy
Date: 2017-12-24 21:07
I do think this topic is interesting. It seems we each have our own level of what can still be considered a "clarinet sound."
I follow the trad jazz scene, so nearly all the clarinets I hear, I hear in intimate settings where the sound produced from the bandstand nearly matches the sound I hear while playing the clarinet myself. Thus, the digitally-enhanced reverb of any number of recordings....or even the reverb from some concert halls, sounds very non-clarinet to my ear.
The early No Doubt (rock group) recordings used a synthesized clarinet. At the time, it was one of the better synthesized clarinets I had heard. It still grated on my ears though...because all-in-all, it still didn't sound like a clarinet to me. ;^)>>>
It really is interesting to me how wide/narrow a world exists in what defines a good "clarinet sound." I realize this also varies from culture to culture. Pretty cool. One tiny instrument - multitude of expressions/interpretations.
Fuzzy
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