Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (
More info?)
"Neil Henderson" <neil.henderson@sbcglobal.netNOSPAM> wrote in message...
> Let me know what you guys think of the overall quality & the way it comes
> across. Thanks for your input!
Hi Neil,
I'm a day late and a dollar short, but I really didn't believe that anything I had
to say at the time was positive enough to benefit your end result. As the
conversation went on, it really sounded like you has what you wanted except
perhaps a little more distance & ambience. It's even more difficult now, to
speak after the likes of Karl, Hank, Mike Rivers and most especially Mike
Mermagen's observations were all offered up in time for you to consider
their application on Sunday. I hope all went well.
I also hope you'll give up another sample of the final recording.
My initial thoughts were pretty much along the same lines as the rest of
the "more ambience" crowd... the recording seemed to be a wee bit too
much 'in your face', which did indeed reveal flaws in the performance.
I'm interested in some details pertaining to the room that you used.
It sounded to me like there really wasn't much reflective ambience to
be taken advantage of. If I had to guess, I'd have said you were in a
relatively small room, say, not much larger than 14 x 16 feet with a
low acoustic ceiling, carpet and plenty of dampening on the walls. It
seemed like this was also a contributing factor in being able to pick
out the small deficiencies in the performance. 'Stark' might fit here.
Sometimes, using good mics and preamps can work against you.
The combination of the pair and the spot mic may have been a little
detrimental. It sounded as if they were each hearing something that
the other didn't like, which seemed to actually make the recording
sound somewhat 'smaller'.
The majority of anything I might have added was definitely covered
by Karl and Mike Mermagen - - though I might differ slightly with Karl's
intent on keeping the track totally dry. He's more than correct about
what the judges will be listening for, but depending on the calibre of
the purpose for the audition, I'm keenly aware that given an abundance
of entries and too few judges, that it's all too common to have entries
which aren't pleasing to listen to, end up being passed over. I'm inclined
to think that a wee bit of reverb, barely enough to simulate what appeared
to be missing ambience in your recording room, wouldn't have hurt.
I'd like to know what the audition was actually for. (?) I was surprised
to read that you were dealing with a Doctorate in music with a seat in
the local symphony. One thing I'll assume is that she doesn't actually
do a lot of recording as a solo or a part of a small ensemble. I say this
because along with Mike M.'s comments about the technique problems
that were revealed by the quality of the mics and their close positioning,
I could practically hear her heart beating during the take you posted. I
actually assumed this was a *much* younger player.
Since I've been doing Art's Recognition, Collegiate Scholarship auditions,
State and regional competitions, and advanced ensembles for the local
Arts Magnet high school for over 8 years now, I been in your shoes more
than just a few times. Two of my student recordings have helped to put
both of them on their way to performing in front of the president of the
United States. 22 Grammy's have been won by graduates of this school
(including Norah Jones, who I was the first knob-turner to record), and the
school has garnered the largest number of DownBeat Magazine awards
in the country. The album I did for the "Jazz One" Combo two years ago
took 13 Downbeat awards... and although, as it was in your case, it had
to be done totally live and in one pass, I used plenty of moderate reverb.
So.... let me apologize for not putting in my .02 cents worth earlier and
give you and your flautist my best wishes.
--
David Morgan (MAMS)
http
/www.m-a-m-s DOT com
Morgan Audio Media Service
Dallas, Texas (214) 662-9901
_______________________________________
http/www.artisan-recordingstudio.com
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