Recital Hall problems

[TexTuba]

[TubaRay]

Vocalists tend to prefer more live acoustics compared to wind instrumentalists. This could account for some of what you are experiencing. Try to learn how to fill the room, whatever the room, with tuba sound. That will be a start at achieving your goal. The simple fact is that some rooms are not very well-suited to recording. There's not much you can do about that, other than to record somewhere else, if you can.

[BriceT]

Huh, weird I did my Area audition in this hall. It might be bad for low brass, but its much better than auditioning in a skinny room.

[TubaRay]

In the early takes of effie I had, it sounded like piano solo with tuba accompaniment...

It seems to me that the recording engineer should have been able to fix this.

[jonesbrass]

I was more saying recording purposes....but sometimes it doesnt sound good no matter what performance.

After listening to recital recordings, ive had people tell me the recital sounded alot better (since thats where i practiced) in person, but the recordings sucked because of the mic placement and the angle.

In addition, where do yall normally set the piano. In the early takes of effie I had, it sounded like piano solo with tuba accompaniment...

I think we have two separate ideas here.
If you want a great recording, you have two options: 1) Go to a professional recording studio and have your tracks cut and mastered by a professional recording engineer (where he or she can truly isolate the tuba and accompaniment tracks, do multiple takes, fix pitch problems, etc.), or 2) have a professional engineer record your recital. A great engineer can do wonderful things, and "dry" is probably a good thing.
If you want to perform a great live recital, just worry about making music and communicating with the audience and let the chips fall where they may. If and when you become a professional tuba player, trust me, you'll probably play in just about every concievable setting, some with great acoustics and some that truly suck. I have, and there's nothing you can do about it if you want paid. Just play. Learn to like it.

[Toobist]

I wasn't going to reply to this thread because the OP seems to get a lot of feedback that may seem like bashing or bullying (or for those your are up on the lingo - flamming). But... A great many of us have to perform or record in different halls all the time. A large portion of these instances occur in strange and unfamiliar venues. If this is for an audition that means a great deal and you feel it will affect the outcome, then change halls if it's really that big a deal.

However... If you can... Just freakin' stop worrying about it and play the freekin' horn!

Let me tell you what I know about contractors and personel managers.

From the standpoint of the contractor:

1) I've called a musician for a recording, set the venue and programme. He starts rehearsal and spends more time than I expected he might (which would be very little, in my mind, considering the gig is going to happen no matter the acoustics) to find his position on stage and how which stick he wants the accompanist to use(Oh and the accompanist is rolling her eyes at me knowingly.).
-At this point, I would weather the rehearsal and gig and then never call the musician again.

2) In between movements or pieces, the musician makes unfavourable comments about the acoustics of the hall/space and how it is effecting his performance.
-That does the opposite of instill confidence in my decision of hiring that player and I doubt I'd give him a second chance if there was an equally qualified player available.

I could go on with many, many examples (Maybe I should start a thread about it.) of reasons musicians don't get a second call from contractors but that's not really my point. So (before you get too angry with me Shaman), let me explain my point. This is the sort of behavior that a great many of us fall into early in our careers. Much of the time we don't get a second chance. Contractors, music directors and employers in general will forgive a great deal including split notes, mis-counts and out-of-tune notes but I guarantee that if a musician adds tension to the already stressful job of musician contracting, that musician is not likely to get a second chance.

In this particular instance there may not be a personel manager or contractor involved, but think about those who are. Does your instructor gig much? Does he/she ever need a sub? How about the crew at the venue? How did they view the session? Your accompanist? Did the accompanist sit through the time needed to find the sweet spot to point your bell? I'm sure you didn't peeve anybody all that much, but I'd like to warn you and others who may not have given serious thought to this sort of thing before. If more of us either placed ourselves in the shoes of a contractor or heck, actually do some contracting, we'd start to see what makes a musician desirable for work even beyond the usual remembering music, being on-time (nothing stresses a personel manager more than empty chairs.), hitting the right notes, etc.

In the end, it's about hirability. Like many of us here, I've messed up and not gotten a call back or two (or more). I wish I'd listened to more experienced musicians years ago instead of wasting time and making all those same excuses. All of us have done it at times and even still do. The trick is to catch ourselves before we behave ourself off of the to-call list.

[TubaRay]

An excellent post, Al, but this was the best part:

However... If you can... Just freakin' stop worrying about it and play the freekin' horn!