Excerpts recording idea

[The Jackson]

Hello, all of TubeNet. I come heavy with an idea regarding the recording of orchestral excerpts compact discs. NOTE: The recordings I am referring to are recordings of excerpts meant to educate their listeners, not for the purpose of auditioning.

I was recently giving a listen to Mr. Gene Pokorny's famous "Orchestral Excerpts for Tuba" CD. A year-and-a-half ago, when I first started getting serious with tuba, this CD was all that I would listen to. Mr. Pokorny has a beautiful sound, great control over the instrument and excellent musicianship. I attribute a lot of my success as a tuba player (though miniscule) to listening to this recording and others like it.

I was thinking, though, about the recording scenario of this particular item. The liner notes indicate that the recording sites for the CD were a couple of churches in Illinois. You can hear in the recording that they are big halls. Big halls like those greatly favor and bolster Mr. Pokorny's already great sound into something even better (Which is what a symphony musician wants, right?).

For all solo recordings (primarily made to entertain the listener) and audition recordings (for employment purposes), that kind of acoustical environment would be perfect. My idea, though, is that recordings meant to educate, like the Orchestral Excerpts discs, be made in acoustically "dead" environments, or, preferably, include both "live" and "dead" versions. A great example of this is the section of the Arnold Jacobs "Portrait of an Artist" CD that includes Mr. Jacobs playing the Carnival, Vaughan-Williams, Czardas and a few others in some small, "dead" area (His studio? I do not know for sure).

My reasoning for this is that the intended audience for this recording, and the one that would probably benefit the most from it, the not-"big time" tuba players, usually don't have access to those types of acoustics, especially to make real musical "work" in. The majority of time, especially for those "job-hunting college students", the real practice is made in a practice room - a small, acoustically "dead" space.

I do not doubt the merit of the "Orchestral Excerpts for Tuba" recording. It can be a terrifically effective learning tool, but I believe that recordings like it can be very much more effective if they were made in an environment that an average listener can emulate (to whatever degree) much more accurately.

So, what say you?

[tubashaman2]

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[brianf]

I have to admit that I do things outside the tuba world. One thing is a project that the CSO's Principal Horn, Dale Clevenger is working on. Here are videos of him playing various excerpts - the kicker is that the sound was recorded with one microphone on the stage and another near the back of the hall. There is a considerable difference between the two. The third soundtrack is a combination of the other two.

As someone mentioned, Gene has more excerpt CDs done that will not be released. Here's the problem - sales cannot make expenses, this would be a money loser. The Clevenger project is a differnt thing, it is web based and you pay a modest subscription fee. Nothing can be copied. This is something we are working on that might be the answer to having recordings available by prominent orchestral musicians.

Here's the question - would you be willing to pay a modest subscription fee for material on the web?

[tubashaman2]

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[BVD Press]

I have to admit that I do things outside the tuba world.

Noooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!

Something to consider: A CD will be purchased by just the curious, while an online site of excerpts will limit the pool of purchasers mostly to college and aspiring pro players. At this point in my life, I wouldn't subscribe to a site but would probably pick up a CD of Dale to listen to a few times. ANd where was all this stuff when I was in college?


In the spirit o true confessions, I have been obsessed with Woodwind Quintet literature lately....

[Chris Olka]

Was just following this thread. Check out this link:
http://tubaspace.ning.com/profile/ChrisOlka" target="_blank" target="_blank
Click on the excerpts listed on the left side of the page. These were recorded on a cheap mini-disc in a dead, musical instrument storage room in the basement of our hall. I prefer this kind of acoustic when recording for practice and reference. Dry environments help the ear zero in on the warts. You can hear all the blemishes. Lots of warts on the above recordings......doh! Is this what you had in mind?

Best,
Chris Olka
Seattle Symphony
Seattle Opera

[The Jackson]

Was just following this thread. Check out this link:
http://tubaspace.ning.com/profile/ChrisOlka" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank
Click on the excerpts listed on the left side of the page. These were recorded on a cheap mini-disc in a dead, musical instrument storage room in the basement of our hall. I prefer this kind of acoustic when recording for practice and reference. Dry environments help the ear zero in on the warts. You can hear all the blemishes. Lots of warts on the above recordings......doh! Is this what you had in mind?

Best,
Chris Olka
Seattle Symphony
Seattle Opera

Yes, that is exactly what I had in mind. It's much easier to hear what's really "going on" and what's coming right out of the bell.