But the reverb hides the imperfections so effectively..................
RT
----- Original Message -----
From: <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, March 15, 2010 10:46 PM
Subject: [LUTE] Re: Modern lute recordings
Ned,
You're not alone at all. I'm in complete agreement with you. It seems
to me that the ideal place to record a lute of all instruments, is a
controlled environment like a recording studio where a touch of reverb can
be added if wanted. The long decay of a cavernous cathedral might feel good
for the player, but its a very un-HIP place to find a solo lute. I would
love to turn down the reverb on nearly all my recordings.
Chris
--- On Mon, 3/15/10, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote:
From: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Subject: [LUTE] Modern lute recordings
To: [email protected]
Date: Monday, March 15, 2010, 9:10 PM
Looking on youtube
for a video of the Earl of Essex Galliard the other
night, I came across one by Elizabeth
Brown. A fine player, but sounds
I never heard from a lute live. I
wondered what her recording engineer
was thinking. But then I remembered
that "her" sound was not
completely unlike what I hear on many
lute CDs, and it occurs to me
that today's recording engineers
generally have an odd concept of what
a lute should sound like.
Primarily, they seem to think it should
sound BIG and with the oodles of reverb -
as if heard from many feet
away in a large and empty
catherdral. Harmonia Mundi records Paul
O'Dette this way, as do ECM and Naxos
Nigel North, Naive Hopkinson
Smith, and (not as exaggeratedly)
Hyperion Elizabeth Kenny.
Going into my vinyl collection I found
that in the past, both Nonesuch
and Astree did a much more natural job
with Paul O'Dette, Edition Open
Window is wonderful with Jurgen
Hubscher (and Alfred Gross), and Decca
always gave Joe Iadone and Chris Williams
a natural sound.
So, my appeal is to recording engineers:
go into a medium size - or
even fairly large - room with a lutenist
sometime and listen to the
sound he/she produces. Then
forget recording in churches or
cathedrals and by all means leave all
electronic 'enhanements' out of
the recording chain.
Am I alone in this view?
Ned
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