HEllo Ardith,

On Fri 2038-Apr-23 23:56, Ardith Hinton (1:153/716) wrote to Richard Webb:

AH> Hi & welcome, Richard!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith
AH> Hinton: 

RW>  And, as this old audio engineer, bass man and
RW>  keyboard player


AH>           Uh-huh.  I've seen messages from you in other echoes, and
AH> you strike me as a man of good sense....  :-)

Glad to hear that, I try anyway .


RW>  learned years ago, bagpipes were meant to do just
RW>  that, especially the "war pipes" mentioned.  THey
RW>  were designed as munitions.

AH>           Music hath charms to soothe the savage b(r)east... or
AH> whatever.  ;-) 

Or root him to the spot in fear in the case of war pipes
>


RW>  Bag pipes, and some opera singers were not something
RW>  taken into consideration when most modenr recording
RW>  facilities were built.  Tried recording both in the
RW>  average studio.

AH>           Ahh.  Some time ago, I helped a kid tune his drones in a
AH> four by six foot practice room.  I won't make that mistake again...
AH> [chuckle]. 
Oooh, not fun.  I remember a kid whacking on a snare drum
when I was with an ear a foot or two from it adjusting the
position of a microphone in the studio.  .




AH>           Makes sense to me!  Dallas & I have performed in school
AH> gyms... both as teachers and as musicians.  With a concert band or
AH> pit orchestra a big live room enhances the sound where it tends to
AH> disappear into the rafters of a gym. With a pipe band the apparent
AH> reduction in volume could be desirable....  :-)) 

YEp, can see that.  I always liked nice theaters, and
dreaded some gyms and sports arenas.  I used to call
Veterans' auditorium in Des MOines Iowa Vets echotorium when I"d do
sound reinforcement there with a company I worked
for.  Otoh the old KRNT radio theater was great to do sound
in, as was Hoyt Sherman place where they did dramatic
performances.  For either of the later two unless the band
had electronic amplification on stage you really didn't need sound reinforcement.


AH>           Thankyou for adding to it.

YOu bet, I've got more somewhere.

AH>           Laughter is good medicine.  On a physical level, it can
AH> exercise the diaphragm & improve the functioning of the immune
AH> system... on a psychological level, I think being able to laugh at
AH> oneself is important too.  :-) 

YOu bet it is.


RW>  What do you call a trombone player with a pager?

RW>  An optimist.


RW>  What do you call a guitar player without a girlfriend?

RW>  HOmeless.


AH>           Or we could just substitute the word "musician" in either
AH> case!  But seriously, I believe Deepak Chopra has a point when he
AH> says what we love to do is the key to what we should be doing.  And
AH> I reckon you understand that.  :-) 

INdeed, you sure could, and you're right on the other point. I"m never
happie than when I"m helping somebody flesh out an arrangement of a
song they've written, or capturing a great
performance.  LIstening to a poorly done performance is
painful, in fact I"d just as soon do a broadcast remote of a
basketball game, but there are those moments at times in my
career in audio or as a musician when I wonder why I was
really getting paid to do something so pleasurable.
ACcepting the money in those situations feels like cheating
someone.

One of those moments occurred for me when I first went to
recording to hard drive in my studio.  tHe studio I'd
previously been employed by was analog for multi-track, and
I gave this band a really good deal to be my experimental
guinea pigs.  wHen I first heard them was at one of these
outdoor festival type gigs where their stage was a flatbed
trailer, the sound reinforcement was inadequate to the spae, and they were
quite drunk.
I didn't like their music.

tHe occasion I heard them play, and book the studio sessions was at a club
that used to be a supper club, nice acoustics, they were sober and lucid. 
I found i actually enjoyed some
of their songs, even though the so-called alternative music
genre isn't my thing.  THen we got them in the studio.

We did the foundation tracks at the guitaristt's family's
business, a tent and awning fabrication plant.  Big three
story warehouse building made of brick.  I used bales of
canvas to isolate the drums, was able to just use a nice
stereo pair in xy over the kit, with a mic on the kick drum
to help out.  WAs able to pull them back to where the true
sound of the drums develops.  ISolated one guitar amp in an
office, another in a stairwell.

One shouldn't get paid to have so much fun!

Regards,
           Richard
--- timEd 1.10.y2k+