Amateur classical players in NYC on shoestring

[logancircle]

It’s been a long time since I recorded classical music, but I am trying to get back into it, rebuild some skills in my brand new city, called Brooklyn, NY . It’s cheaper than ever for non-engineers and students to grab a beginner kit and hit record, but what is a good way to find needy classical musicians who might be guinea pigs for projects that could benefit from a keener ear and a nicer rig than maybe they’re getting from their iPhone + lightning mic?

I’ve done studio and field recording of ensembles and with laptop DAWs but right now I have a nice-ish field recorder with XLR ins.

[KuruPrionz]

Visit the Music Dept. at any nearby Community College and/or University.
Ask them if you can post a flyer, or record a dress rehearsal.

I used to do quite a bit of photography and connected with the staff at the Community College in the dance department. I was allowed to photograph the dress rehearsals and got some great shots. Everybody was in costume, the lights were set, etc.

Same thing but with guitarists.
If that doesn't work out, try all the local music shops, even chains like Guitar Center.
In other words, go where the guitarists go.

[logancircle]

It's been a while since I recorded classical music, just rock, so I don't have many examples. But any time I approached a potential project, they asked to listen to my classical work. Now I will have some to point to as I've been scheduled to record a series of pro pianists and soloists who are auditioning for a fancypants program, in a bunch of different halls in NY. I'll tell you how it goes!

[logancircle]

Here's one of the performances from this show.
https://youtu.be/KBnemrTJ3do

[jimjazzdad]

A couple of comments from the cheap seats:

Nice tone but perhaps a bit close for my taste. Maybe the room was not the best? Also curious: why there is no footage of the actual performance? A gazillion watermarked stills of various musicians, only a few of whom are cellists, doesn't make sense to me...

Anyway, "rock on" classical recording engineers!

[logancircle]

Good question. The video guy is slower than I, so we’re still waiting on him. Meanwhile my slideshow was just so I could send it to the artist to hear it. And it is a tad close but that’s to avoid pesky audience noise. There is a good bit of room in there, but there’d be more if the crowd was housebroken 🤭 was my first time miking cello with a ribbon and I really like what it did to the bow/string scratch.

[AndersonSoundRecording]

I mean, the cello sounds nice but the link takes me to a recording that is in mono.

Generally, for classical music, stereo recording is de rigeur - even on solo instruments.

NYC audiences are definitely tough, but in classical, the room and the environment is part of the performance. I've dealt with my share of bad rooms over the years, but that's part of the gig, too: how to represent the room without getting too much of it. It's always a crazy balancing act.

Even if you want to use artificial verb (which gets a LOT of use 'round these parts), using it in such a way that in complements the performance and natural ambience is part of the art of classical recording. In this case, adding some verb would at least create a pseudo-stereo feel. Just be cautious: I've found that trying to add a reverb that is significantly longer or different in character than the original space tends to sound "wrong". Musicians often subconsciously are playing to the space they're in: it affects tempo, articulation, and phrasing to greater or lesser degrees.

If you really dig this close-in sound (again, tone is nice), maybe go for M/S next time - definitely works well on solo instruments, and gives you the option to add more or less ambience after the fact.

Real ambience is tough to capture in NYC, but it's almost always worth the trouble IMHO

My $0.02 - worth every penny you paid for it.

EDIT: just realised the whole video is in mono, and there's piano, too. Nice sound and balance, musically speaking; but you need stereo, baby!

[vvv]

I nominate this for Zombie Thread of the Month, classical division (of course).

[AndersonSoundRecording]

I nominate this for Zombie Thread of the Month, classical division (of course).

Whenever I miss the "old days", I seem to come back here. This place seems like a ghost town nowadays - barely a post per day, if that...

Under another user name, I think I've been a member here since 2003 or 2004. I do miss the days of a really active forum in this community - I always enjoyed the vibe here over the one at Gearslutz.

Anyhoo, didn't know it was taboo to comment on old threads...

[MoreSpaceEcho]

I do miss the days of a really active forum in this community - I always enjoyed the vibe here over the one at Gearslutz.

That feeling's universal.

[jimjazzdad]

This is a sleepy little corner of the interweb but I enjoy the different perspectives of the regulars here (compared to some of the other 'big' audio forums). Not being a musician myself, I don't often have much to add to a lot of the threads but I'm glad the core of regular contributors keep things rolling along. Thanks!