Musical Event No 7

Musical Event No 7 – A review

We hosted two, day-long, sessions of this live music event, a collaboration with Crescent Records in their beautiful recording space in Swindon. This was similar to our Musical Event No 6 but with longer, more relaxed, sessions and with the addition of Fleur Stephenson on vocals to the trio led by Pete Billington.

We heard various arrangements of tunes that were recorded by Damon Sawyer, Crescent Records recording engineer. Over the course of the two days, several tracks were recorded, which included a couple of a retakes to some, which we are likely to include on the final CD to show the organic evolution of a particular musical arrangement.

A trio consisting of piano, acoustic bass (this time being the acclaimed Alec Dankworth), and drums was chosen, as these instruments cover a wide range of the audible spectrum we listen to. For this event, Fleur Stephenson a very fine jazz vocalist to the mix gave an extra dimension and interest. Damon took a lot of care pre-setting some of the microphones prior to our sessions and explained in some detail how he had selected the different microphones for each application, including ambient microphones. The majority were used on the drums, with just a stereo pair on the piano and single microphone for the upright bass. A very fine valve microphone was used for the vocals.

Damon further explained his method of placing microphones, recording, blending, and mastering based on his long experience in the industry, The principal aim being to capture the individual instruments as realistically and as naturally as possible. He explained how he records t PCM 384 kHz/24 bit, controls factors such as audio spill, includes room ambience during the recording, and the EQ and compression techniques he needs to employ in post-production to balance the instruments and in this case, the singer. To be clear, this was a recording session, rather than a live ‘gig’. This was interesting, as Fleur’s projection was nuanced but very quiet. She could hardly be heard in the recording space itself but could be clearly heard in the mixing suite. This gave a great insight into the recording process.

During the sound-check stage, our guests were able to hear a bit of the trio playing and watch Damon balancing and checking EQ prior to the first take. During the recording guests either sat in the studio and were asked to be as quiet as possible, or they could sit with Damon in the mixing suite to hear a more balanced reproduction of the ensemble, with Fleur’s voice being distinct.

Whilst Damon was working on the first mixes of the recording, guests were able to relax and talk amongst themselves, whilst enjoying their lunch. After lunch, we had a second recording session. Post this, we then played back the initial mixes from Damon from the morning session on the system which we brought with us – details below. All agreed how good the sound was including the extremely realistic tone of the piano, which a reviewer (Kevin Fisk) commented on specifically.

At this point we had a discussion around the components in our system and answered questions.

The feedback from our guests was very positive commenting on how much they had enjoyed the event and found it very informative, entertaining and enjoyable. This longer session format seems to have been a benefit, so we will follow this format in future.

We were delighted to have the company of George Sallit (of HiFiWigWam) and Kevin Fiske (of HiFiWigWam and The Ear Magazine), who both thoroughly enjoyed the live music, the presentations and discussions, as well as the comparison of the recording vs our audio system.

The final, more carefully mastered mixes of all of the tracks, will be sent out in due course to all attendees.

Read Kevin Fiske’s review of this event in The Ear here

Read Martin Virgo's review on HiFiWigwam here