Under our skin, we are all the same.
Every once in a while, I get to do something I find very fun. I record music for people who would like to have themselves recorded, or an event they are holding.
I've recorded a number of instruments. Drums, singers, piano styles ranging from Boogie-oggie to Classical, and yes, even bagpipes.
Most recently a friend asked me to record her playing her Cello as an audition for a class she is applying for. She is a teacher and a paid professional with a symphony Orchestra at a near by town. (The class is for a particular style of music.
While I was recording her playing, I heard what I can only describe as hesitation. If you asked me to explain it to you in words, I would not be able to. It's more of a 'feel' thing than technical, words like thing and something you more sense than hear. This was not the first time I have 'heard' it.
Usually, it is with someone who has never been infront of a microphone before. Or, they are new to the instrument and still not sure of it. Heck. I've felt it recording myself with my meager playing of music. This person is a pro, a teacher even. Her music has been heard by thousands. She has performed on recordings with her symphony and there we were. Me with my computer and a couple of microphones and her with her beautiful 100 plus year old Cello and she was, well, nervous.
Two side items. First off. If you told me some 10 years ago that I would be able to walk into a recording session with a laptop, a microphone stand and some headphones and walk out with a beautiful recording, I would have laughed at you.
Secondly, there is something to be said for the age of a musical instrument. The story I was told about this one in particular is that it was brought to the US in pieces and refurbushed about some 50 years ago. Before that it was believed to be in Germany where it was made some 100 years before that. The voice of this instrument is sweet a pure. I listen to the recordings and imagine the people that heard it play in it's early years, how they dresses and how it may have been the family entertainment before the days of TV and Internet. A tougher yet more simple time.
I digress.
What is it about a microphone that makes us more nervous than a person sitting there listening to us? It is that details are being recorded, moments captured that can be played back again and again?
Something that impressed me what that it is just common, no matter whom you are, no matter how much experience you have, a microphone can make you feel like everyone else.
Under our skin, we are all the same.
I've recorded a number of instruments. Drums, singers, piano styles ranging from Boogie-oggie to Classical, and yes, even bagpipes.
Most recently a friend asked me to record her playing her Cello as an audition for a class she is applying for. She is a teacher and a paid professional with a symphony Orchestra at a near by town. (The class is for a particular style of music.
While I was recording her playing, I heard what I can only describe as hesitation. If you asked me to explain it to you in words, I would not be able to. It's more of a 'feel' thing than technical, words like thing and something you more sense than hear. This was not the first time I have 'heard' it.
Usually, it is with someone who has never been infront of a microphone before. Or, they are new to the instrument and still not sure of it. Heck. I've felt it recording myself with my meager playing of music. This person is a pro, a teacher even. Her music has been heard by thousands. She has performed on recordings with her symphony and there we were. Me with my computer and a couple of microphones and her with her beautiful 100 plus year old Cello and she was, well, nervous.
Two side items. First off. If you told me some 10 years ago that I would be able to walk into a recording session with a laptop, a microphone stand and some headphones and walk out with a beautiful recording, I would have laughed at you.
Secondly, there is something to be said for the age of a musical instrument. The story I was told about this one in particular is that it was brought to the US in pieces and refurbushed about some 50 years ago. Before that it was believed to be in Germany where it was made some 100 years before that. The voice of this instrument is sweet a pure. I listen to the recordings and imagine the people that heard it play in it's early years, how they dresses and how it may have been the family entertainment before the days of TV and Internet. A tougher yet more simple time.
I digress.
What is it about a microphone that makes us more nervous than a person sitting there listening to us? It is that details are being recorded, moments captured that can be played back again and again?
Something that impressed me what that it is just common, no matter whom you are, no matter how much experience you have, a microphone can make you feel like everyone else.
Under our skin, we are all the same.
posted by Both Sides of My Brain at 2:55 PM
