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Hi-
As part of their Al Stiefel Legacy Room participation in RMAF 2015, Grace Design is providing Dropbox download keys to a brief (4 minute) classical solo piano track I recorded using a Grace Design m201 combination stereo microphone preamplifier, Analog to Digital Converter, and Mid-Side microphone array matrix box, fed by Coles Ribbon microphones. The piece is Scriabin's D-flat Prelude played by Stephen T. Martorella on a Golden Era Steinway.
So as not to leave out all those who cannot attend, here's the Dropbox key.
Ciao,
John
Follow Ups:
I was in the Grace Design room today at RMAF. In my opinion one of the best rooms at the show. The Vivid V1 speakers were outstanding. They're using the M920 DAC/Linestage. They also were using a Parasound CD1. It's the kind of sound that's completely fatigue-free. It just makes you want to hear more. What I also liked about this room is that they gave visitors a handout which listed tunes they'd copied over four CDs. You just picked something and they'd play it. The selection was excellent. I wish more rooms did this.
I guess I should put some text here...
I also want to hear the Vivid B-1 Decade... JA and I both loved the original B-1.
jm
Oops, silly me, that's redundant.
Wow, thank you very much, Mr. Marks! That piece is absolutely gorgeous and beautifully recorded.
I have never heard of that composer nor that piece of music. Would you mind recommending a CD or two of his work.
Also, thank you for the recs you make in your column for Stereophile. You have led me to many wonderful CDs that I would have known nothing about otherwise.
Cheers,
Scott
Dear Scott,
First off, thanks for your kind words, which I will pass on to Steve Martorella.
And please call me John!
Alexander Scriabin: Prelude, op. 11 no. 15
Stephen T. Martorella, Steinway piano
NOTES FROM THE PRODUCER: JOHN MARKS
I wanted to add musical variety to the CD project I produced and engineered to commemorate the 375th anniversary of the founding (in 1638) of the First Baptist Church in America. So, I asked Minister of Music Steve Martorella to play one of Scriabin's solo-piano preludes. Scriabin's preludes are very much the kind of music Steve often would play before or after the service, as a prelude or a postlude.
The op. 11 pieces were a delightful new discovery for Steve, and we quickly settled on no. 15, in D flat. Popular-music fans with long memories (and a knack for trivia) might recall that a fragment of Scriabin's D-flat Prelude served as the introduction to Michael Murphey's 1975 radio hit "Wildfire," which in due course was certified by the RIAA as a Platinum record.
Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin (1871-1915) is remembered today primarily for a small number of orchestral pieces or the curious fact that he experienced synesthesia, that is, the perception of musical tones as colors. Later in life, Scriabin was influenced by the Symbolist movement (as well as by the belief system Theosophy), and, independently of Schoenberg, he developed an atonal compositional language.
Scriabin's early piano pieces, however, are strictly tonal. Scriabin's early compositional style is in the Impressionist vein, but also evidencing the greatest admiration for Chopin. Scriabin's op. 11 no. 15 is a graceful tendril of melody suspended over pensive, slow-moving chords. Consisting of only 27 measures, op. 11 no. 15 is as memorable, as it is brief.
I recorded Steve in the Auditorium (the worship space) of the First Baptist Church's Third Meeting House (1775-1776). The Auditorium is 80 feet square; I estimate the highest part of its barrel-vaulted central ceiling section to be 56 feet. Despite having a horsehair-plaster ceiling, the reverberation time in the room is a bit tight. To make the sound less dry, a helper and I removed all the pew cushions, which just about doubled the reverberation time.
In order to get a realistic portrayal of the piano's being in a three-dimensional space, I used Coles' model 4050 stereo ribbon-microphone array in a Mid-Side disposition. I adjusted the M-S matrix control on the Grace Designs m201 microphone preamplifier/Analog-to-Digital converter so the Side-facing microphone contributed 60 percent of the sound, while the Mid-facing microphone contributed 40 percent of the sound. The microphone stand was approximately 9 feet back from the side of a golden-era Steinway, with the microphones at a height just below the highest part of the piano's raised lid.
Although this 24-bit, 96kHz track "sounds quiet," its peaks are circa -4dB, resulting in an uncompressed dynamic range of approximately 40dB.
v. 1.5
# # #
There's a bit of a problem with Scriabin recordings because until recently he was hardly even a "minority enthusiasm." He was noted mostly for a couple of orchestral pieces and his neurological quirk.
I'd say the easiest and cheapest way to decide what you want to buy is to search on YouTube for his orchestral works (Pierre Boulez comes highly recommended) such as Poem of Ecstasy, and his piano works such as the several sets of Preludes. Scriabin's son-in-law Sofronitsky was one of his greatest interpreters, but AFAIK he did not get recorded in modern sound.
There's a highly-regarded live Richter recital of only Scriabin works, again in mono sound.
So, after checking out YouTube, choose some pieces and get recording recommendations from www.arkivmusic.com.
ATB,
John
You mentioned Sofronitisky and here he is playing the Scriabin Op. 11 no 15. World of difference in the performance quality, and yes the sound is subpar mono:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0b0JnKjq4U
Thanks, John. Great information. I really appreciate it. ATB to you as well.
Scott
Is this what passes for an 'audiophile quality' recording these days? All I heard was a loud rumble that persisted for the entire recording except for when the limiter was activated, which was nearly every key strike, and the rumble disappeared for a moment.
Hi-
Thanks for listening. May I ask on what did you listen?
Also, did you read the accompanying comments document?
I recorded that in a historical church in Providence, Rhode Island. So yes, there is city noise, more than I would wish. But I also believe that there are some cures that are worse than some diseases, so there was no effort made to filter out that noise.
Next, there was no limiter applied. Above is a screenshot of a piano note. It looks like an uncompressed waveform to me.
I had previously sent the track to Bob Ludwig, and I take the liberty of quoting him in self-defense (and if there were obvious flaws in the track, I think Bob would have told me):
"That 96k24 file of the Scriabin is very nice. The M/S is nice and clear. It's the antithesis of the way I record piano; wide omnis like Judith Sherman, but I like your recording a lot." Bob accepted that the recording venue was noisy. The recording project was to celebrate the 375th anniversary of the founding of that church, so, recording in a studio would have made no sense to anyone.
Given the difference between Bob's reaction and yours, I might suspect that your download got corrupted, or that it was perhaps in some way changed by your computer, perhaps without your knowledge.
I think that it is an unusually soulful performance, and the recording shows how the Grace m201's M-S function can give reality a little help but in organic, non-artificial ways (the Side track was not EQ'd differently than the Mid--neither track was EQ'ed).
In any event, the track cost you nothing other than the time to download it.
Have a nice day.
John Marks
I liked it.
I was surprised how high the recording level got, considering how soft the Music was.
If he played something louder, would it have gone over 0bd?
I played it on Audiogate, to see the Levels.
I do some recording, and getting the levels right isn't easy!
I only use a hand held Sony D 100, on a Mic stand, so I can't Monitor.
I know where to set it for a familiar group like my Clarinet Quartet, but the Dynamic Range of as Big Band is tough to deal with.
It goes over 0 at some point, no matter what!
Edits: 10/02/15
If the music had been louder, I hope I would have caught that by my usual practice of, asking them to play the loudest part and then adding a few dB to make up for the fact that I have only rarely recorded a musician who put out for a soundcheck as though it was a "real" recording.
Ignoring the high noise floor, the particular structure of this piece, which was accentuated by the performer, is slow-moving chords that are later joined by an even slower "ghost melody." Steve really pointed the notes of the ghost melody, so you have an instance of a piece with a lower average level but a higher peak level.
The above is why the Dropbox and my OP includes the sheet music.
Thanks for listening and thanks for posting!
John
A "level check" is essential, and, recognizing that musicians, especially classical musicians, will always play louder during performance than during level check is also essential.
Back in the day of tape recording, when I wanted to be sure I had an unclipped recording, and didn't have the opportunity for a "do-over", I'd always set the levels lower than necessary. Yes, I know that tape "soft clips", but I didn't want to risk anything for these "once-in-a-lifetime" recordings. So, I've got some recordings which have more hiss than I'd like, but they're still great recordings.
On the other hand, I made a live recording of Shubert's Fantasia in F Minor, where the SSFFZZ completely overwhelmed my expectations, and the system clipped. :( Forty years later, I still want to fix that!
I bet Digital is even more sensitive to going over 0 than Tape, even with Tape Saturation.
Under recorded Digital doesn't have the hiss problem, but both too high and too low
Digital Levels make for a less than satisfactory listening experience.
Too high, even not over 0 can sound bright and hard.
Of course , I don't have anywhere near state of the art equipment...
Or, come to think of it, Knowledge.
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