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Music Lane It's all about the music, dude! Sit down, relax and listen to some tunes. |
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Music Lane It's all about the music, dude! Sit down, relax and listen to some tunes. |
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In Reply to: The worst offenders are... posted by C.B. on September 8, 2006 at 04:01:23:
C.B.,You're spot on that the harpsichord and clavichord are the most often overly close miked. I used to have a radio programme for keyboard music and listened to piles of recordings and I would have to say the clavichord is ne of the most difficult instruments to record. As these are so quiet and yet still so dynamic- though never very loud, the range from quietest to loudest is still wide- the tendency is to put a mike almost on the soundboard. And clavichords can have noisy actions. I have a Rene Clemenic recording of very early keyboard music and as was once said about virginals, there was heard, "more wood than wire". Clavichords vary in timbre a lot more than pianos too and it's very difficult to capture that subtelty. One recording that does is Hogwood's "Six Prussian Sonatas" by CPE Bach and the sound of Hogwood's 1791 Hass does reveal the distinctive sound. The big clavichords are quieter than the small ones and the longer string scale makes them darker and easier I think to handle. Some of the best clavichord recording I've heard were the Thurston Dart recordings for L'OL and these are on a small fretted instrument that has more punch- if "p" is at least more than "pp". Also, the Dart Froberger and French Suites records are among the most compelling clavichord performances on record.
In 1993 I went to a clavichord symposium in Italy, the Magnano Congresso, and I talked to Hogwood (event co-chair), Derek Adlam, and other people who record and like most professional musicians, they concentrate on their performance and had little comment on the recording techniques,
In the harpsichord world, I have been a long time fan of Igor Kipnis, but unfortunately, his older Columbia recordings have some of the worst close miking to the point these have a claustrophobic sound and there is a lot of jacks falling noise and breathing. One of the most subtle harpsichord recordings I've heard recently is the Moroney set of the complete Byrd keyboard music (8CDs)- he uses careful reproductions of harpsichords,virginals, clavichords, and organs and the distinct sounds of each instrument are well done- you can tell a Flemish harpsichord from an Italian. Richard Egarr and William Christie too seems to often find good engineers, but I still hear pretty harsh, unrefined harpsichord recordings.
I have a piano, harpsichord, and clavichord at home and have fussed with recording all three. Using Oktava M012s- a small diaphragm, Nuemann KM84 clone, and a Peavey tube microphone preamp (6-12AX7, 2-12AT7),into M-Audio 2496 soundcard to HD, I never got pleasing results from either harpsichord or clavichord- piano was not too bad so I know the gear is potentially capable,.. Next time, I'm going to try a PZM with large diaphragm omnis (AKG C414s) for ambience, which a lot of people claim is excellent on piano.
Two tough instruments to record!
Cheers,
Bambi B
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Follow Ups
- Harpsichord and clavichord - Bambi B 05:46:02 09/08/06 (2)
- Re: Harpsichord and clavichord - C.B. 09:01:11 09/08/06 (1)
- Igor Kipnis, Joseph Spencer - Bambi B 10:51:09 09/08/06 (0)
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