Date: Fri, 20 May 2005 16:26:20 -0700 (PDT)
From: Ethan Stoller
Subject: Re: [CB] recreating the octo sound using software
Hi there,
I've been a lurker here for a while. I have no expertise in the
contrabass clarinet; I play bass clarinet (rather poorly) but I adore
the sound of the contra.
Your post inspired me to experiment with my Logic
software. I posted an mp3 which features three brief sound
clips. The first is a snippet of the original recording of Quincy
Jones's "One More Time" from the "Walk Don't Run" soundtrack; it
features the contrabass clarinet. The second is the same clip
transposed down an octave with Logic's "harmonic correction" parameter
turned on. The third is also transposed down an octave, but with
the harmonic correction turned off. The whole thing is about 20
seconds long, you can access it here:
I'd love to hear what people think!
Ethan
--- Gregg Bailey wrote:
> CONTRABASS@contrabass.com
> =========================
> *My father is in the video/audio business, and he has
software which can
> pitch a recording down at least one octave without changing
the speed of
> the music/speech. He had an older version of this
software a few years
> ago, and he felt that the harmonics would get altered too
much when
> changing the pitch. However, he seems to think that
the latest software
> yields a better result when pitching a recording.
>
> Has anyone tried recording a BBb contra, patching the
recording into such
> software, and pitching it down an octave to yield the
approximate sound of
> an octocontra? Actually, I tried this on his older
version of the
> software a few years ago, and I thought the result was
quite interesting!
> Unfortunately, I don't think I recorded the result
onto any kind of
> medium. Perhaps I should do this again with his new
software. I would
> need to get access to one of the local high school's BBb
contras, however.
>
> Does anyone have interest in this?
>
> -Gregg
Dynamite Ham Music
Fun sounds, serious craft
---------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 20 May 2005 20:33:35 -0400
Subject: Re: [CB] [CB Digest]
From: Timothy Tikker
On Friday, May 20, 2005, at 06:43 PM, List Server wrote:
> With regard to octocontra recordings, are there any
soundtrack
> recordings from the tv series, "Mission Impossible"?
There was an LP years ago, but I don't recall if it had any low
clarinet tracks...
- Tim Tikker
---------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 20 May 2005 20:34:39 -0400
Subject: Re: [CB] [CB Digest]
From: Timothy Tikker
On Friday, May 20, 2005, at 06:43 PM, List Server wrote:
> But this is the same picture as the 3rd picture from the
top on Terje
> Lerstad's site...
>
> -Gregg
Which link didn't work for me, somehow...
- Tim Tikker
---------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 21 May 2005 08:33:50 -0400
From: Lawrence de Martin
Subject: [CB] Reproducing Octos
This list is about sharing, and there have been many postings
about the possibility of recording the rarest and lowest instruments to
"share the sound". As with the design of the octo-contrabss
instruments, the design of a reproduction chain for this sound is at
the limits of the state of the art.
Even the perception of extended frequencies is rare. I
have gathered anecdotal evidence and performed informal experiments
indicating that bass hearing is developmentally stunted by the bass
distortions of speakers. People who listen predominantly to
acoustic instruments (real music) are never fooled by reproduction,
whereas the public at large has proclaimed that recordings are
indistinguishable from the original event in every medium starting with
the Edison phonograph. Consequently, there is little market for
designing accurate speakers since anyone conditioned to music
reproduction will not perceive the improvement.
The shortcomings of bass speakers are, first: there is a low
frequency cutoff below which the output falls rapidly.
Conventional speakers are designed for a lower limit around G1.
"Subwoofers" designed for Home Theater (computer subs are a mis-nomer)
can usually manage a low B. The only production speaker that
extends into octo territory is the ServoDrive Contra, a beast of a
subwoofer that costs as much as a second hand contraalto.
Secondly, anywhere near the cutoff frequency time is radically
distorted. This is exacerbated by normal methods of extending the
low frequency of speakers including equalization, passive radiators,
vents and worst of all the triple-tuned Bose Wave system. This
means that when reproducing any bass instrument with a sharp attack,
the sound of the speaker will overwhelm the rhythm, or the Boombox
Effect.
To make matters worse, the recording end of the equation is
nearly always modified to reduce the effect of these speaker
distortions by simply eliminating the bottom octaves. Classic
microphones, consoles and media all cutoff bass in the same octave as
speakers. Normal production and engineering move the cutoff point
still higher (around E2), as documented by Greiner and Eggers in a
survey of recordings circa 1989.
So what can be done? A small goup of engineers are
pursuing the bass potential of digital reproduction. There are
new microphone designs from Earthworks (QTC1,) Sennheiser (MKH20) and
AKG (C480B/CK62) and headphones from Sennheiser (HD590), Beyerdynamic
(DT931) and Ultrasone (most models) that cover octo-contrabass range
with precision. For about $2,000 you can put together a mono
reproduction system, and $3,000-$5,000 for stereo including a CD
recorder or computer with interface.
These recordings can be distributed with no loss of bass over
the internet and playback systems are a bargain, using a $200-$500
headphone and nearly any headphone amp - except maybe the one that
comes in your computer.
I will gladly record any contrabass activity in the Greater New
York area, having collected the above mentioned into travel
cases. The only caveat is that there is substantial low frequency
noise anywhere near vehicular traffic, even miles from train tracks and
highways in some cases.
Larry de Martin
Greenwich CT
p.s. Do not let any recording engineer tell you that his
cardioid microphones are better, or even as good as the omnidirectional
models listed. Bass is always stunted by directionality.
Further, no Neumann model has the octo bass response of these either.
Sung Hwang Wang wrote:
>Indeed, why don’t we make a recording of the octocontras?
>
>Isn’t there are still an octocontra alto and an
octocontrabass at Leblanc
>office, why don’t we ask them to make a recording of
it? I am certain there
>players up to the task.
>
>
***End of Contrabass Digest***