Concertina and The Room

[Lawrence Reeves]

I went to a session about an hour and a half away yesterday afternoon. I was blown away with the acoustics of the place, and really thought it made the concertina sound great. So many times I have trouble hearing myself in a loud session, but this coffee house was awesome. A very old, built in the teens narrow room with tall ceilings. The ceiling fans were off, and all hardwood floors. The Shakespeare I have played for years, is not a very powerful box in big rooms, so this was a real treat.

I am in the planning stages of a recording, and although I will play mostly flute and whistle for it, I will play a few sets on concertina. The room has now become a big focus of where the recordings will take place.

[Bruce McCaskey]

It's great that you've found such a space. I've encountered a few over the years that have been quite complimentary to my instruments, although sadly, none were close to my home.

 

May I suggest that you test different locations within the room as you decide where to set up to play for your recording equipment? I find that changing locations in almost any enclosed or semi-enclosed space can affect how a concertina sounds. Playing in a corner sounds different from being against a wall on one side of room, and that's often different then being in the center of the room. Much depends on the amount of hard surfaces and the placement of door openings and non-reflective surfaces such as soft-surface furniture and carpet.

 

Of course the microphone placement and technical aspects of their elements and amplification are big factors too. A microphone set for placement very near the concertina reeds would likely be much less responsive to room acoustics than one placed some distance away.

[Henrik Müller]

...

I was blown away with the acoustics of the place,

...

Agree, agree! The place, the space can really get the best out of you -

there are some rooms around here, where I could be left alone to play

for hours and hours.

 

Now - a lounge with soft settees and a thick carpet...

 

/Henrik

[Chris Timson]

The ceiling fans were off,

Just as well unless you *like* warbling concertinas

 

Chris

[michael sam wild]

Good luck Lawrence I hope you let us know when it's out.

 

I love a high room, hard wood floors and stone walls. My old kitchen wqs like that. Now I play with my mate who has an old Victoruian stone house.

 

As a lad we all chose the tiled toilets at our school for harmony singing, great reverb!

[Jody Kruskal]

As a lad we all chose the tiled toilets at our school for harmony singing, great reverb

We did the same with stairwells. Great stuff.

[Chris Timson]

We did the same with stairwells. Great stuff.

For many years the last "event" of the evening at Chippenham Folk Festival (until they rebuilt the Neeld Hall) was the gathering at the bottom of the stairwell by the loos for a session singing chorus songs. This became known as the Acoustic Bog Chorus.

 

Chris

[frogspawn]

I recently started taking my concertina to work where I play at the bottom of a back stairwell at lunchtime. The acoustics are very wet. Somebody from another company came down to see what the noise was. He is himself an accordion player but thought I was playing some sort of electronic instrument!

[PeterT]

We did the same with stairwells. Great stuff.

For many years the last "event" of the evening at Chippenham Folk Festival (until they rebuilt the Neeld Hall) was the gathering at the bottom of the stairwell by the loos for a session singing chorus songs. This became known as the Acoustic Bog Chorus.

 

Chris

Funny how I knew, from half a sentence, that you were going to say that! A great time was had by all, in that concertina-free environment.

[Brian Peters]

I enjoy practicing in a 'live' room - the kitchen, in our house - and performing in a resonant space as opposed to a dead one can make you feel as though you're sounding twice as good. Personally, though (and I do stress personally), I don't like my recording space to be too live. A very resonant room can make the music sound very distant if you're not careful, whereas I prefer a more intimate sound. Also, if you're recording a vocal or other instruments at the same time, all the problems of spill are magnified. Having said that, I believe John K. (on 'Sheepskins', I think) chose a resonant space with the mikes at the far end, to get as much room sound as possible.

[michael sam wild]

Wasn't that in the 3 Tuns at Bishop's Castle in Shropshire? We had a nice session there when Sheffield City Morris visited Bedlams

[Henrik Müller]

I know this is an old post, but...

 

Recently, I had the privilige to be asked to play a piece (of my own choice) at friends' wedding,

the ceremony taking place in the cathedral in Lund in southern Sweden.

 

Considering the reverberation time, I played an Irish slow air, Bhean Dubh an Gleanna (The Dark Woman of the Glen).

 

A mighty, mighty experience, also demonstrating the value of doing one's home work: I find airs very difficult to learn and

had spent two weeks getting it right; that paid off.

 

/Henrik

[JimLucas]

Ordinarily, I find that playing in outdoor spaces, the sound "disappears" into the air. But there are exceptions.

 

One can think of canyons and such, but a favorite place for me is between the house and barn on a friend's farm. I'd guess they're about 12 meters apart, both made of wood (with planks set vertically; I wonder if that matters), and the result is very "live" and "rich", without being "echoey".

[Randy Stein]

For amazing acoustics of a room view Juliette Daum's youtube videos. The sound of the room enhances her amazing playing.

rss

[Kautilya]

I know this is an old post, but...

 

Recently, I had the privilige to be asked to play a piece (of my own choice) at friends' wedding,

the ceremony taking place in the cathedral in Lund in southern Sweden.

 

Considering the reverberation time, I played an Irish slow air, Bhean Dubh an Gleanna (The Dark Woman of the Glen).

 

A mighty, mighty experience, also demonstrating the value of doing one's home work: I find airs very difficult to learn and

had spent two weeks getting it right; that paid off.

 

/Henrik

Were you playing a bass tina? :blink:

Tried to find a recording of Durham Cathedral's 'banned' long bass pipe with no luck** but sounds like Augsburg is well in the reverb league!

http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=3Wpn7xyzUqg&feature=more_related

 

Rather messy Durham at around 1.49

 

And I offer the other end of the scale - crystal echo

http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=5LgipaPfQww&feature=related

Edited August 31, 2010 by Kautilya

[michael sam wild]

We recently visited an old abbey in Galloway, destroyed by Henry VIII,. One of the chantry houses is intact and the acoustics were phenomenal , you could get the right resonance key, somewhere around the key of A ( I had no tuner sadly) Just right for plainsong I reckon.

 

 

Another thing i've noticed , when you have the luck to play in an old Assembly Room from the 18th C you can see how the musicians could play for lively and noisy dances without PA.

 

 

I suppose chamber music was tailored to the room

Edited August 31, 2010 by michael sam wild

[Robert Booth]

Thinking about Jim's comment about playing outside: I always take a solo trip around the Pacific Northwest in the Summer, wandering around up in the woods alone, following my nose. I always take my concertina and have found that playing outside in the open wilderness just doesn't do it for me.

It seems that not only does the sound get swallowed up in the vastness, but I get this sense that I am, somehow, gilding the lily, that the huge rustling of forest, wind, and rushing water (all ubiquitous in the Northwest woods) don't want or need my feeble pipings. I become...fashed, I suppose is the word, and inevitably put the old girl back in her case to wait until I find a place that will accept the music.

All very moony and subjective, but there it is. Have you ever felt this way?

RB