Technology And Concertina Disussion Forum ?

[Noel Ways]

For some time now I have wished that there was a

dedicated discussion forum that dealt with technology and the concertina.

So I wanted to float this idea to see if there was interest,

and if the "powers that be" might be amenable.

Such a forum, as I envision it, might include:

 

• Home recording studio (a place in the house) set up

• Mic placements

• Video and sound issues.

• Pros and cons of computer generated effects (i.e. reverb, etc.)

• Discussion on the value of various software products

• Which mics are best for the concertina?

• MIDI concertina development issues

• ETC ETC

 

Just a suggestion. But it seems to me that this area is so vast,

that a dedicated forum might serve us all well.

 

 

 

Edit: Good grief, I just noted that there is a forum,

"Forum Questions, Suggestions, Help" where this suggestion

should have been placed. Oh well, hope the idea

gains some traction anyway !!

Edited August 27, 2016 by Noel Ways

[Will Moore]

I'd be up for that. Other than concertina, technology is my greatest love and what I have devoted my career to. I'll talk tech with anyone

[Don Taylor]

I would prefer that you lobbied for a sub-forum right here rather than a new, separate forum somewhere else.

 

Splitting specialist forums is often fatal.

 

Don.

[Will Moore]

I thought that is what he was suggesting!! I agree with Don keep it here but in a new area

[Noel Ways]

What ever works ...

 

My thought was here on concertina.net, of course;

but adding another option under "Discussion Forums".

 

I do think there is a need !!

[Dana Johnson]

No clue how to make a sub forum, I did a lot of recording back in the late nineties. I had a fantastic recording space that friends did a couple albums in because it sounded so good. I know I am in the minority, but I generally am not a fan of close miking. It absolutely works, but I find an actual live space gives you a subtle sense of space that added reverb really can't. You do need the right space though and some that seem fine to your ear are terrible when you actually record in them. Close miking by itself sounds dead and doesn't represent what a real audience will hear. When you have multiple instruments, the space gets more critical and close miking or overdubbing gets more attractive for being able to control your final levels.

I used a few different mikes, but the ones I liked best for concertinas were a pair of Rode Classics one mounted coaxial lay over the other with the diaphragms oriented in an XY manner. I found this was the only orientation that didn't suffer from comb filtering, which could really alter the sound in unpleasant ways.. This orientation centered three or four feet in front of the player was very difficult to tell from what you heard with the headphones off. I did the same thing with a pair of Rode NT2s which also sounded great if a less warm sound than the tube mikes. You can buy coaxial stereo mikes built like that, but if you already have a couple mikes, you can just suspend one upside down over the other from it's mike stand. I just made a clampy thing that held both mikes.

This is just something that worked for me and allowed me to take advantage of some good natural acoustics. Our brains and ears derive a lot of unconscious information from the various phase relationships of reflected versus direct sound. Our brain is expecting that information, and if it only gets a vague suggestion of it, it leaves you less satisfied with the sound. Professional sound engineers I'm sure have a whole bag of tricks for any situation. I don't pretend to have their knowledge.

Dana

[JimLucas]

No clue how to make a sub forum....

 

Ask Paul and Ken. Maybe start a poll (that probably requires starting a new thread), and if you get sufficient positive responses, then that would help convince them that a new subForum is desirable.

[Chris Ghent]

Can I argue against a sub-forum. It is a retrograde idea which will entrench the divisions between those who are enthusiastically in favour of modernism or are at least open to it, and those who feel an integral part of the charm of this pursuit is the oldworldiness of the instruments.

 

To put things in perspective, I would be happy if the forums were all abandoned and all posts ended up on the same heap. Untidy? Perhaps. But it would mean people of different persuasions rubbing shoulders and learning from each other. If people don't want to read about electronics they don't have to open the thread. Personally I read all of the construction threads, no matter how wild in direction, and whether they are about trads, hybrids, semi-hybrids or electronic, all of which are valid expressions of the term "concertina".

[Ken_Coles]

We often get suggestions for new forums/subforums. My impression here is that we are talking recording technology, rather than all the other ways tech shows up (manufacturing - under Instrument Construction, measuring reed response - ditto, how Lachenal changed manufacturing technology - Concertina History, etc.), so the title would need to be more specific. Perhaps simpler (from our point of view) is to revise the description of the Videos and Music forum to include the discussion of recording technology, as that is where many of those discussions end up now.

 

If the folks you hope will read and participates in these threads are using the "show me posts/threads new since my last visit," they will see them wherever they are posted, and provided the title is reasonably descriptive they will read and/or join in.

 

In the field where I work, we describe and classify aspects of the natural world. I have colleagues known variously as "splitters" (we need more names and categories) and "lumpers" (we need fewer names and categories). Both you will always have with you.

 

Just my tuppence,

Ken

[JimLucas]

Just my tuppence,

 

And so here's mine:

• Are there really enough technology issues that are specific to concertinas to justify having a separate forum here rather than raising them in a forum dedicated to audio/video technology in general? Past discussions have included:
  • Positioning and attachment of mikes on the instrument. -- Fair enough, though I personally have found that the end result depends far more on the individual sound engineer and his/her equipment than on specifics of mikes on the instrument. In fact, the best sound I've ever had was on two separate occasions where (in both cases) I had no mikes on my concertina, but the sound men obviously "knew their stuff". And the worst is a sound man who keeps trying to "correct" the sound you're trying to achieve.
  • What's the best equipment for recording in sessions or a home studio? -- Not exactly concertina-specific.
  • Building a MIDI concertina. -- That's well covered in the Construction and Repair forum.
  • Problems with fans. -- Do instruments with vibrating strings or air columns not have these problems? In any case, the "technological" solution is simply to stay away from fans.
  • Others are welcome to add categories I've missed.
• As for the Videos and Music forum... it's always been my feeling that that was intended for stuff to see and hear, not for discussing how to produce such items, which to me is a very different subject.

In fact, looking back at Noel's original post, most of the topics he's listed seem to me to be simply about sound and video technology, applicable to concertinas only because concertinas can be recorded. Wouldn't it make more sense to discuss here references and recommendations to existing technology forums, where many relevant issues have already been discussed in great detail?

 

But as I suggested above, why not start a poll to see how much interest there might be in the new-subforum proposal? A poll is one of the options when starting a new thread ("topic").