Re: [Harp-L] My first Gordon Jacob piece, Cradle Song

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Syd Logan wrote:
<I've long (for decades now) been a fan of the great harmonica player Tommy
<Reilly. Gordon Jacob composed Little Suite for him, and you can hear
<Tommy's recording of it on his album Works For Harmonica and Orchestra. My
<other favorite player is Robert Bonfiglio, and of course on the jazz side
<there is Toots and Stevie Wonder.
<
<Anyway, I wanted to tackle something played by one of these artists, and I
<decided to order the sheet music for Little Suite, type in the piano part
<for one its pieces (Cradle Song), add some orchestration in Garage Band,
<and record the harmonica part with my old Super 64. I'm pretty happy how it
<turned out, and thought I would share it here.
<
<https://soundcloud.com/slogan621/cradle-song

The harmonica playing is strong--very nice tone, well recorded, perhaps a touch too much reverb (on this and the recording as a whole.)  Whatever your mic/preamp/etc. chain is, it's working for this style.

The accompaniment could use some work, especially the strings, which have a very synthy kind of delayed attack, and are too prominent in the mix.  If you're serious about doing more recordings like this, I recommend that you start reading Computer Music magazine, which is a very useful source of practical information on recording and mixing.  One of their issues from a few years ago discussed making synth-based orchestral recordings; if you can find it in their back issues, it would no doubt make interesting reading for you.  

Thanks and regards, Richard Hutner

author, "Jazz Harp" 
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