Bob Draper wrote re my post:
>It is possible to have non-live recordings with great impact. But, these
>usually seem to be non-studio. One good example is Hogwood's Haydn series,
>recorded just down the road from me at Walthamstow Town Hall, London.
Actually there seem to be very few purpose-built recording studios in
London that are large enough to accommodate a large symphony orchestra,
possibly with chorus. The BBC have an excellent set of studios, but in
the private sector there is really only EMI's Abbey Road Studios. The
other main London recording venues are certain large local halls such as at
Walthamstow, Watford and Blackheath, and some churches or former churches.
These are of course multi-purpose venues, so all the paraphernalia and
personnel have to be wheeled in by the recording company as necessary for
recording sessions, and wheeled out again afterwards.
The EMI and DG label recordings done in London seem to be done at Abbey
Road, but AFAIK most if not all of the other recording companies prefer to
hire one of the other venues, certainly if there are large forces involved.
>Good engineers are thin on the ground.
I'll have to take his word for that. I've been in on recordings for EMI,
DG, Sony Classical, Chandos, Erato, Hyperion and other labels, and the
engineers always seem to know the score very well and to know what they are
doing. Where there is significant variation, I think, is in their degree
of rapport with the conductor. Some conductors hate recording, others will
tolerate it but make few concessions or allowances, so in these cases even
the best of engineers will have a tough time. There's one conductor I
could mention (an American, as it happens) who would always waste an
incredible amount of time during scheduled recording sessions in lengthy
meetings and discussions with all sorts of people, while everybody else
would just be hanging around with nothing to do, then rush through trying
to make up for lost time! But some conductors take a really positive
attitude to the business of recording and the special disciplines it
requires, and can work very closely with a good engineer to produce
fantastic results.
I would also say that a good engineer for one kind of music (say, romantic
symphonies) is not necessarily so good for other genres.
Alan Moss
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