I recorded this in one take last night: (I'm the cameraman not the player!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9jyp5GE7mE

Managed to get two cameras, one on the feet, and one on the main manuals; Sound is coming from half way down the Cathedral, 2 x NT5s pointing straight at the Organ, spaced about 10m apart, going into a Saffire Pro40 + logic. No EQ etc, just ran it through Slate Digital VCC for a bit of fun.

Enjoy

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Sounds good - incredible player!

I'm getting more of this type of work too - it can be quite a challenge, but it's a great feeling when it comes out as good as this isn't it? Good job, man.

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An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.

Good isn't he! Thanks for the kind comments.

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Nice! Posted it on Facebook. Dave

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My head hurts!

Really enjoyed that. The organ is the most amazing, complex instrument and its a treat to have such an intimate view of a master player at work. I could only hear the sound on my small laptop speakers but it sounded mightily right! I liked the two camera dynamic very much for the rare insight into the footwork (and the right shoes)! Whenever anyone is being rude about drummers I remind them that aside from the organ the kit drum is the only other instrument that requires all four limbs to play. Not to mention the physical balance and ability to play two parts at the same time. Although someone recently challenged that idea by adding the harp to the list.

Its a lovely piece of work as it is. If it were mine and I was looking at it the day after, I'd be asking myself if I could get access back into the cathedral to take a little additional footage of the interior. I was thinking a sweep shot from in front of the organ, around where you placed your mics, so we could see the pipes and maybe a bit of the roof and windows, to edit in for a few seconds here. Or if you felt that would detract from the intensity of seeing the performer at work then just at the beginning, before the music starts (maybe up to the end of the first note). Then cut into the first appropriate keyboard frame. The idea being to bring a greater visual sense of the spatial quality of a cathedral recital. The organ wouldn't need to be playing to get those and you could pick your day/time of day for the best light.

Just a thought anyway. Thanks for sharing the work.

Francis

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Strictly project and just for fun

I did the whole 'views of the organ' bit when I did the very first one about 5 years ago (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSbD1bwqcmU&feature=plcp ) - The one last night was a quick multicam edit really!

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Really enjoyed that one too. The visual context of the cathedral did help me 'place' the sound and it was fascinating to have the brief visual tour of the mighty instrument itself. Your man Driskill-Smith doesn't seem to get any older, does he! And I swear those are the same shoes, the perfect weight, shape and texture to get into all those pedals he can't see and feel his way around. I wonder if there is a specialist organist shoe shop tucked away in one of Europe's cloisters? Your two camera work last night really brought the foot work dimension of the instrument alive and I wouldn't want to encourage you to break the intensity of that particularly challenging performance. But if you felt like adding a little wider environmental context prior to the performance I don't think you'd be wasting your time. Anyway, you know you've done a good job when your 'quick and dirty' first edit feels more or less like a finished product.

Broadening the subject slightly, I'm a raving agnostic myself so I never go in them, but I've noticed that PAs and the mixing of music in churches and places of worship comprise an enormous part of the market for many of the products SOS review and advertise. I've often thought they must be missing a trick, holding back on a regular 'God's GAS' feature (not implying for a moment that any unwelcome 'gas' was emanating from those esteemed pipes last night...)!

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Strictly project and just for fun

Quote Frisonic:

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Broadening the subject slightly, I'm a raving agnostic myself so I never go in them, but I've noticed that PAs and the mixing of music in churches and places of worship comprise an enormous part of the market for many of the products SOS review and advertise. I've often thought they must be missing a trick, holding back on a regular 'God's GAS' feature (not implying for a moment that any unwelcome 'gas' was emanating from those esteemed pipes last night...)!

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Just running with this meander for a moment... in the UK you're talking about subsets of a subset.

In the UK the HoW market splits into two very different segments - the traditional cathedrals and churches wanting clarity of speech in their reverberant caverns and then the more informal, contemporary churches with their 'worship groups'.

The first of these is highly specialised with little crossover into the sort of marketplace that SoS gear reviews are concerned with. However, you're right about the second type of HoW set-up - to a significant degree. I move reasonably seamlessly between 'conventional' folk.acoustic gigs and the HoW sector where the gear and mixing techniques are almost the same - biggest difference IMHO would be in the mixing technique. That said, HoW in the UK is still a very small sector. The States is a VERY different proposition! I know of at least three US mags devoted just to the HoW sector, with many of their churches operating their own radio and TV set-ups too. In fact Peavey produce a range - "The Sanctuary range" - which is aimed squarely at the HoW sector.

Getting back on track: thoroughly enjoyed the vid. Great pics, excellent sound.

Great, clear vid. Lovely sound, and astonishingly skilled performance. I was blown away by that foot-work, especially having tried and failed miserably at even the most basic stuff.

Hmmm, I guess that's one guy who will never need an arpeggiator

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It wasn't me!
(Well, actually, it probably was)

Quote Folderol:

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Hmmm, I guess that's one guy who will never need an arpeggiator

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Astonishing.

I had to look the composer up - seams he was a favoured pupil of Liszt. I have never heard music from that school composed for organ before. On Wiki there is a picture of triplets in the pedal part!

Anyhow, aside from that - nice recording of both the sound and performance.
Spolied for choice in Oxford for great music and 'venues'!

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Quote Chaconne:

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Anyhow, aside from that - nice recording of both the sound and performance.
Spolied for choice in Oxford for great music and 'venues'!

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We are! Christ Church (where that was filmed) is the home playing field so to speak. I was a layclerk/choral scholar there for 6 years (about 7-8 years ago), so I'm lucky to have ample opportunity for flexing the video/recording bit.

It's actually one of the worst acoustics to sing in (this I can vouch for), and one of the more difficult organs to play/make sound good (so I'm told). It's very dry, and very revealing. As a singer, you get nothing back 'from the building' so can be very tiring singing for 3 services on a Sunday.

If you get your pick of choral recording venues in Ox, Merton is the favourite, and for good reason. Everyone sounds fab in there.

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