Recording the rehearsal CD
by Sarah Mitchell
PUBLISHED August 2008
Preparation for the October Event is a year long process and one of the most fundamental parts of that process is creating the homework CD, from which you all become note perfect!
Sometime during January, Malcolm is busy working out what to put on the CD and writing his Conductors Notes. Dirk is obtaining recording rights to use extracts from a commercial CD and investigating the best deals for reproducing the CD.
In March, Malcolm and I head off to the recording studio of Grant Bridgeman – a rather cramped conversion in his garage in deepest, rural Nottinghamshire. What it lacks in space and glamour is more than adequately made up for in the quality of his equipment and outstanding expertise. Whilst Malcolm is closed off in a sound-proofed room with the keyboard, Grant and I are the other side of the window with an array of computers and sound boards.
Malcolm plays each part in turn, giving a verbal commentary as he plays. My job is to stop Malcolm if he makes a mistake; a genuine mistake in a note or timing is actually incredibly rare; the most common problem I pick up on is when he has accidentally caught another note without realising – this happens often as the keyboard has to be set sensitively so that he is able to make use of the dynamics. Other mistakes include a note not sounding, playing a solo part with an error, or repeating a tied note. I also listen carefully to the commentary where mistakes include, saying "breath" not "rest", calling the tenors basses and saying "page 337" rather than "bar 337". Sometimes we have to re-record something due to outside influences, such as his chair squeaking or Malcolm sneezing!
When something is wrong, I can stop Malcolm via his headphones and he plays the line again, picking up from a natural break that Grant and he find together as if by telepathy. Sometimes, I wait until the end of a run and then Grant can record over Malcolm’s mistake and "drop" the new bit in neatly. However, the most amazing corrections can be done technically. Grant is able to change the pitch of an individual note digitally, so when I noticed, for instance, that Malcolm had played an F instead of an F#, Grant was able to change it in seconds without Malcolm having to play the section again. He can also increase the volume of a note or section digitally.
It is a long day in the recording studios (about seven hours), and we get very tired, especially, when, in true "It’ll Be Alright On The Night" fashion, it takes 300 takes to get a passage right. But we also get caught up in the humour of this. This year, Grant and I nearly fell off our seats with laughter each time Malcolm said "umpaa paa, umpaa paa in one section and the occasional "oh fiddlesticks" (or something stronger!) dropped into the middle of his commentary. And of course, there are his silly voices.... I think we could make a whole CD of bloopers!
Phew!! But the work doesn’t stop there. In the weeks following the recording, Grant spends hours editing the tracks and putting together each of the voice parts with its CD extracts inserted. After that, it needs to be "proof listened" by Malcolm, Mark Gibson and Claire Morton, before further editing and then being sent away to be duplicated.
Over the years the technology has improved enormously. When M F C first started producing rehearsal tapes, the material was recorded manually on to a tape reel (way before my time, I might add!). Even in the last 5 years, I have seen changes to the way that the recording can be digitally mastered. We are always looking for ways in which to improve the finished product. We are now using a keyboard with better sound quality, and would love to be able to use an even better one, but unfortunately the cost of this is restrictive.
Grant’s expertise in this process is invaluable. His innate understanding of what is required, his technically wizardry and his ability to second-guess what Malcolm is thinking makes the whole process run so smoothly.
So, next time, you receive your rehearsal CD, remember how much time, effort and more goes into its production and make sure you get the best use from it.