Tonight, 7:30 PM MST

As you might know I'm the recording engineer for the Helena Symphony Orchestra. Tonight, live on youtube we will be presenting Ravel's Piano Concerto with Jon Nakamatsu and Vaughn Williams 5th symphony.

Ravel's concerto is pretty wild. and the Williams piece is a gorgeous, lush and moving work.

Hope you can join in.

Just search for Helena Symphony Orchestra on youtube. 7:30 PM Mountain Standard Time.

John M.

Only able to dip in for 15 mins or so. Ravel is a bit beyond me but I could listen to Vaughan Williams all night. Lovely performance, gorgeous sound.
I noticed another forum member in the Chat...

Here is the Helena Masterworks III concert now on uTube, that John Murphy is referring to …

MASTERWORKS CONCERT III: Ravel’s Piano Concerto with Pianist Jon Nakamatsu - YouTube

It’s 2hrs and 5 minutes so for folk with limited time, the Ravel Piano Concerto starts at 14.00 and the Ralph Vaughan Williams Symphony 5 in D Major starts at 1:13:00.

I know from John there’s a mountain of work in recording the sound, it takes 3hrs to set and test all his RODE mics up. And he gets excellent results with his Zoom L20 mixer. Enjoy.

Cheers.

Thanks Allan and Brian. The Ravel is really a wild bit of music but has grown on me. The Vaughn Williams is flat out gorgeous.
To record these shows, I start about two weeks beforehand. I watch and listen to other performances to get an idea of what I will need to do. Mic count, who is going to be soloing, etc.
Then on the week of the show I usually setup on Wednesday afternoon. I come in before the tv crew or the orchestra arrives, they load in on Thursday. I can rough in my setup without tripping over others folks trying to get setup.
Thursday afternoon I finalize my mic placement and start working on the sound field in my mixer.
Thursday night is our first rehearsal. The music goes in fits and starts so I wont hear a complete piece but I can start to dial in the levels.
Friday I usually show up several hours ahead of time, recheck mics, mixer, etc. The music will be more coherent but still not complete.
Saturday morning, we rehearse again. This is when the orchestra does a run through. I finally get to hear the music start to finish. By now I'm pretty happy with levels and mic placements, etc.
Saturday night I again show up about two hours before show time. If any new fires have flared up, now is when those get extinguished (usually). 7:30 and its show time! The two hours of the show fly by.
As soon as the orchestra is off the stage, I'm out there wrapping all of the equipment and putting everything back into its case.
Two or three hours later I'm in my car and headed home.

Can't wait for the next show! JM