Hi Peter,
Good question. I met Frank once a couple of years ago. If I run into him
again, I'll be asking about this.
I think that particular transition sounded better than it looked, but by
that point I was grinding my teeth a bit.
I'm left to wonder what else was going on, perhaps politely left out -but
then, why make the video?
As much as nature recording can be extremely frustrating, trying to find
one minute without some kind of human ruination, you might be led to think
a job like this should be comparatively simple and well controlled.
The more I get into this, the more often I find the client to be tacitly
working against me, simply because they think it's as easy as holding up an
iPhone for a couple of minutes even after being regaled with requests for
information. Everyone knows microphones can only hear the stuff you want
them to.
"Sorry. We can't turn off the air handling. It's the janitors day off."
"Oh, by the way, we added a string quartet to play with the big band. We
knew you could figure out how to make it work, so we didn't bother to tell
you. Yes, they have to sit here, right beside the trombones." "Sorry, I
forgot to tell you we added three more vocalists." etc. These are real and
have occurred in the past several months. On one of my first outings a few
years ago, I showed up at a fairly large downtown church to record a choir.
I had researched a variety of methods I was prepared to use (went mid-side
with a couple of cards in the back). I knew rumble from a streetcar line
would be a problem, but was not warned about, or ready for the aerobics
class in the next room!
David, I do hope BBC isn't under the same pressure as CBC is these days.
I've been very proud of CBC most of my life. Our current government seems
bent on its destruction. Much of the real technical talent has been run off
in the past several years, recording trucks sold etc.. Yes, some of them
get hired back on a project basis but that tends to whittle away the
disciplines that combine to keep a consistent philosophy and style
--something BBC has in spades and CBC used to possess. I fear what's gone
will never be replaced. Madness driven by very clever people who are
utterly lacking in wisdom.
Heh, no. You're not out of date. Words still seem to benefit from a few
fricatives and sibilants here and there ;) This makes me wonder if the
choir was poorly rehearsed and if the diction was better hidden(?).
Keith
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