Interesting Developements - GAS Reference Recording

jedi35 · « **Reply #40 on:** 12 May 2007, 12:36 am »

steve K,

It's funny that you should mention Messiaen. John tells me that Dennis' own compositions, some of which we might be hearing, resemble the style of Messiaen.

Guys, this is looking great!! Just to clarify, as Scott pointed out, Dennis plans to play for us more than once. We'll get to hear him in Christ Church Cathedral eventually, and hopefully some other venues. More goodies are being planned as well...

Blackmore · « **Reply #41 on:** 12 May 2007, 01:34 am »

I'm in for the 14th. Looking forward to it.

steve k · « **Reply #42 on:** 16 May 2007, 02:33 am »

Hey guys,
Would anyone care to respond to this? This is the opportunity of a lifetime for us and a handful of Gassers have replied. What's up? We just got chastised a few weeks ago about not enough posts and this one has been dormant since last weekend. How about some interest? I'm sure there are a lot of Audiocircle members who'd kill for this opportunity.
steve

bpape · « **Reply #43 on:** 16 May 2007, 02:34 am »

I'd love to be there but that's right before my daughter's wedding so I likely will have to miss it.

Bryan

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #44 on:** 16 May 2007, 09:06 pm »

With my kids 'extra curricular' activities (Soccer, Boy Scouts etc..) weeknights are hard for me.
I don't get home 'til after 6:00 on a good night. Weekends are better for me, but probably the busiest times for a church. I hate to say it guys, because I'd really like to be there, but don't rely on me for this trip. If the final date ends up looking good for me, I'll let you know when the date gets closer. Also, If I'm there, I pitch in some cash too.

Thanks guys
Bob

jedi35 · « **Reply #45 on:** 28 May 2007, 04:48 am »

Hi everybody,

June 14th is fast approaching. I would really like to firm up some numbers in terms of participation for this recording session. If you're on the fence, or just haven't posted yet, please check in and let us know. It also wouldn't hurt to have those who already said yes to either post again or just send me a PM. I'll start making a list from that and will post it. John called tonight and would like to know what to tell Dennis. Thanks.

steve k · « **Reply #46 on:** 28 May 2007, 08:41 am »

Adrian,
You can count my wife and I in. I'll also try to get my kids to come. I'll see if I can stir up some interest at the office also. Looking forward to it.

steve

Scott F. · « **Reply #47 on:** 28 May 2007, 01:28 pm »

Adrian,

Count me in for myself, my wife, daughter and Chris Hoff as a minimum. I'll make some calls and let you know how many more people I'll be bringing.

Hey, did they decide what time it was going to start? Might be interesting to see the mic setup (so we can quiz John) and the sound check.

bpape · « **Reply #48 on:** 28 May 2007, 01:33 pm »

I'm an idiot - my daughter's wedding isn't until the next weekend

I might be able to make this yet.

Bryan

Sarmck · « **Reply #49 on:** 28 May 2007, 08:28 pm »

Please can count me in on this event also, depending on the start time. Don't know yet if my wife and kids will be attending or not.

Ron

sturgus · « **Reply #50 on:** 30 May 2007, 07:26 pm »

It still looks good for me.
Sturgus

drummerwill · « **Reply #51 on:** 31 May 2007, 02:58 am »

I'll try to make the 14th also.
Willie

MerRev · « **Reply #52 on:** 31 May 2007, 03:42 am »

yepper, looks good to me as well- should be an interesting evening in Gas-land.

Sarmck · « **Reply #53 on:** 1 Jun 2007, 12:14 am »

Scratch my family going. Looks like I'll being going solo. REALLY looking forward to this outing.

Ron

jedi35 · « **Reply #54 on:** 1 Jun 2007, 07:03 pm »

More info. John spoke with Dennis this morning, and got a rundown for the program. Dennis will open with the famous Bach Toccata and Fugue, after which he'll play a couple of Bach Choral Preludes. Next will be 2 selections from the Widor 5th Organ Symphony, including the Toccata. There'll also be some music by Cesar Franc and Marcel Dupre. Dennis will allow time for a question and answer session, so you can ask anything about organ music, organ construction, performance, etc. He'll continue with "Outburst of Joy" by Messiaen(one of his most famous pieces). The recital will conclude with the Bach St. Ann(otherwise known as Trinity)Prelude and Fugue, a massive work that lasts about 20 minutes. All in all, we're looking at about an hour of solid performance time, not counting any of the Q and A session, or breaks between pieces.

John will arrive between 6 and 6:15pm to begin the setup for the recording. Anyone is welcome to get there then, and John will answer any questions you have about microphone placement, recording equipment, or whatever. Dennis will arrive around the same time to warm up. The recital is set to start at 7pm, but it could start a bit later if some people are still on the way. Scott, I know these times are slightly differently than what I guessed at earlier. I hope that's ok. I'm going to try and reschedule my teaching so that I can get down there earlier. For recording purposes, there will be no AC running in the church. This will make for a quieter environment that you'll appreciate when it's all down on disc. You'll want to dress casually in T shirts, shorts, or something you can stay cool in. Discs of the recital will be available for everyone when John can get them ready.

The numbers are looking a whole lot better in terms of attendance. We've gone from a handful of first responders to somewhere in the neighborhood of 25+ people, and growing. Feel free to invite whomever you'd like to this event. Space will not be a problem. Here is a general list of names that I have collected of people who should be able to attend:

Blackmore ( 2 others)
Steve K (wife, kids, others)
Scott F (wife, daughter, C. Hoff, George)
Tim (electricbear) and guest
Strugus
Adrian-jedi35 (Michael H., Zaw, Bob, Hilary and wife )
bpape-Bryan(and wife, maybe)
Albert(2 others)
Tom P.
Ron (Sarmck)
Willie (drummerwill)
Alex (Gene and Allen)
MerRev
Docutech-Pete(maybe one other)
John Blaine's 3 guests and recording assistant
trojers74
Mike D(maybe)

Send me a PM if you'd like to update your list info. I thought that it might be a good idea to just have everybody chip in once we get to the church for a donation fund. This can be used to take care of Dennis and the church. We'll see what we get, and if we need to, maybe we can supplement it with other funds. The organ console is only a couple of steps off the main floor at the front of the church(First Congregational Church at the corner of Kingshighway and Waterman). If anybody wants an up close peak at the action, Dennis doesn't mind having some seats moved up fairly close to him while he's playing, but keeping in mind a broad acoustic overall effect. I was unable to acquire a buddy of mine to come in and do some high definition video recording of this event, but we may be able to have that in the future. He's got a Sony HD camcorder(non professional) that'll do 1440 X 1080i for resolution.

Considering the fact that we'll be indoors without AC, we might want to make arrangements for some refreshments to be served about midways through the event. There are kitchen facilities available at the church, but we won't be able to bring any food into the sanctuary(bottled water and the likes should be ok). It might be fun and less taxing on any one person if we make it a sort of potluck. What do you think? Well, let me bring this huge post to an end...

steve k · « **Reply #55 on:** 1 Jun 2007, 07:32 pm »

Excellent news, Adrian! Let us know what we need to cover the cost and we can put the dues to work. You can PM me offline. Sounds like an excellent program of Bach and French works and Messiean to boot! Awesome! Can we cough during the quiet parts?? :roll:Just kidding. Looking forward to it. We owe you a load of thanks for arranging this.
steve

Scott F. · « **Reply #56 on:** 2 Jun 2007, 12:23 am »

Adrian,

No worries about time. Even if you'd posted it was two in the afternoon, I'd still have made it. I'm not missin' this one

This sounds extremely cool. I'll be being my camera (and some quiet shoes) to document the event. Haven't decided if I want to lug down my video rig. I guess I could bring it then set it up as a tight shot to shoot John's fingerwork on the keyboard while I roam around the snap stills.

Adrian, you mentioned one of your friends might come with a hi-def recorder. Since all three of us would be in the digital domain (John and his recorder, your friend and his camera, me and mine), if somebody felt froggy, they could cut and splice all of this together (digitally on a computer) and actually do a 2 channel DVD. Once somebody had all of these synced, it wouldn't be too difficult to get to the end product.

jedi35 · « **Reply #57 on:** 2 Jun 2007, 04:39 am »

Oops, major goof. The church is First Unitarian Church, as in my post way back when. Sorry, I don't know where I got that Congregational thing. Also, John informed me that the organ we'll hear is a tracker instrument, one that has mechanical action. This kind of organ is what would have been built back in Bach's day. Instead of getting just one kind of sound when a key is pressed, the mechanical action can produce an expressive response. That means that depending on the way the key is pressed, one can get a sharper attack on the note, or a slower one.

Thanks you all for the encouraging comments. It's a lot of fun helping to put this together, and my part has been rather easy. The real heroes are John and Dennis.

Scott, unfortunately I wasn't able to get my buddy with the high def camcorder to attend this event. He has tickets to Opera Theater that night. However, he'd like to be involved with future projects. He's done lots of work with video production and editing in the past, as he used to teach it. He's not convinced that mixing different different resolutions and video formats would work all that well, with the color spacing issues and other things. We'll come up with something. I'd say bring your video gear and set it up like you said.

So, what's the word on the refreshments? Can we get a potluck thing going? Simple stuff, nothing elaborate.

Docutech · « **Reply #58 on:** 3 Jun 2007, 12:11 am »

Count me in! I may bring a friend with me, not sure yet.

sturgus · « **Reply #59 on:** 3 Jun 2007, 12:48 am »

Adrian,
I am all in for the pot luck. Will there be a place to keep food warm? When we get a full count we can have an idea of how much food to make. Fellas this looks it is going to be a lot of fun.
Sturgus