Nice Job Russell !!!

Russell Dawkins · « **Reply #20 on:** 12 Jan 2008, 10:08 pm »

Thanks for the kind words, satfrat. I'm very glad you enjoy it.

The major part of my "remuneration" in all this is to know that what I do brings pleasure and gets music out there.

jimdgoulding · « **Reply #21 on:** 18 Jan 2008, 04:20 am »

I got Russell’s disc this afternoon. Fortunately, it is a warm enough day here that I could turn my noisy central heating off and listen. Hope you can, too. I listened at a moderate level. This is a recording of four guitarists in front of a very enthusiast audience in a good size hall. For starters, the audience is recorded as good as I’ve ever heard. After a little ensemble playing as a group intro to the audience, the players take turns. The featured musicians are some the best players of their instrument that I have ever had the pleasure of hearing. Tons of technique. This is romantic music, IMO. And we’re lucky the recording engineer was so attuned. This recording is imbued with warmth and transparency at the same time. String tone, attack, and the resonant body of the guitar are all so inviting. Sounds like these were very fine instruments. Even the ambiance has a kind of warmth. Don’t know if this is sly dog Russell or that he just captured the setting. This is an altogether kind of recording. Makes me think of a good burgundy. Other more discretely microphoned recordings of string instruments that I have I get feeling that the sound engineer just couldn’t help but tweek the high end. Like they're afraid you'll miss some excitement*. I didn’t get that here at all. The music isn’t made to be more exciting than it is. And speaking of the music, it’s wonderful. You’d have to have a hole in your sole not to dig this. I have a recording by D’Gary (the one mentioned in the liner notes and the reason I wish there was more of his singing) but the other guys are new to me although maybe not to you. I couldn’t pick a favorite. Great playing. I love this music and recording and I’m taking it with me to Wardsweb’s house this Saturday (along with some trip hop!) soes others can be the richer for it. Nice job, professor, you didn’t mess up a single thing. You deserve an Emmy. Beautiful.

*cause of the microphone placement

Russell Dawkins · « **Reply #22 on:** 18 Jan 2008, 06:38 am »

Well, thanks!

Jim - yours is one of the more insightful and encouraging reviews I've read of my work. You have noticed, point by point almost, what I am trying to capture.

It takes some restraint to avoid hyping the top end "just a teensy bit", but I did make a conscious effort not to, here, as usual. I do like the music to speak for itself, when it can, plus I was going for the effect of the musicians sitting at about a 12 foot distance.

One mixing style that has always bugged me is that where the instrument's tonality is what you would hear at 4 feet or closer, but the reverb suggests 15 feet. There's a dichotomy there that I think contributes to stressful listening. At 12 feet some high frequency energy is lost - and that's *O.K.*! I actually simulate that by judiciously rolling a little off the top end of the close spot mics. Just how much is a closely held trade secret - actually the fact that I do it at all was a trade secret until now.

My target audience is someone who has taken the trouble to assemble a realistically tonally balanced playback system and so I balance, EQ and mix my work to sound as I would like to hear it on my SP Tech Timepieces which I bought for, amongst other attributes, their correct tonality across the spectrum and down to 30 Hz. I imagine I bought the disc and try to create something that I would be very happy to hear once I got home and tore off the cellophane, now that I am confident that what I like, others like, too.
By the way, Clive Carroll is pretty huge in Europe in the acoustic guitar scene - you should search for him in Youtube.

We saw a movie called, I think, "The Driving Lesson", with one of the stars of the Harry Potter series. Lo and behold, there was Clive not only credited at the end but singled out in a special features segment of a few minutes with the crew talking about how they were all blown away by his talent. On Youtube you can hear some of his amazing take on the blues. He is very at ease and funny with an audience, too.

Thanks again for the very thoughtful words.

P.S. - the reason the audience sounds good is it is captured solely by a Blumlein configured ribbon mic (Royer SF-12) going through $700 worth of 35' long mic cable into a nice mic preamp (True Systems Precision

then into my Metric Halo MIO 2882. This is a nice sounding rig from end to end. Blue Note takes Metric Halos (3 of them) to Europe to record live jazz, yet they are still affordable, if not the cheapest device out there. For what they do and how they do it I don't know of anything in the world I'd rather have.

jimdgoulding · « **Reply #23 on:** 18 Jan 2008, 06:51 am »

I sent ZLS a PM about your recording just cause I think he has the heart and the system to appreciate what you've done. And I don't think he's gonna make it to San Antonio. Please . . keep up the good work.

Russell Dawkins · « **Reply #24 on:** 18 Jan 2008, 07:00 am »

Excuse my ignorance, but who is ZLS?

Also, for some reason although it shows up as "Precison 8" in the composing window, when the email is posted it comes out as Precision

. OK I understand part of it because I just saw when I typed that smiley that it shows up as "eight bracket", if you follow. That is, you can't type 8 followed immediately by a ) without it showing up as a "cool" smiley.

Double Ugly · « **Reply #25 on:** 18 Jan 2008, 07:19 am »

Quote from: Russell Dawkins on 18 Jan 2008, 07:00 am

Excuse my ignorance, but who is ZLS?

ZLS

satfrat · « **Reply #26 on:** 18 Jan 2008, 07:29 am »

58 year old male from Chicago, Illinois and a valued AC member. Other than that, I don't have a clue who ZLS is.

Cheers,
Robin

jimdgoulding · « **Reply #27 on:** 18 Jan 2008, 07:34 am »

Thank, DU, for the assist. A toast. Russ- He's a member whose sensibilities I trust and he listens with wide range single driver dipoles with a lot of good stuff in front of it. Hey Robinowich . . whas up!

satfrat · « **Reply #28 on:** 18 Jan 2008, 07:40 am »

Quote from: jimdgoulding on 18 Jan 2008, 07:34 am

Thank, DU, for the assist. A toast. Russ- He's a member whose sensibilities I trust and he listens with wide range single driver dipoles with a lot of good stuff in front of it. Hey Robinowich . . whas up!

At the moment, Gretchen Peters.

jimdgoulding · « **Reply #29 on:** 18 Jan 2008, 07:50 am »

I'm gonna sample that bird jus cause you like her! I don't have a reply at the moment. On second thought, Lila Downs- The Tree Of Life. Caution . . sample a track first. I didn't care for the recording quality on her The Border. A might hard sounding. She should hook up with Russell! And bring me in for programming. Cheers.

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #30 on:** 18 Jan 2008, 08:01 am »

Quote from: satfrat on 18 Jan 2008, 07:29 am

58 year old male from Chicago, Illinois and a valued AC member. Other than that, I don't have a clue who ZLS is.

Cheers,
Robin

Thats Zack....a good guy !!

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #31 on:** 18 Jan 2008, 08:11 am »

Quote from: jimdgoulding on 18 Jan 2008, 04:20 am

I got Russell’s disc this afternoon. Fortunately, it is a warm enough day here that I could turn my noisy central heating off and listen. Hope you can, too. I listened at a moderate level. This is a recording of four guitarists in front of a very enthusiast audience in a good size hall. For starters, the audience is recorded as good as I’ve ever heard. After a little ensemble playing as a group intro to the audience, the players take turns. The featured musicians are some the best players of their instrument that I have ever had the pleasure of hearing. Tons of technique. This is romantic music, IMO. And we’re lucky the recording engineer was so attuned. This recording is imbued with warmth and transparency at the same time. String tone, attack, and the resonant body of the guitar are all so inviting. Sounds like these were very fine instruments. Even the ambiance has a kind of warmth. Don’t know if this is sly dog Russell or that he just captured the setting. This is an altogether kind of recording. Makes me think of a good burgundy. Other more discretely microphoned recordings of string instruments that I have I get feeling that the sound engineer just couldn’t help but tweek the high end. Like they're afraid you'll miss some excitement*. I didn’t get that here at all. The music isn’t made to be more exciting than it is. And speaking of the music, it’s wonderful. You’d have to have a hole in your sole not to dig this. I have a recording by D’Gary (the one mentioned in the liner notes and the reason I wish there was more of his singing) but the other guys are new to me although maybe not to you. I couldn’t pick a favorite. Great playing. I love this music and recording and I’m taking it with me to Wardsweb’s house this Saturday (along with some trip hop!) soes others can be the richer for it. Nice job, professor, you didn’t mess up a single thing. You deserve an Emmy. Beautiful.

*cause of the microphone placement

Nice review Jim....just one correction...not an Emmy....a Grammy !!

jimdgoulding · « **Reply #32 on:** 18 Jan 2008, 08:16 am »

Thanks, Chris. That IS what I meant. I trust there is more to be heard about this disc. It's so good . .

martyo · « **Reply #33 on:** 18 Jan 2008, 09:44 am »

Others have already written very articulate reviews so I'll just simply say it sounds real and natural. And the music is excellent and with green packaging too. On every level just excellent.

ZLS · « **Reply #34 on:** 18 Jan 2008, 01:53 pm »

aa Alright, I am that easy. It just took calling me a valuable member of AC to push me into ordering the disc. I look forward to hearing it. This is one of the reasons that I so enjoy being a member of AC; you get a chance to learn about recording that I otherwise would never had heard of.
Thank You Gentlemen

Double Ugly · « **Reply #35 on:** 18 Jan 2008, 05:48 pm »

Quote from: ZLS on 18 Jan 2008, 01:53 pm

I own a pair of Omega speakers, and guitar music sounds absolutely heavenly on them.

I can vouch for Russell's Timepiece 2.1s (I own them, too), but as natural as instruments sound with them, both of us need to have our crossovers upgraded to the Mundorf version.

Trust me, Russell... it's worth the trouble. I'm confident the headphone comparison you recently mentioned would need re-accomplished.

Back on topic, I've ordered the guitar CD, too. I already own 4 of Russell's CDs (2 versions of his orchestral disc, plus 2 Paul Cantelon piano CDs that quickly became favorites), so I'm fully cognizant of the treat I'm in for.

Daygloworange · « **Reply #36 on:** 18 Jan 2008, 05:58 pm »

Russell was kind enough to send me a compilation CD of some of his recordings, and some of his favorite reference material sometime ago to me.

We've spoken on the topic of record engineering as well.

I have no doubt that this recording is every bit as good as members here are finding.

I will be ordering it (along with some other Russell recordings) as well.

I'm glad to see him here as a member on AudioCircle.

Congrats on this latest recording, and your review on 6moons, Russell.

http://www.sixmoons.com/industryfeatures/armenia/armenia.html

Cheers

TomS · « **Reply #37 on:** 18 Jan 2008, 06:24 pm »

I think I just snagged the last one Amazon had in stock

Can't wait to hear it!

Denny - Thanks so much for the link. That is a great article - thoroughly enjoyable. As music consumers we take so much for granted in terms of what it takes to organize the people, places, gear, etc. and somehow deliver this stuff with any hope of a great performance AND sonics.

Tom

woodsyi · « **Reply #38 on:** 18 Jan 2008, 06:25 pm »

I got the CD last week and heard it last weekend. I was going to listen some more and post my take when I came down with a flu.

I think Jim said it well. It really is a natural sounding recording. I have looked through some of the artists and ordered a few recordings. Good job Russell.

nathanm · « **Reply #39 on:** 18 Jan 2008, 07:05 pm »

It looks like a lot of people like this disc, I guess that must mean it is as loud as another CD you guys own, and so therefore it must be good. Normally I like to run the dishwasher and vacuum cleaner when I am listening to music, so if an album can't cut through the cacophony it's just not worth buying. This one must be really LOUD. That's awesome!

I just might have to pick up a copy. I bet it will sound awesome on my Kraco car stereo driving my dry-rotted oval speakers.

If I get it and find out that another CD I own is actually louder will someone be willing to buy it off me? Just checking.