Photo by John Hagley johnhagley.com

For the third and final recording session of this semester, we decided to go with larger and more “live” room. The main advantage in a larger room is to get recordings that already have a natural space to them. Although adding reverb to this is often a great idea, starting with a already great sounding space can make the piece sound even better. We also tried a new instrumentation, focusing on the string section.

At WBEZ (Navy Pier), the room is roughly 1,200 square feet with 14 feet ceilings. This was a great amount of space with the sixteen string players (9 violins, 4 viola, 3 cello, 1 bass). It also felt more open to conduct, and the players could hear each across the sections which resulted in great intonation and expression. In previous sessions, glass dividers were necessary for isolating each section, giving us individual control of woodwinds, harp, strings, and brass. Since we were recording the string section without any woodwinds or brass, WBEZ’s room was ideal.

Session 3! Strings https://t.co/ukVmvNmcoe

— MusicComp MFA (@MusicCompMFA) April 24, 2015

Our time in Chicago is very quickly coming to an end, my class will be moving mid-May for our summer semester and internships in LA. If you are in Chicago, be sure to check out Manifest, especially the animation screening. About a dozen animations, many scored by MFA Music Comp students, will be screened!

View from WBEZ