Xmas 2023 TC Trombone Choir recording instructions

[robcat2075]

I start this new thread so that these instruction are easily found at its top.

The annual Trombone Chat Christmas Trombone Choir project is "In Dulci Jubilo" as harmonized by Bach.

I have uploaded IDJ_Parts&Guides.zip to this dropbox location...

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

The zip contains parts:

IDJ_Score&Parts.pdf the full score and individual parts in one PDF that you may print out as you need.
IDJ_12Parts.pdf the 1st and 2nd trombone parts in bass clef

note: the 1st and 2nd Trombone parts are lacking the crescendos/diminuendo/accel/rit markings in the score at section D. You'll have to write those in.

The zip contains guide tracks. You may use any of these to prepare as you see fit, whatever it takes to get your notes in tune and in time:

IDJ_1234.mp3 all four voices with click track. This is the only guide track that approximates dynamics.

The guide tracks have five measures of preparation beats. The cue notes in these preparation measures are the first pitch the part will play but do not play the cues notes.

ClickNotes.png

There are four isolated-part guide tracks:
IDJ_1.mp3 1st Trombone only
IDJ_2.mp3 2nd Trombone only
IDJ_3.mp3 3rd Trombone only
IDJ_4.mp3 4th Trombone only

Three guide tracks have a 1, 2 or 3 part with bass for people who prefer to hear a bass line:
IDJ_1&4.mp3
IDJ_2&4.mp3
IDJ_3&4.mp3

Finally, the brief section at each rehearsal letter is excerpted. You can put your mp3 player on repeat and woodshed a section if you wish. These excerpts have abbreviated preparation beats:
IDJ_1234A.mp3
IDJ_1234B.mp3
IDJ_1234C.mp3
IDJ_1234D.mp3

This arrangement is contrived to be left and right, call and response choirs, marked "Choir Left" and "Choir Right" in the score.

Everyone plays one Left and one Right part. Example: When you are recording a "Left" part, stay silent for all the "Right" part notes. Everyone plays at "All".

Part assignments as follows. You only need to record video for your performance in the first column:

PartAssignments.png

Performance Notes:

Tenuto! Full duration! Sonorous trombone sounds! Whether at forte or piano, the notes get their full values. There are no staccatos in this arrangement.

Good advice from last year:

AUDIO guide notes

[Recording in a dead/non-echoing room is best. Beautiful reverb will be added in post]

If you're recording audio separately, please deliver in mono 24 bit wav. I will be doing a lot of editing on this project, so if you're able to edit your stem to line up with the guide track then that would be much appreciated.

If you're recording on a phone: Check that you're not standing too close to your mic by recording the loudest part of this arrangement and listening back to it with headphones. If it sounds distorted, you're too close.
I'll do my best to catch any distorted tracks as they come through so you can re-record in time if you need to. Best approach is to not overblow, and play softs softer so your range of dynamics is still good.

I understand that sometimes it's impossible to get a single take that you are happy with. I am fine with using separate takes, but please label these clearly and choose which parts you like better for me, otherwise I might not grab your best take.
It is also much more difficult for [the editor] to have separate videos, so if one of your takes is complete all the way through, that would be nicer for him. I actually usually record all my audio first when I do a video, then do a *mime track so I can concentrate on performing. It's not cheating, it's art!

*mime ie I still play, but I don't care if I miss any notes

For the video, please follow these guidelines:

Wear something festive - the cheesier the better. Ugly sweaters and blinking lights are encouraged.

Shoot in LANDSCAPE!!! That mean's your phone/camera is sideways, not up and down.

If you are using an iphone, the default setting is to reverse the video. Please change this so that it does not appear that you are playing left-handed.

If you can use a mic that is better than your phone mic, please do so. Separate audio and video files are OK as long as they sync up.

Shoot so that the camera is on the slide side and not the bell side so that we can see your pretty face.

Don't stand directly in front of a window if you are shooting in daytime as that tends to overexpose the image.

Keep the background in mind. Don't have too much junk in the background.

Don't shoot in 4K even if your camera can do that. [If your camera has a 720p setting that will be plenty!] The file sizes get huge and it will be rendered in 1080 anyway.

Try to keep your music stand out of the shot.

Upload your files to the Drop box with this naming convention:

LastName_Part_Side.fileformat

Examples:
Doe_1_Left.wav
Roe_4_Right.mp4

Deadline December 11


Q: Is it too late to join this project?
A: No! PM me about what part(s) you'd be interested in. I will assign you something.

And we're still looking for someone who wants to edit the video portion!

Thank you, in advance to everyone participating!
.

[robcat2075]

Demo of the final revision...

[robcat2075]

The trombone version is just one step lower than this original church choir setting...
.

LowC.png

[Ozzlefinch]

I did some preliminary recording today and I am thankful for the "delete" function. Awful. Everything is good until I hit "record", the it seems that I forget which end of the horn the sound comes out. Then again, first time recording for me, so I'm on a learning curve.

Question: how do we indicate the start of the click track on our recordings since we will be coming in at different times (left and right)? Maybe a noob question, but I have to ask. I'm currently listening to the guide track on earbuds and recording on the computer. I guess i can put the guide track on the recording, but is this necessary? I don't know much about the editing side and I want to make it as easy as possible for the editor.

[robcat2075]

I did some preliminary recording today and I am thankful for the "delete" function. Awful. Everything is good until I hit "record", the it seems that I forget which end of the horn the sound comes out. Then again, first time recording for me, so I'm on a learning curve.

Yes, the microphone is a humbling thing, I have found.

If getting all it in one take is a problem it's OK to record it in segments until you get ones you like. I can piece them together. Add the score rehearsal letter to the file name to make it easier to identify.

Question: how do we indicate the start of the click track on our recordings since we will be coming in at different times (left and right)? Maybe a noob question, but I have to ask. I'm currently listening to the guide track on earbuds and recording on the computer. I guess i can put the guide track on the recording, but is this necessary? I don't know much about the editing side and I want to make it as easy as possible for the editor.

I just need your recording of your playing. Once these things get into the computer it is very obvious where notes start and stop and easy to slide them to and fro until everyone is in synch...presuming they follow the tempo of the click track.

Example

AudacScreen.png

[robcat2075]

If getting all it in one take is a problem it's OK to record it in segments until you get ones you like. I can piece them together.

But if you do it in segments and you're recording your part that is with video... the video should include you waiting through your rests.

[harrisonreed]

I did some preliminary recording today and I am thankful for the "delete" function. Awful. Everything is good until I hit "record", the it seems that I forget which end of the horn the sound comes out. Then again, first time recording for me, so I'm on a learning curve.

Question: how do we indicate the start of the click track on our recordings since we will be coming in at different times (left and right)? Maybe a noob question, but I have to ask. I'm currently listening to the guide track on earbuds and recording on the computer. I guess i can put the guide track on the recording, but is this necessary? I don't know much about the editing side and I want to make it as easy as possible for the editor.

How are you placing the mic? What type of mic are you using? What room are you in? These things all matter a lot.

[Ozzlefinch]

How are you placing the mic? What type of mic are you using? What room are you in? These things all matter a lot.

The technical aspects of recording seem to be fine. I do need to play around a bit with the gains and such- nothing to worry about there. My issue is listening to the track, playing the music, and remembering to record all at the same time. It's distracting, but something that I can resolve through practice. It's a new experience for me and I am encountering the expected problems of that. I am having fun with it

No worries, I'll have it sorted out soon and there's still plenty of time.

[robcat2075]

My issue is listening to the track, playing the music, and remembering to record all at the same time. It's distracting, but something that I can resolve through practice.

I find playing while listening to earphones maddening.

There is a common studio trick where the player can listen to the guide track over loudspeakers while he plays and the bleed into the mic can be negated in post... but it's one of those you-gotta-do-it-right sort of things so I'm not promoting it for this project.

[robcat2075]

My issue is listening to the track, playing the music, and remembering to record all at the same time.

And another trick... If you need to play a brief get-ready note before an entrance, you can do that and I can clip it out.

Philip Farkas said "some horn players" do that in live performance if the orchestra is otherwise loud enough before an entrance.

[robcat2075]

There are 12 playing days until December 11!

[dbwhitaker]

How are you placing the mic? What type of mic are you using? What room are you in? These things all matter a lot.

Are there any simple guidelines or recommendations about how best to record a trombone in a home?

[robcat2075]

How are you placing the mic? What type of mic are you using? What room are you in? These things all matter a lot.

Are there any simple guidelines or recommendations about how best to record a trombone in a home?

Aside from the ones already posted at the top?

My suggestion is do a quick test.
Start recording, play a quick scale
then move the mic somewhere else and play it again,
then move the mic somewhere else and play it again,
and do that several times over
then listen to the playback and decide which set up you like best.

The mic doesn't necessarily have to be six inches from the bell. The bell doesn't necessarily have to point at the mic.

For our purposes, a dead room (carpet, drapes) is better than a live room (hard floor, bare walls) It won't sound great by itself but it's better for mixing.

What I hope for most is a recording that isn't clipping (excessive volume) and that isn't constantly changing the volume level as you change yours.

If you have Audacity, that lets you set levels and lets you see if you're clipping.

[harrisonreed]

20231202_174309.jpg

FWIW, you might try this example from Decca. This shows how they spot mic the brass section. Since you will be doing mono, and don't want much room sound, bring the single mic in a bit closer, but try to have it on the same axis as in the picture. Follow the dotted line and put the mic about 3 feet away.

6 inches is so close that you will not get a good representation of how the trombone actually sounds. Also having the mic on axis with the bell (ie directly in front of the bell) will give you mostly high frequency and lots of articulation sound. Put it up, and off axis, unless you are doing a commercial recording.

Use a cardiod pattern mic to keep reverb and room noise down.

[robcat2075]

There are seven recording days until December 11!

How to prepare your part...

• LIsten to the four-part demo a few times, follow along with your part on the score.

• Play along with the four-part demo. Don't use headphones to start, play along with sound in the air.

• Load up the isolated track for your part. Play along with that. Practice matching the pitches.

• Put on headphones. Play to the isolated track some more. Get used to playing to sound that is only in your ears.

• Having trouble with a small passage? Load up the excerpt recording for that section, put your player on loop and woodshed that portion.

• Recording? You can use either the four-part recording or the single-track recording, whichever you are most comfortable playing along to.

[dbwhitaker]

Thanks for the recommendation for a "dead" room and for the Decca suggestion to have the mic off axis. That's the kind of info I was looking for. I have both dead and live, echoing rooms in my house. In the very limited recording that I've done in the past I put the mic directly in front of the bell at a distance of about 3 feet.

[robcat2075]

Something I probably should have mentioned sooner rather than later is that if you are recording to your computer, it is a great convenience to have a USB extension cable for your mic and an audio extension cable for your headphones... because it's hard to play a trombone while you're on a 6 ft tether to a desktop.

I have 10ft extension cables for both.

USB extensions vary. The useful variation for me is male type A on one end and female type A on the other. The male plugs into my computer, the female takes the male end of my original USB mic cable.... for a total of 16 ft!

10' USB-A 3.0 Male to Female Extension Cable - Black

If you have only type C connectors, you would need to investigate something else entirely.

[robcat2075]

From Will Kimball's blog

In the year 1700 musician Johann Kuhnau wrote the following in his book, Der musikalische Quacksalber, reflecting the reputation of the early trombone as a sacred instrument:

"What do the angels, those heavenly and most perfect musicanti, play other than these? For if we encounter something about music in the Scriptures, we hear either of a trumpet or a trombone” (Kuhnau, 28).

"Experience shows that when, say, our municipal pipers play a church song on trombones only from the tower, we are moved beyond all measure and imagine we are hearing the angels sing” (Kuhnau, 133-134).

So get your inner angel going! Five days 'til December 11!


.

[sacfxdx]

Alright. Let's get the ball rolling. I have uploaded my 2 parts to the shared drive. One is a mono .wav and the other is a .mp4 (also mono I hope). Like everyone else I have waited until the last minute to get it done.

Rob, If you see/hear anything that I need to change let me know. I have a couple days left before I go out of town.

Good Luck. Thanks for taking this on. It does not look like we have any video editor volunteers.

[robcat2075]

It does not look like we have any video editor volunteers.

I'm unsurprised. I'll do something basic.

[Ozzlefinch]

Ive got my parts recorded and I will format them for upload later today. I'm planning on making the video tomorrow, that should be the easy part.

[Aspenforest]

Hey there, I'll get my parts in soon... been very busy with other things in my life

[robcat2075]

.
Get out your angel wings.

AngelChalk.jpg

You have three more playing days to get your tracks in!



Performance note if you haven't recorded yours already... piano and forte are different tone colors on the trombone. Piano is smooth , but with forte you can have an edge peeking out!

[sacfxdx]

Based on my playing, Angel wings are not a requirement.

Rob picked a nice short piece. Last year was a bear. Should be easy to get this recorded.

[Ozzlefinch]

Based on my playing, Angel wings are not a requirement.

Rob picked a nice short piece. Last year was a bear. Should be easy to get this recorded.

My playing comes with horns and leather wings..... That should make you feel very good about your own skills I can tell that the jaw surgery I had earlier this year has left some permanent nerve damage, but it's not anything I can't work around. Interesting what you hear when recording vs. just listening to yourself play from behind the bell. I am grateful for this project as a way to motivate me to improve my playing and to learn the basics of recording.

I uploaded the files, I'll record the video a little later this morning.

It's not good by any means, but it's the least bad that I can do.

[Ozzlefinch]

Ok then. All my uploads are done. Good thing that the video will be dubbed because I was trying to track with the guide track and not actually trying to play.

So now it's out there now for all to see, for good or ill.

[sacfxdx]

Come on folks. Let’s get these recording uploaded so Rob has some time to put these together.

[HornboneandVocals]

I’ve got everything recorded. I just need to put the audio together with the video when I get home tonight, I’m stuck at a family obligation currently

[robcat2075]

Today in December 11 history:

• 1830 - Hector Berlioz is born.

• 1913 - Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is recovered after being stolen two years earlier.

• 2009 - Angry Birds is released on iOS.

and...

Everyone gets their tracks for In Dulci Jubilo in?

[robcat2075]

Attention... Which one of us is "John Schaefer"

I'm not able to connect the spreadsheet name with a forum name.

[Ozzlefinch]

That would be me

[robcat2075]

It's coming together...




However, we're missing key contributions from two of our ensemble.

Will it be possible to get those... this weekend?

[robcat2075]

Which one of us is Tayton Crutsinger?

That's another spreadsheet name I don't know the forum name of.

[robcat2075]

Which one of us is Tayton Crutsinger?

That's another spreadsheet name I don't know the forum name of.

This was not an idle question. Does any one know who this is?

[sacfxdx]

It seems that he is a student at Baylor. That’s all I can find on him.

[Tatertotplaystrombone]

Which one of us is Tayton Crutsinger?

Howdy! Sorry been away from the site the last few days and missed role call

[robcat2075]

It's coming.

ETA... maybe Saturday morning.
Check back Saturday morning!

IDJWIP.jpg

[sacfxdx]

Looking good Rob. I guess we got all parts covered.