The True Enemy of The Taper

[voltronic]

From the world of classical concert recording: The person who wants to show off his expertise and his oh, so passionate feeling by starting to applaud demonstratively while the last note of a piece is still dying out.

What I wish I could convince such people of: Yes, some members of the audience don't know the piece as well as you do. In that case we should be especially happy and grateful that they've come to the concert and are listening, no? They may be legitimately unsure whether the piece has ended or not. That uncertainty is part of listening with an open mind, which should be treated as sacred. Don't use it as an opportunity to call attention to yourself.

And since I'm recording the concert, I resent what you've done because now every time someone listens to the recording, they will hear your egotistical display, and it will take them out of the moment that they're in, time after time.

I am with you on all the above.  I have always tried to teach my students why this is never acceptable, starting with never applauding before the end of the National Anthem, one of my pet peeves.  When did this become a thing anyway?  Actually you're not supposed to applaud for the Anthem in the first place, but that's another story.

The other one that makes me furious is camera shutter noise, especially if it is from a professional photographer.  They always seem to be shooting in the most sensitive soft sections of the music.  I find myself seriously contemplating murder when this happens.  Like the behavior DSatz describes, this ruins the experience for both the live audience and also the recording.

[morst]

The other one that makes me furious is camera shutter noise, especially if it is from a professional photographer.

Or the insidious amateur beep!

[perks]

The other one that makes me furious is camera shutter noise, especially if it is from a professional photographer.

Or the insidious amateur beep!

I think the worst is people who have a shutter noise sound effect on their camera phone. PLEASE flip the switch to sound off.

[aaronji]

^ I was recording The Bad Plus at North Sea Jazz a number of years ago, with body-worn 4060s, and a photographer actually started using my shoulder to support his lens. I could clearly hear the shutters, so I knew the DPAs could too. I quickly made it pretty obvious that this would not fly, so he moved on, but if you listen carefully to the recording it is audible.

With respect to the moment of silence at the end of a song, I agree that it can be really magical. Sometimes, just the decay of the last cymbal strike or strings. It's a shame that a lot of the time this gets crushed by raucous applause...

[tim in jersey]

^ I was recording The Bad Plus at North Sea Jazz a number of years ago, with body-worn 4060s, and a photographer actually started using my shoulder to support his lens. I could clearly hear the shutters, so I knew the DPAs could too. I quickly made it pretty obvious that this would not fly, so he moved on, but if you listen carefully to the recording it is audible.

With respect to the moment of silence at the end of a song, I agree that it can be really magical. Sometimes, just the decay of the last cymbal strike or strings. It's a shame that a lot of the time this gets crushed by raucous applause...

Funny you should mention The Bad Plus. I have 2 recordings I made in Princeton, NJ with one of the best behaved audiences ever.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/9ppo8yk9la7kipa/AACTlt4QIoD8XKFEE9tyap8Za?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/uj9zkm2ydlblmx2/AABrso_20vlXetlDf9kO-abqa?dl=0

[tim in jersey]

Easily my 2 best stealth tapes ever.

[tim in jersey]

Interested in critiques, comments, etc.

[Gutbucket]

I could clearly hear the shutters, so I knew the DPAs could too.

The bane of smaller scale acoustic musical events!

Have had this happen so often with small ensemble jazz, chamber music, Indian classical, new composition modern stuff, etc. - the kind of stuff performed to smaller audiences of folks totally into the music and quiet as church mice.  The damn camera shutter almost drowns out the music in the delicate parts.. and is always out of synchrony with the rhythm of the music.

[aaronji]

Funny you should mention The Bad Plus. I have 2 recordings I made in Princeton, NJ with one of the best behaved audiences ever.

I actually think that was my last stealth of The Bad Plus. I have recorded them open many times since. I guess I would classify them as "semi-open"; they will let you record, but they are pretty ambivalent about sharing. My last recording, from November 2019, turned out really well. I don't want to bite the proverbial hand that fed me, though, so only a very few have ever heard it.

Audiences over here, or at least in Northern Europe, tend to be more respectful than in the States. Also, many bands that would draw a big crowd in the US are less well-known here. Those two factors have enabled me to take some pretty decent recordings that would have been essentially impossible back home.

Anyway, I am curious to hear your tapes! Maybe on the train to work tomorrow...

The damn camera shutter almost drowns out the music in the delicate parts.. and is always out of synchrony with the rhythm of the music.

Absolutely! They also snap off 10 or 15 shots at a time, so it is this rapid staccato "click-click-click" that is irritating as hell.

[audBall]

The other one that makes me furious is camera shutter noise, especially if it is from a professional photographer.  They always seem to be shooting in the most sensitive soft sections of the music. I find myself seriously contemplating murder when this happens. 

Given the generally calm and collected nature of your posts on this forum, I had a good chuckle at this comment.

[jerryfreak]

The other one that makes me furious is camera shutter noise, especially if it is from a professional photographer.  They always seem to be shooting in the most sensitive soft sections of the music. I find myself seriously contemplating murder when this happens. 

Given the generally calm and collected nature of your posts on this forum, I had a good chuckle at this comment.

EVERYBODY DUCK THE TAPER HAS A SHOTGUN

[tim in jersey]

I have a bunch, not including the AKG mics.

[voltronic]

The other one that makes me furious is camera shutter noise, especially if it is from a professional photographer.  They always seem to be shooting in the most sensitive soft sections of the music. I find myself seriously contemplating murder when this happens. 

Given the generally calm and collected nature of your posts on this forum, I had a good chuckle at this comment.

EVERYBODY DUCK THE TAPER HAS A SHOTGUN

The lacrosse stick bag I use to carry my Manfrotto 1004 stand is about 4 inches too short to fit my old 870 Wingmaster.

[rocksuitcase]

The other one that makes me furious is camera shutter noise, especially if it is from a professional photographer.  They always seem to be shooting in the most sensitive soft sections of the music. I find myself seriously contemplating murder when this happens. 

Given the generally calm and collected nature of your posts on this forum, I had a good chuckle at this comment.

EVERYBODY DUCK THE TAPER HAS A SHOTGUN

The lacrosse stick bag I use to carry my Manfrotto 1004 stand is about 4 inches too short to fit my old 870 Wingmaster.

True Story- NYE 1998, Chicago, Aragon Ballroom, Blues Traveler was playing a 2 night run with Leftover Salmon. We decided to go high class and stayed at the Four Seasons (ya, but NOT the landscaping one). On our luggage cart we had slung the classic extra large mic stand bag with a huge logo on it, (LIGHTSTAND or some such), carrying it into the elevator we got stopped by security, but not uniformed, plain clothed. I assumed they saw us from the cameras and came to inquire. It was a good timing event though, as when we were ripped out of our minds the next night on NYE carrying the stands back to the room no one hassled us! 

[Gutbucket]

Funny you should mention The Bad Plus. I have 2 recordings I made in Princeton, NJ with one of the best behaved audiences ever.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/9ppo8yk9la7kipa/AACTlt4QIoD8XKFEE9tyap8Za?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/uj9zkm2ydlblmx2/AABrso_20vlXetlDf9kO-abqa?dl=0

[...]
Interested in critiques, comments, etc.

Thanks Tim!
Just pulled up 2013-12-13 and it's sounding very nice here.

Love the audience chuckles during Reid's banter, their enthusiasm between numbers and their occasional brief emphatic reactions in the sweetest parts of the performance, while otherwise staying out of the way of the performance- all the stuff that totally hinges on having a good audience around you, and the stuff that really makes a true audience-perspective recording something special in my way of thinking.  I suppose beyond it's translation through the recording, it is a critical element of what makes the live experience itself so magical.  That, in combination with the good balance between direct-clarity and reverberant room sound from your well-chosen location has me feeling transported to your seat in McCarter Theater, on that evening in mid December, with my attention drawn more strongly to the performance and all the details of the environment than to any specific technical details of the recording - which is the true formula for a recording win as far as I'm concerned.  Congratulations.  Looking forward to giving these a full listen with a friend over weekend.

You breathing in the quietest bits at the start or the guy to your right?  Not a complaint and not overly objectionable, I cease to notice it at all after the first couple..