Here’s this year’s talk, which lockdown allowed me to deliver as something between a lecture and a documentary:
And, as promised, here are some of the binaural bits and pieces in case you want to compare them or listen to them at your own pace.
(I am reminded why I haven’t played the clarinet in public for 20 years. But they’re good enough to prove the points I make in the talks.)
Malcolm Arnold, Sonatina for Clarinet and Piano. II. Andantino
- arnold-crosspair.mp3 : Coincident pair recording. Fine for loudspeakers; terrible for headphones.
- arnold-spaced.mp3 : Dummy head without any head: a spaced pair recording.
- arnold-head.mp3 : Dummy head with baffle, ear caps, and shoulders.
Francis Poulenc, Sonata for Clarinet and Piano. II. Romanza
- poulenc-in-the-room.mp3 : Recorded in a room.
- poulenc-spatialised.mp3 : Dry sources spatialised with principal component filters, early reflections, and Freeverb.
In case you want to play with your own spatialiser:
- poulenc-unprocessed-1.mp3 : Just the digital piano in stereo.
- poulenc-unprocessed-2.mp3 : Clarinet in the left channel; acoustic keyboard noises in the right. (Quite postmodern when replayed on its own.)
The clarinet was spatialised at 30 degrees left; the piano at the centre and 30 degrees right. Keyboard noises were added at 30 degrees right.
The recording room is 13’6 wide by 34′ long by 10′ tall, with the recording taking place about 21′ forward from the wall behind the audience. Sorry about Imperial measurements, but the room was built in the Eighteenth Century so it seems appropriate.