"Cuddle Magic is a large ensemble from Brooklyn and Philadelphia that performs lush, whimsical songs with wide-ranging instrumentation including strings, percussion, vibraphone, trumpet, clarinet, keyboards, guitars, and many voices. Their unique stage set-up includes some small lamps and a 3-foot plastic penguin set amidst the players and their many instruments. The ensemble, which sometimes swells to 9 or more, plays deftly crafted arrangements of their complex and varied set of original music. They are as friendly and inclusive as their name might suggest — after forming as a quintet just over 4 years ago, they have gradually come to incorporate more and more of their musical friends into the band, constructing intricate soundscapes that include elements of folk music, avant-garde classical music, world music, and urban music."
Preconcert Sound Check. Manikin is in middle of aisle ~3 rows back.
It is not everyday that you experience the novelty that is a 15 member unconducted string group. But this fact belongs only as a footnote in the compendium that deserves penning for the passion, precision, and soul that this group seems to effortlessly breath into their musical art. This group of professionals reenergizes classical music by transforming groups of notes into stuning statements of elegant meaning. This is the aptly named: A Far Cry.
To add to this, classical music is probably the most optimal type of music for binaural recording since it is an inherently acoustic form of music that tends to be played in prime acoustic spaces. If it's great for our ears; it's great for binaural.
And they're playing Dvorak's Serenade for Strings!!! A Far Cry www.afarcry.org St. Paul's Episcopal Church Brookline, Massachusetts, USA 2009, March 6, Friday, 20:00
Antonin Dvorak Serenade for Strings in E Major, Op 22 (Use Headphones for All Recordings) Binaural Recording Info: Microphone Setup: Ultra Hi-Fi Binaural Manikin Head Master Recording Format: 5.6MHz/1bit Direct Stream Digital Streaming Format: mp3 LAME 3.97 variable bit rate ~240 kbps 44.1kHz
A Far Cry will soon be releasing an album with recordings from the legendary Mechanic's Hall in Worcester, MA-world renowned for its ideal chamber music acoustics. In addition to my binaural recordings there were stereo and 5.0 recordings made by Jesse Lewis who is a really top notch audio engineer at Sound Mirror. This was tracked entirely at 2.8MHz/1bit and promises to be a very exciting release. I'll post more info as it's available.
I can't help but post the vivacious encore from A Far Cry's (15 member unconducted string group) encore at St. Paul's Church.
(Use Headphones for All Recordings) Encore: A Far Cry - St. Pauls Live - Encore by BinauralAirwaves Binaural Recording Info: Microphone Setup: Ultra Hi-Fi Binaural Manikin Head Master Recording Format: 5.6MHz/1bit Direct Stream Digital Streaming Format: mp3 LAME 3.97 variable bit rate ~240 kbps 44.1kHz
If you liked this: check out my other binaural recordings of them playing Dvorak's Serenade for Strings here.
By the way, notice how close the violins on the left sound. Compare this to the violas on the right that are the same distance away. This difference is because the violins have a lot of lead lines and their instruments' strongest acoustical projecting side is pointed at the binaural manikin head. Instruments are directional like headlights on a car (for an exaggerated example). They're really bright when you stand in front of them but if you're in back of the car, you might only see the reflected light of the headlights illuminating objects rather than the direct light. This is analogous to the directionality of both instruments, speaker drivers, and other acoustic radiators.
For the specific case of violins (as well as the rest of the classical bowed string instruments: violas, cellos, and double bass which all have similar acoustic design) the "f-hole" (technical term, not a dirty word) on the violin is the most dominant directional source. The f-hole is similar in function to the open circular hole in an acoustic guitar and when it is pointed at a set of mics and another similar instrument is pointed away, much more of the facing instrument's sound reaches the mic and it therefore sounds more present and close, just like in this recording. To tie in my previous analogy, imagine a car headlight coming through the f-hole on the violin and the light being acoustic energy AKA sound. Now imagine how much more bright/loud/present it will be at the binaural manikin/your ears due to the violins facing you, compared to the violas facing away from you. It's pretty amazing how directional sound can be.
I have never seen anything like this. A spontaneous wide scale eruption of cheering, celebration, and congregation in tribute to the election of Barack Obama as the next President of the United States. This went on for hours in the streets which had to be closed down. People were simply beside themselves with excitement yet everything was hugely peaceful.
There were people everywhere, chants, tears of joy, cars honking, more enthusiasm than I have ever seen before in my entire life!!!!!!!!!!!!!
