Michelle – i recorded on Bb Clarinet

[sxpoet]

https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aq1gQEgqbN4CdQUGx5sOlvbtt44?e=65fDmv

[sxpoet]

michelle Bb clarinet

[Jeff]

Nice one James, I love the mellow woody sound of the clarinet.

[sxpoet]

I bought the clarinet off my daughter, with the view that she can have it back later on if she decides to pick it up again, i had to have it serviced as one of the pads had worn out and the four corks on it needed shaving down, and i had to buy a better ligature for it.

The annoying thing is when i started playing, i couldn’t put it down because the sound is so different, so now i have practice two instruments every day. On the clarinet i mainly just practice scales over and over, to get used to the different fingering positions in the three octaves.

Played on a Buffet E13 Bb Clarinet
using a Plasticover D’addario Clarinet Reed 2.5
with a stellar X2 Vintage Microphone
connected to a TASCAM’s DP-03SD 8-Track Digital Portastudio

It took me several attempts at getting the Microphone in the best position.

i’m having problems recording the Alto, i need to spend more time trying out different microphone positions, and alto setup…

[Leo Salu]

Nice job, we have a budding Benny Goodman in our mists.

[sxpoet]

thanks for the support, Jeff and Leo.
I was quite surprised how well a plasticover reed sounded on the clarinet, the reed i used was a size 3.5 not a 2.5 reed, plasticover reeds are quite good on the Alto as well, saves you having to wet them.

i never realised how difficult playing scales from a music sheet is on a clarinet in the 3rd octave, it gets confusing playing scales like Gb Major and F# Major. It’s the old sight reading problems remembering a c# is a Db, a F# is a Gb, a D# is a Eb, a A# is a Bb, a E# is a F – i tend to think they all different key positions when in fact each pair has the same key position.

[Jeff]

This may be a little crazy, but I remember the keys as unique fingering. In other words Db is not C# but a separate note with similar fingering. Remembering the notes as separate entities works for me as I don’t have the necessary processing speed to convert adhoc – LOL – much too many days spent under the sun. Got to keep the processing to a minimum. Keep all twelve loonies off the grass!

[sxpoet]

when i play the lower two octaves on the clarinet, i’ve got no problem between playing the sharps and flats in any major scale. It’s the last 6 keys in the upper third octave from D up to G (D,D#,Eb,E,E#,F,F#,Gb,G) that is harder to remember the key positions for each one as the keys on the clarinet as they are like playing alternative fingering positions on the sax in the altissimo range.

[sxpoet]

testing out Logic Pro to combine Clarinet Track with Alto Track – unfortunately both recordings weren’t in time, but it’s more of a test just to her what the two instruments would sound together on a backing track, my aim is to get guitar and keyboards as well later on.

alto and clarinet

[sxpoet]

alto and clarinet

[Author]

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