Quick and dirty flute recording:

> > > Quick and dirty flute recording:

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Byte-Mixer
Member Since: Dec 04, 2007

As I mentioned in the flute thread, I was going to post a quick recording of me playing one of my bamboo flutes.

Disclaimer: I am by no means a professional floutist.

This was recorded close mic using one of the K-Micros I bought recently. Had the end of the flute about 3in. away from the mic with the opening pointed away/past the mic. Finger holes pointed kinda up/toward the mic, but not directly at it.

Added some reverb with the Classic series, and brought the volume up with Modern Deep Purple and the Modern Limiter from Antress.

It turned out okay overall (again, i'm not a professional flute player) I might go back and play with deep purple to see how it turns out again, but this isn't a serious project. Just having some fun.

edit: right, might help if I mentioned where it was, which is just under my account here.

-Jbot

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Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002

Aug 09, 2008 08:59 pm

Cool! I love that sound indeed. The Hulusi my wife brought me back from China has been a pain as of yet to try and get into. I am looking for a site that might have a bit of a hint as to how to tune the reed pipes on it and then a simple tutorial on play8ing it. I've listened to some of the music created with it and it is a pretty simple sound but with some sweet overtones from the reed drone pipes on it. I'll post a picture of it in my profile in the next day or two.

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002

Aug 09, 2008 09:00 pm

Oh ya, by the way. You played that much better then I could for sure. I liked the little melody as well. It sounded like a fairly big flute as well.

Veni, MIDI, Vici
Member
Since: Jul 02, 2008

Aug 09, 2008 10:51 pm

Noize, you have a master on several woodwind instruments (including hulusi) living just around the corner more or less: Zhang Ying.

www.mnfolkarts.org/zhang/zhang.html

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002

Aug 09, 2008 11:15 pm

Nightcap, thanx so much for that. Funny I had not run across him yet. He is a member of the McKnight Composer's Fellowship which I can hopefully make a connection through.

I have probably seen him at our MN state fair as well. I'll probably have to beg a little I'm sure. But he is only about 20 minutes from me and in a neighborhood I am familiar with.

Veni, MIDI, Vici
Member
Since: Jul 02, 2008

Aug 09, 2008 11:25 pm

Great! Funny how things can come together. When you mentioned the hulusi flute, I remembered Zhang Ying. (I love traditional Chinese music)

I hope you'll succeed in contacting him. Who knows, he might even be interested in your recording studio? Keep me updated!

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002

Aug 09, 2008 11:48 pm

I hope so as well. I've spent time recording with a great Japanese composer and learned some of the traditional instruments from him. Which in the end helped me to learn how to use them better in my sampler's.

This time I am hoping to actually learn a bit more on how to play it live instead of sampling it.

Veni, MIDI, Vici
Member
Since: Jul 02, 2008

Aug 10, 2008 01:51 am

Are you allowed to reveal the name of the Japanese composer? I have several CDs with contemporary Japanese music and I'm getting curious now. ;-)

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002

Aug 10, 2008 04:22 pm

It is Kitaro. Not sure if you know of him or not. This was about 10 years ago or so. A very chance meeting while I was out east doing some film sound track work. The instrument was the Shakuhachi, which I loved his sampler emulations of. As well he was a very proficient player of it as well.

Veni, MIDI, Vici
Member
Since: Jul 02, 2008

Aug 10, 2008 11:09 pm

Of course I know Kitaro! I'm a fan of his music since the very first album in 1978. Gee, that's a long time ago... LOL

Yes, he plays several traditional instruments very well. I specifically remember a concert where he played the kodo drums. An art form all by itself. Mesmerizing is the only word that came to mind. I'm a wee bit jealous that you met him face to face. ;-)

Thank you for sharing!

Byte-Mixer
Member
Since: Dec 04, 2007

Aug 11, 2008 10:40 am

Hey guys,

Glad you like the sound Noize.
I'll try to put a quick recording of my other two flutes up as well.

This one was the midrange flute, so about 16 inches long roughly. I -think- its in G, but I haven't played against a piano in awhile and my memory is fuzzy.

I have a higher (smaller) flute in Bb, and a nice big low flute, which I think was E or Eb.

I'll get those two a quickie as well, and maybe put together a larger project if I can find time for it. I've had a title/visual idea in my head for awhile I'm calling "Snake in the Grass" that I think would work well for celtic/folk music. Mebbe like some kinda pub tune.

Hopefull I'll be able to find some time to put something together. :)

-J

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002

Aug 11, 2008 08:47 pm

J-bot, the Hulusi is a Bb as well. Not a real high tone to it. I think that comes from the reed drones though, so it is a bit misleading. But a very cool tone to it for sure. And yes indeed, I would love to hear the other flutes as well. I'm a sucker for those kind of sounds.

Nightcap, yes, I've been listening to him about that long as well. I guess he is considered a New Age artist, but I found a lot of his music very traditional, even the heavy synthesizer and sampler stuff. He is also a very accomplished guitarist as well. I was amazed to watch him play. It was very interesting as he had watched for awhile before saying anything. But then I was playing with my eyes closed, which is rather odd when scoring music to film. Most normal folks would have their eyes open. But he figured out that I was listening to all the other instruments in my head while playing a single part. And that was before the other parts were recorded. We talked how we were similar in doing that. Hearing all the music before it is created, while laying the simple melody line or what ever.

But ya, to watch him play something like the Tiako drum. He is such a small man, and those drums are huge. But the power he has when playing them, or any instrument is awe inspiring to say the least.

Veni, MIDI, Vici
Member
Since: Jul 02, 2008

Aug 11, 2008 11:35 pm

J-bot, I apologize for distracting from your flute posting, although we kept it within limits, I think. Though I wouldn't mind if people started talking about Kitaro in a thread I had started. Talking about a musical wizard... ;-)

I enjoyed listening to your bamboo flute recording very much and I would really like to hear more. Something Celtic, like you stated, would be wonderful!

Noize, since I'm a sucker for different cultures and especially the musical side of them, I never thought of Kitaro as a New Age artist. (I know others did) From the beginning I could hear many traditional influences which became only more prominent in his work over the years. There are even traces there of Gagaku. (Japanese Imperial Court music, probably going back more than 1500 years)

Apparently you share with Kitaro that Zen like approach to music. A true gift!


Byte-Mixer
Member
Since: Dec 04, 2007

Aug 12, 2008 01:32 pm

Hey, no worries. If anything I have another name to check out. Haven't heard of Kitaro. Although, I remember we had a Japanese pianist at UNF for awhile named Kintaro. ;)

I'll have to check some of his stuff out.

Veni, MIDI, Vici
Member
Since: Jul 02, 2008

Aug 12, 2008 02:01 pm

A search for Kitaro on Youtube will enlighten you and give a pretty good idea of the artist and his music.

In my search the first video in the list is "Matsuri", that's where you can see him play the Kodo drums in the second half of the video.

I'm curious to hear what you think!

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002

Aug 12, 2008 08:23 pm

J-bot, I'm with Nightcap on that as well. I think you will really like his music as well.

I think the New Age thing came from his headfirst dive into synthes and sampling and the direction it took his music. The traditional influence was always there though as you stated.

Nightcap, this is known as a threadjacking.

J-bot, my apologies as well. I haven't been part of a good threadjacking in awhile though. :-)

Byte-Mixer
Member
Since: Dec 04, 2007

Aug 12, 2008 10:46 pm

Jumping into the fray here as well. I've always been a fan of two japanese composers in particular. Both are probably more noted for their video game scores (at least over here anyway)

You can find both on youtube as well.
The first (for the classical side of things) is Koichi Sugiyama of the famed Dragon Quest series of games. I've always liked his style particularly in the later games. The orchestral arrangements and live recordings are something else.

The second, more on the pop rock/synth side, is Motoi Sakuraba, who's done works for the Tales series of games, as well as Star Ocean, Baten Kaitos, and probably some others I'm forgetting.
edit: almost forgot, main reason I like Sakuraba, is that he gets very creative with his rhythms and meters.

I'll go check out Kitaro on youtube now hehe.

-J

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