Posted by Mark McMahon on August 11, 2001 at 11:42:39:
Some of my buddies and I got together over the last two days to work a "listening project."
Here was the plan:
We would each take 10 selected orchestral excerpts that were included on the "Orchestra Pro Series" recordings and record them on a DAT. After we recorded ourselves playing the excerpt, we then edited in the "orchestra pro" recording of the excerpt. For instance, the first excerpt on my tape was me playing the excerpt from Belrioz's Hungarian March with Gene Pokorny playing the excerpt immediately following. We did this with four different instruments: tuba, flute, french horn, trumpet. Just after we each finished our private recording sessions of the 10 excerpts, we exchanged tapes and made comment sheets for each other. Our comment catagories consisted of general comments directed toward the "individual's recording" and then a comparitive analysis of it to the "orchestra pro recording." Talk about an eye-opening expeience!!! It was pretty intimidating to all of us being compared to the likes of Gene Pokorny, Jeanne Baxtresser, etc. However, I think that I learned more about my strengths and weaknesses through this exercise than ever before. My friends and I agreed to be brutally yet constructively honest with one another, and it made this project well worth our time and effort. I strongly encourage you guys to do the same if you have the time and the inclination. It was absolutely invaluable having honest, educated ears compare my recordings to Gene's back to back. If you guys are looking for a good end of summer project, get some of your trusted colleagues and try this!
-Mark McMahon