Canadian Musician - November/December 2020 | Page 29

WOODWINDS

Andy Ballantyne is a noted Canadian saxophonist , composer , and educator . He is a member of the Juno Award-winning Rex Hotel Orchestra and has also performed with jazz greats Rob McConnell , Don
Thompson , Maria Schneider , Carla Bley , and Bill Mays . Andy is on faculty at Humber College in Toronto . His latest recording , Play on Words , is available on G-B Records . www . andyballantyne . com .
By Andy Ballantyne

The Woodwind Player ’ s Pandemic Home Studio

Part 2

In the last issue , I shared my experience setting up a home studio

quickly and on a budget , then provided some guidance for woodwind players with limited expertise in home recording . We covered microphones , audio interfaces , digital audio workstations ( DAWs ), and room treatments . In part two , I want to share some ways I am using home recording to improve the quality of my practice sessions and to collaborate with other musicians .
Recording yourself practicing is a great way to stay on track . We have all had days ( weeks ? months ?) when it feels like our practice is unfocused and unproductive . Recording practice sessions allows you to listen back objectively and identify areas for improvement . In an earlier article , I mentioned that I discovered a persistent issue with my time feel by listening to recordings of myself . You won ’ t like everything you hear , but you will be on the path to dealing with your shortcomings if you get into the routine of recording yourself .
This can be accomplished with something simple like the voice memo app on your smartphone , but with a better recording setup , you can achieve more realistic results and also have some options to enhance your practice experience .
Playing with Accompaniment Whatever style of music you play , there are probably pre-recorded accompaniment tracks available online . By importing a WAV or MP3 file into your DAW , you can play a Bach Flute Sonata with harpsichord accompaniment , have a full orchestra backing you for the Mozart Clarinet Concerto , or practice improvising on John Coltrane ’ s “ Giant Steps ” with a great jazz rhythm section .
You record your part on a second track while you listen to the accompaniment on headphones . Of course , you can record multiple takes and delete the ones you don ’ t like . Working in a DAW also allows you to mix the level of the two tracks after the recording is made . Since the pandemic slow-down , I ’ ve made this a big part of my practice routine because , most days , it ’ s the closest I get to playing live with other musicians .
Another benefit of playing and listening back to yourself with accompaniment is to address the issue of intonation . I ’ ve had students who have great discipline and spend many hours in the practice room playing by themselves . The result can be that they are unknowingly practicing out of tune , and they get a rude awakening when they get into an ensemble situation . Playing with fixed-pitch accompaniment at A440 ( in our part of the world ) prevents you from developing bad intonation habits . Critical listening to the recordings will reveal intonation issues you may not be aware of while you are playing .
Recording Duets / Trios / Quartets with yourself This is a great exercise that is also fun and rewarding . The Voxman Selected Duet books are a good place to start , and from there , you can progress to chamber or jazz arrangements written for your instrument ( s ) and ability . For sax players , there are collections of jazz saxophone duets by Lennie Niehaus and Jim Snidero , and of course , if you play all the saxophones , you can record your own sax quartets . There is some good woodwind material in the classical realm available for legal download at Imslp . org . ( I particularly like the “ Two Duos ” for flute and clarinet by Kaspar Kummer .)
At the end of the process , you will have a good-quality recording you might want to send to friends or share on social media . Working in a DAW like Logic Pro X allows you to record multiple passes and pick the best parts of each one using a process called “ swipe comping .” If that sounds like cheating ( and it is !) try recording both parts of a duet in a single pass without stopping . It ’ s a great way to keep your sightreading up !
Collaboration Being able to export tracks and share them with colleagues is one of the major benefits of a home studio . This will generally require playing to a click track , which may not be ideal for all musical styles . I ’ ve been experimenting with a colleague recording duets and chamber music for mixed woodwinds . We started with an intonation experiment . We each recorded one part of a clarinet duet in isolation and then mixed them together with no editing . The result was surprisingly good and the intonation , while not perfect , was definitely in the ballpark . Of course , the result will always be better if one part is recorded in advance and the other player records to that track . Providing practice tracks like these for your online students is the next best thing to playing live with them in a lesson .
Exploring these practice ideas will also help you establish an efficient workflow for remote home recording . You will become more familiar with editing , exporting audio files , setting EQs , and other important details like microphone placement .
It looks like we are going to be making music this way for the foreseeable future , so now ’ s the time to jump in and get comfortable with the process .
Ð CANADIAN MUSICIAN 29