Dad3353

Beethoven, Concerto n°4, Rondo for piano and orchestra. Kurt Masur (Chef d'orchestre), Hélène Grimaud (Piano), Orchestre Philharmonique De New York.

On the disk, there's a 'walk-up' at 2:55, and another at 3:05, neither of which are critical, and entirely 'ad lib' for this kind of song. The basic structure remains he same throughout; he's simply got a little bored of just the riff and is stretching his fingers a little. To be imitated, or not, but is of no real consequence either way. There's a clue in the title of the song. Hope this helps.

I never tire of Schubert's Ninth.

I'm sorry, I missed something. Could you post it again, please..? ...

4k5..? I spent less than a quarter of that on an accumulateur water tank, 220l, with a heat-pump in its head. It runs off-peak, about 4 hours every other night, set to 50°C, and consumes 750W to do so. It has 2.5kW elements, but I've not connected them at all, it's just the heat-pump, s'all. It supplies showers, bath and washing-up for our household of three, for a daily running cost of less than 2p (so £7/year...)... Edit : Apologies; I didn't realise that this was for central heating, and not just for domestic hot water, so no comparison. No piped gas here, though, so I'll keep the wood-burning insert and a nice warm dressing gown.

Any and all of the combinations mentioned above are worth experimenting with, if you've the luxury of time, and a decent environment to record in. @Jakester's first suggestion makes the most sense to me as a starting point, and should give decent results with the combination of mic's available. I wouldn't put the bass drum mic inside, but it's all a question of 'suck it and see', really. No need to go mad, either; the differences, in a 'domestic' recording, are not going to be so flagrant as to be deal-breakers. Try the simple solution first, then play about with distances and positioning, then just concentrate on playing, and ignore the mics from then on. The mic's chosen may not be the ideal preference for a studio engineer, but will do a fine job, I'm Shure.

Not available for us oldies (1950...), except double-basses. I'd have issues trying to wield such a beast at my age.

Fixed.

... which is simply the shorthand version of 'passing a hot knife through butter', implying ease and/or speed.

Invest in a looper pedal; play a couple of bars, switch to 'loop' then go lie down until it's over. With such a bass sound, you might even get away with no pedal, if you can capture some 50Hz buzz instead. Darned awful sludge, for my old ears. I'll not be listening to it twice.

Simple black nylon, but my Hofner Verithin is very, very light, so...

Great sounds were being made before, during and after modern gear became available, and will always be made, as long as there are fingers and ears to make 'em, in my opinion and experience.

That's not 'losing them', that's 'hiding them', probably to recover them later for his own use. Hmm... Not cool.

Most equipment from the '60s onward is 'excellent', and capable of properly reproducing most sounds from most fingers.

For all but international flying, I'd say that a hard flight case is a bit overkill, and would suggest that a 'soft' hard case is a better solution, such as this one from Thomann (other cases and suppliers exist...)... Harley Benton LightCase-El-Bass ... It (or very similar...) is what we have been using for many years now, for guitars and basses, loading into tour buses, vans, public transport... It's all good. Hope this helps.

Ah, that's more like it..! A real wreck-it, with no discernable whistling..! Good Stuff..!

No, I'll not be tempted. I'll wait for your real racket entry. ...

[Shudder...] Oh no..! Let's just hope that Lenny doesn't get wind of this..!

There are many ways to effectively muffle acoustic drums, and smaller-sized cymbals will tame that issue, too. There's no real reason why drums have to be loud, if the player can't do it him/her self using appropriate technique, such as hot-rods, or brushes. It's a little bit like the double-stack guitarist saying that it's for 'his/her' sound. It's a lifestyle choice, not a necessity.

My mum's family are all from East Kilbride; they all say they're from Glasgow, generally, unless being more specific. Just sayin'.

Are you sure of the mix here, Lurks..? I can't hear the piano at all. ...

It was made clear at the very start of this Challenge, that the criteria of recording quality, production, technical ability and more were (and, for me, still are...) essentially secondary to the inspirational and composition elements of the work proposed. Not everyone has a studio at their disposal, nor even the domestic conditions for professional-level recordings, so the pieces with background noise, some 'flubs', a low, or too high, level can still be appreciated for the idea behind them. Some may benefit from a heavenly choir, others a soft trumpet solo or a Trinidad steel band, but, even without any window dressing, a Good Composition is a Good Composition. I would humbly offer some of my own renderings as model of just how little technique is required; some of my pieces have even been voted as 'best', proving that it's not always the most 'pro' efforts that are recompensed. In short : don't sweat it; it's fine as it is..!