duke ellington 1943 youtube question

[audiothings]

i was reading the very interesting keith jarret thread, but i had to take a break when i saw this video. How on earth did they record it, esp back in '43 ? Can't see a single bloody mic, and every solo instrument (including the two voices) is heard perfectly through the maze. I simply cannot imagine how they got that balance.

or is it a prehistoric "music video" of a studio recording with much more control?

Any insights appreciated.

[muziekschuur]

they worked with distance to microphone. So everybody had their position.

Muziekschuur

[mal]

This was dubbed..it was one of those musical shorts that were often made at the time for
cinema showing..Ellington/Basie/Armstrong made a number as well as others...no live recording unfortunately..Ellington in the studio though was a real stickler for detail and quality...often the bass for example was on a raised rostrum and placed just right to give the right detail and sound...the bass on early Ellington (40's/early 50s) is particularly good in terms of level and clarity...these mono recordings have a real immediacy about them..

[Phil Cibley]

Originally Posted by mal

...the bass on early Ellington (40's/early 50s) is particularly good in terms of level and clarity...

Having Jimmy Blanton playing didn't hurt either.

[ajfarber]

This was most certainly "lip-synced".

Proof: When "Tricky Sam" Nanton stands up for his trombone solo, you can see that his bell is empty. The sound on the track is Nanton playing a solo with a plunger over a "pixie mute" (or in his case, a trumpet straight mute). For the video, he didn't bother putting the straight mute in, he just stood up with a plunger and faked along with the track.

[Legacy]

Definitely dubbed. The violinist doesn't even have the bow on the strings during his solo with the band a few times. Same with the tenor solo - lips off reed for a few notes.

What a great track!! Thanks for the link.

-Silas

[FossilTooth]

Originally Posted by ajfarber

This was most certainly "lip-synced".

Proof: When "Tricky Sam" Nanton stands up for his trombone solo, you can see that his bell is empty. The sound on the track is Nanton playing a solo with a plunger over a "pixie mute" (or in his case, a trumpet straight mute). For the video, he didn't bother putting the straight mute in, he just stood up with a plunger and faked along with the track.

Good point!

....but, you could really just look at any of the soloists. The Sax player at the end is the most obvious. He doesn't even try to match up to the audio. Doubtful if he remembered his solo at all. You can clearly see him inhale while big notes are coming out.

Not to mention the 2nd vocalist's closer mic'd tone. There's no way he was singing from the same distance as the 1st vocalist.

The 1st vocalist is really convincing though.... just not when he's playing the violin.

Or listen to the closer mic'd tone of the second singer

[Remoteness]

Yeah, no doubt it was a lip sync or dubbed performance piece.

I wanted to say something about it in the "Jarrett" thread , but forgot.

[soultrane]

dubbed?

it may have been...

but so what!!!

this was the duke ellington band, for goodness sakes.

you don't think they recorded the original with baffles set up in 16 different rooms, do you?

don't want anyone to get the wrong impression... especially, young people who are so used to the huge difference between "studio" and "live" performances.

when i first started getting into duke, i thought to myself, "ah, there are so many live recordings" and i wished there was more studio material.

then i started listening to the live recordings, like the carnegie hall series from the 40's...

then i realized, every recording of the duke ellington orchestra is essentially a live recording.

those are NOT studio tricks... i'm not saying mic placement isn't crucial, but mostly, that's great musicians and a great conductor balancing it out..

and on those '40's recordings, jimmy blanton, probably one of the most incredible musicians ever!!!

this is live...how's the blend? johnny hodges is even reading the notes!!!

YouTube - Duke Ellington - Isfahan

[Remoteness]

If you're directing your comments to me...

I was refering to the fact that someone thought the audio they heard was captured during the same video performance they saw on youtube.com. As we already know, that is not the case.

In any event, I agree with your post completely.