Anyone have info on "Organ Spectacular"??

[Teddy Ray]

Guillou Organ Spectacular on 3 CDs

I mean...this CD has some serious balls....Sub-Bass out of this world, the hall sounds wonderful, and of course Mr Guillou's playing.. it is my favorite organ cd ever.

anyone know about how this was recorded??? I know Dorian did it (when they were still around)... who engineered, what gear, etc?

if you don't have this CD, get it! now!

[Corran]

It's amazing how cheap CD's are these days. No wonder some parents balk when I sell CD's of their kid's concert for $10-$15. They want it for $3-$5. Hello? I sell 50 at $5 and I barely make $200 after costs.

Sorry that wasn't much help. I was just (pleasantly) surprised at the price for 3 CD's. I might pick one up. Is there a demo clip anywhere?

[hughesmr]

Hi Teddy,

I think it was I who recommended the Guillou Dorian CDs to you a couple of years ago. These discs, especially the CD of the inauguration of the new organ at St Eustache, Paris, are examples of what I consider some of the best recorded organ sound on disc. (Guillou's playing, OTOH, is very much an acquired taste

The engineers of the St Eustache recording were Craig Dory and Brian Peters. I recall in the Dorian issue liner notes that they strang hundreds of meters of fibre optic cable through and outside the church. But, there is no mention of mics, gear or technique. Dorian always seemed to be somewhat secretive of this.

I was only recently thinking of trying to find Dory and query him on the methods and gear. Perhaps you've spurred me on....

Another fabulous one Dorian did (just before closing down) was Magic!, at the famous Wanamaker organ at Lord and Taylor (now Macy's) in Philadelphia. This has been reissued on Gothic:

Magic! Conte

I sure hope Gothic didn't mess with the original audio, because the Dorian original is a stunner.

[Petrus]

In the liner notes of Mussorgsky/Stravinsky (DOR-90117) recording, page 34, there is a picture of the session in Zürich Tonhalle. Mic arrangement is about 120cm wide AB, set very high about the width of the organ away from the facade.

All Dorian's Guillou recordings are awesome. I have also the Franck set DOR-90135 I&II from Eustache, and the Reubke sonatas.

Once in Paris I walked around the city on a weekend trying to get to hear as many famous organs as possible. Have to say that listening the Eustache organ played by Guillou himsef during the service was something I will never forget! Managed even to have some words with the maestro himself afterwords.

Listening to the huge, powerfull but smooth organ in the big space was a revelation. There was just no end to the amount, detail and extent of clear sound the beast was able to produce! Listening to the Franck recordings my quess would be they were also simply AB:ed from high up and fairly close (like max 20% the length of the church) as there is ample reverb there.

His playing style might be very much an acquired taste, but I have to admit that some of his "inventions" like the reverse manual balance in the beginning of Franck's Prelude, fugue & variations and the short rests between the final chords in Reubke's sonata sound fresh and even "right" after hearing enough sloppy and mediocre performances of the same.

[NorseHorse]

Originally Posted by Petrus

Once in Paris I walked around the city on a weekend trying to get to hear as many famous organs as possible.

For those looking to try something similar:

thumbsup - French Organ Music Seminar and British Organ Music Seminar home page www.bfoms.com

[hughesmr]

Originally Posted by NorseHorse

For those looking to try something similar:

thumbsup - French Organ Music Seminar and British Organ Music Seminar home page French Organ Music Seminar and British Organ Music Seminar home page www.bfoms.com

I've been on that tour three times! 1993, 1995 and 1997.

[sonare]

Originally Posted by hughesmr

The engineers of the St Eustache recording were Craig Dory and Brian Peters. I recall in the Dorian issue liner notes that they strang hundreds of meters of fibre optic cable through and outside the church. But, there is no mention of mics, gear or technique. Dorian always seemed to be somewhat secretive of this.

I was only recently thinking of trying to find Dory and query him on the methods and gear. Perhaps you've spurred me on....

Brian uses a pair of 4003s for organ-- I will ask about that particular project. I do recall him saying that they had to run the fiber up along the roof (on the outside) of the cathedral. There was also a fireworks display being launched from the roof and one of the technicians decided to cut through the fiber to see what was inside. I am serious.

He also used the 4003s (often with cones) for other Dorian CDs. Shows what 2 mics, a nice acoustic, and lots of patience will yield.

As for contacting anyone-- I do not think you will get a response from Mr Dory.

Rich

[hughesmr]

So that was a 2-ch recording? Awesome!

[Teddy Ray]

Originally Posted by sonare

Brian uses a pair of 4003s for organ-- I will ask about that particular project. I do recall him saying that they had to run the fiber up along the roof (on the outside) of the cathedral. There was also a fireworks display being launched from the roof and one of the technicians decided to cut through the fiber to see what was inside. I am serious.

He also used the 4003s (often with cones) for other Dorian CDs. Shows what 2 mics, a nice acoustic, and lots of patience will yield.

As for contacting anyone-- I do not think you will get a response from Mr Dory.

Rich

cant find Mr. Dory anyway..he is no longer with CoreSense.

[Teddy Ray]

Originally Posted by hughesmr

So that was a 2-ch recording? Awesome!

most "GREAT" recordings are.

[Brian Peters]

Rich Mays made me do it! I have never joined until today. But I have all of the details and some rather amusing stories of all of the Guillou recordings having recorded them all and built the gear. All of the editing was done by me on a number of digital editors some of them real oddballs, like the JVC 900 system.

The fiber story is correct and we were the first record company to use fiber technology on all of our CD's since that time.

I am currently reworking the original electronics and mics used for all of the Dorian Organ CD's.

Like the terminator says, "I have detailed files"

I even have some high resolution experiments in surround for the Wanamaker Organ project. A DVD-A of this sounds awesome.

BP

[rmx16]

Originally Posted by Brian Peters

Rich Mays made me do it! I have never joined until today. But I have all of the details and some rather amusing stories of all of the Guillou recordings having recorded them all and built the gear. All of the editing was done by me on a number of digital editors some of them real oddballs, like the JVC 900 system.

The fiber story is correct and we were the first record company to use fiber technology on all of our CD's since that time.

I am currently reworking the original electronics and mics used for all of the Dorian Organ CD's.

Like the terminator says, "I have detailed files"

I even have some high resolution experiments in surround for the Wanamaker Organ project. A DVD-A of this sounds awesome.

BP

Brian
Would that be the Wanamaker organ in Philly? I would love to here thatthumbsup
Links?

Peace
Rob

[Teddy Ray]

Originally Posted by Brian Peters

Rich Mays made me do it! I have never joined until today. But I have all of the details and some rather amusing stories of all of the Guillou recordings having recorded them all and built the gear. All of the editing was done by me on a number of digital editors some of them real oddballs, like the JVC 900 system.

The fiber story is correct and we were the first record company to use fiber technology on all of our CD's since that time.

I am currently reworking the original electronics and mics used for all of the Dorian Organ CD's.

Like the terminator says, "I have detailed files"

I even have some high resolution experiments in surround for the Wanamaker Organ project. A DVD-A of this sounds awesome.

BP

So, Sir...what were the mics(DPA??) and how were they setup/spaced?

what about the details of the electronics?? i mean..just a general picture.

[fifthcircle]

Originally Posted by Brian Peters

Rich Mays made me do it! I have never joined until today.

Better watch out Brian- you may get sucked in. In any case, good to see you around here.

--Ben

[Brian Peters]

Originally Posted by Teddy Ray

So, Sir...what were the mics(DPA??) and how were they setup/spaced?

what about the details of the electronics?? i mean..just a general picture.

All of the St. Eustache recording were done with a custom made 130v bias preamp I made based on the Jensen 990 op amps. Single stage design unbalanced throughout. It's ruler flat from 5Hz to about 50KHz and fairly quiet. EIN more that 100db. The mics are B&K 4003's but at that time we only used the standard silver grid. I was given the mics and preamp by Sono Luminus for some help I gave them last year. Sweet deal for sure. I now am revising the electronics for balanced or unbalanced operation in a slightly friendlier package. It always looked like a mess but I always had my hands in it anyway.

The A/D was a custom build proto kit based on the Ultra Analog flash circuity of which there are not many left. The designers were Vinc Capizzo, Dan Lavry and Bruce Jackson. It was 16 bit only at 44.1 or 48KHz and spat out SPDIF over single mode glass fiber. We used 48K exclusively into two gray marked Sony PCM-1000 DAT machines.

The mics were AB spaced about 8ft apart 40 ft from the floor and about 1/3 of the way back in the catherdral. I think that makes it about 60 ft from the front of the case. We had lots of discussions with the builders as they said "put the mics here" on the floor as that is were the organ was voiced for. That's OK for humans but not for mics. After they heard our test recordings they kept quiet.

Of course we had noise issues as it was the 200 anniversery of Bastille day with the Les Halles right next to the Cathedral. We recorded from 11pm to 5am for the subway issues. It was party time for sure. I never saw up close 16 inch morters for fireworks but I was stringing fiber right along side the detonation cords of the pyro crew. I was named Quasimodo because of the all the places I needed to go to rout the fiber line to the control room 300 meters away. I have a panarama video shot from the tippy top of the cathedral with me holding onto the lightning rod. Then the police started showing up. Never caught me.. Haha...

BP

[Brian Peters]

Originally Posted by rmx16

Brian
Would that be the Wanamaker organ in Philly? I would love to here thatthumbsup
Links?

Peace
Rob

Yes, it is available on Dorian Sono Luminus but not the 4 channel 176400Hz version. One of these days I will remix it and make another DVD-A.

BP

[Teddy Ray]

Originally Posted by Brian Peters

All of the St. Eustache recording were done with a custom made 130v bias preamp I made based on the Jensen 990 op amps. Single stage design unbalanced throughout. It's ruler flat from 5Hz to about 50KHz and fairly quiet. EIN more that 100db. The mics are B&K 4003's but at that time we only used the standard silver grid. I was given the mics and preamp by Sono Luminus for some help I gave them last year. Sweet deal for sure. I now am revising the electronics for balanced or unbalanced operation in a slightly friendlier package. It always looked like a mess but I always had my hands in it anyway.

The A/D was a custom build proto kit based on the Ultra Analog flash circuity of which there are not many left. The designers were Vinc Capizzo, Dan Lavry and Bruce Jackson. It was 16 bit only at 44.1 or 48KHz and spat out SPDIF over single mode glass fiber. We used 48K exclusively into two gray marked Sony PCM-1000 DAT machines.

The mics were AB spaced about 8ft apart 40 ft from the floor and about 1/3 of the way back in the catherdral. I think that makes it about 60 ft from the front of the case. We had lots of discussions with the builders as they said "put the mics here" on the floor as that is were the organ was voiced for. That's OK for humans but not for mics. After they heard our test recordings they kept quiet.

Of course we had noise issues as it was the 200 anniversery of Bastille day with the Les Halles right next to the Cathedral. We recorded from 11pm to 5am for the subway issues. It was party time for sure. I never saw up close 16 inch morters for fireworks but I was stringing fiber right along side the detonation cords of the pyro crew. I was named Quasimodo because of the all the places I needed to go to rout the fiber line to the control room 300 meters away. I have a panarama video shot from the tippy top of the cathedral with me holding onto the lightning rod. Then the police started showing up. Never caught me.. Haha...

BP

thank you Sir. Do you know Todd Garfinkle at MA Recordings? He uses the DPAs too, but has custom machined Rhodium bodies and other enhancements. At any rate..it is inspiring to see the info behind this recording...amazing piece of work!