Jazz Band Recording

[under the fridge]

Hello, I'm new to this site. A few weeks ago I recorded my high school's jazz band. I was wondering what some other ears think about this. As a warning, the intonation is quite off. This was done on school equipment, mostly just random stuff I found lying around, but I had a lot of fun making this recording. I can't do much about balance since it's direct to stereo, but any comments on compression, EQ, and phase cancellation would be appreciated, or anything that catches your attention. This was recorded live in the school courtyard. Thanks for any comments.

[Old Cane]

You know, I've never understood why school bands are out of tune. sorry but i can't make it very far into this. Since you can't fix the tuning i don't know what the point would be of working with the recording. Hope this doesn't sound mean but it's really, really awful. I know parents always think it's wonderful but it's not. If it was a great performance and somebody fell down or broke a string you can over look that. We used to have a little saying on stage "we tune 'cause we care". Big bands don't sound like this. I just don't get it. Do they not care? Are band directors deaf? Sorry, I'll go to bed now and shut up.

I always try to say something positive so the recording is not too bad. For being outside and using stuff you found in the school it probably sounds great or could with a little tweaking. But please; don't try to make it better. That means someone will be playing this over and over and over and......... (shudder).

[under the fridge]

I hadn't really thought about the intonation so much, now I'm worried that unlike you I wasn't absolutely repulsed by it at first. I mean I used to be able to spot this stuff right away. Now I do find it very strident, and I do apologize on their behalf, most band kids these days "tune up" but they don't understand the idea of moving the joints to get in tune, or, here's an idea, using better air support and embouchure to catch those tricky notes. Is anyone able to see through the intonation and comment on the recording itself? I'm hoping to at least learn something from recording these guys.