Oblivion by Astor Piazzolla

[dak]

Well, I now had some more time and utilized the remainders of the day of the big plasma ball in the sky for lighting. Looking at the results, the main camera could have been sharper, perhaps using the imaging mode "Portrait" on this camera was a mistake: I suspect that it tried smoothing the 190 pimples on the bass side of my accordion over to make it look younger than its 63 years.



Of course, the combination of available nervosity and concentration and agitation made it such that of the longer footage I took, I ended up just using the first take of the session after all. While there was some artistically nicer material later in the session, getting a reasonably clean version out would have required too much cut&paste to make it a net win.

So now I need to check where to go from here with this piece and try to figure out my own favorite arrangement.

 

[debra]

Very well played. But at least through my headphones the bass side is still way too loud.

 

[dak]

Very well played. But at least through my headphones the bass side is still way too loud.

That was what I considered a reasonable balance, but apparently we are not on the same page here. I'll put up a take from the main camera's microphones as reference: that will reflect the actually audible balance rather than an arbitrary choice. Of course with the kind of dynamic compression and noise floor to be expected from camera-internal mics (and much less stereo, of course).



Of course, the real listener position would be more on the treble side rather than the middle of the accordion. The side camera recording is of course far too close to leave sensible room for bass.

 

[Walker]

Sounds super! There are also some lovely contrasts between the timbre of the right and left hand, through register selection, that gives added interest to your performance. Good work dak!

 

[dak]

Sounds super! There are also some lovely contrasts between the timbre of the right and left hand, through register selection, that gives added interest to your performance. Good work dak!

Thanks! From the "more than you wanted to know" department: in the left hand, I go through all 4 combinations of low and high bass reed (though mainly L) but stay with a single chord reed. The right does have MMM at start and end but otherwise goes through M, LM, and L (sticking mainly with LM).

So it's not a large universe I travel. Mainly it's for supporting volume changes as a variation on the recurring main theme.

 

[Walker]

Thanks! From the "more than you wanted to know" department: in the left hand, I go through all 4 combinations of low and high bass reed (though mainly L) but stay with a single chord reed. The right does have MMM at start and end but otherwise goes through M, LM, and L (sticking mainly with LM).

So it's not a large universe I travel. Mainly it's for supporting volume changes as a variation on the recurring main theme.

Thank you for explaining dak.

I would also add that your accordion is really quite glorious. It's design has a sense of occasion and formality that only occurs in the most refined of accordions. I love the 4 row treble keyboard and the "squared-off" stradella basses that sits perfectly next to the free bass rows. Is this a late 1950s vintage? If only new accordions could look and sound as good as this!

 

[dak]

Thank you for explaining dak.

I would also add that your accordion is really quite glorious. It's design has a sense of occasion and formality that only occurs in the most refined of accordions. I love the 4 row treble keyboard and the "squared-off" stradella basses that sits perfectly next to the free bass rows. Is this a late 1950s vintage? If only new accordions could look and sound as good as this!

Well, according to the serial number it has been delivered to Switzerland in 1960. It's not all too hard to guess to whom it has been delivered when looking inside:


Maurice Thöni actually had been a customer of Morino (and recipient of special constructs according to his specs) since before Hohner times. This was likely a present, attempting to convince Thöni to move to a C system free bass (his own instruments with a similarly complex bass mechanism had a 2-row baritone bass in Russian orientation) for image purposes. If that was the idea, it likely failed. Photographs of him later in life show him with a similar instrument (but a 5-reed one in the treble) and his accustomed bass system. In 1960, Morino was already in retirement but his section at Hohner still existent. I think they must have been working with older plans, combining them with the bass side of a Morino Artiste XD, a regular model, and giving the instrument a similar disposition in the treble as his previous instrument (which is now in Hohner's Harmonikamuseum in Trossingen).

In other words: I'll have to do a proper writeup and disassembly at some point of time. But I consider it likely that this instrument was built at some point of time to make someone's mouth water.

 

[Walker]

Awesome accordion and a great story. I love the musette tuning too.

 

[dak]

Well, I've got a private recommendation to look at the camera more and smile and that would improve the viewer experience even when the playing itself is less than perfect. Now my attempts at smiling are certainly worse than my playing attempts (and that is saying a lot), but I tried remembering as much. It is also sort of frustrating that when I manage not to tense the jaw by virtue of slacking it, the impression it makes is still that I am contemplating chewing the listener into a mush, just without biting off my tongue at the same time.



I did actually add technology. I did invest into one of those old 1000W lights of yore with a fairly decent fan noise. It definitely makes a difference to the definedness of the results even though I use it as indirect light. I got myself a Zoom H-6 recorder for its XLR inputs, and to self-justify the expense, I loaded all 4 of its inputs with microphones I already had: two small-condenser ones close up for the separation, and two large-diaphragm ones in a bit of distance for AB stereophony and ambience. I put a minuscule delay and reverb on the two smaller ones so that they leave the time-based stereo imaging to the other set. This actually shows the difference between out-of-déclassement sound (right after the intro) and in-déclassement sound (the reprise after the fast part) pretty well for those who swear on only a "true" cassotto.

 

[PhiliGol]

Wow, quite a rig - for sure worth the effort, awesome live(!) performance.

 

[Tom]

Very nice Dak! . I can’t speak to the recording technology because it’s way over my head, but the eye contact and emotional expression is great. Hard isn’t it?. Congrats!

 

[dak]

Wow, quite a rig - for sure worth the effort, awesome live(!) performance.

Thanks. I don't quite think this meets the "live" moniker, but at least it's uncut (and without background replacement). I am not sure I'd be all that good at editing, though one could probably cut some awkward pauses at least in half before adding reverb, speed up the video to match the shortened audio, and it could be really hard to tell the difference.

Always eager to cover for my playing shortcomings with technical solutions... the recording rig definitely is kind of overkill, but I find the results hard to argue with. The large diaphragm condensers actually were slated to be sold again (the close capturing works quite better with the smaller ones), but they do make for a good support take.