{"id":32043,"date":"2015-11-25T10:31:15","date_gmt":"2015-11-25T15:31:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=32043"},"modified":"2015-11-25T10:31:15","modified_gmt":"2015-11-25T15:31:15","slug":"john-terauds-one-pop-stars-symphonic-rebuke-to-the-triumph-of-mp3-audio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2015\/11\/25\/john-terauds-one-pop-stars-symphonic-rebuke-to-the-triumph-of-mp3-audio\/","title":{"rendered":"JOHN TERAUDS | One Pop Star\u2019s Symphonic Rebuke to the Triumph of MP3 Audio"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Piet
Piet Goddaer\/Ozark Henry (Photo: EMI)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

O<\/span>ne of the ways to sum up the change in our relationship to recorded music over the past two decades is to call it the triumph of mobility over fidelity.<\/p>\n

I am old enough to remember how my elders fussed over getting the best components for their home audio systems, and drooled over new technologies like Quadraphonic sound and Dolby noise reduction.<\/p>\n

I am also young enough to have fully embraced the new digital culture, where instant access to any piece of music is just a swipe of my iPhone away, whether it\u2019s to cover a bit of the clatter of a subway car, or to compete with the birdsong outside my living room window.<\/p>\n

Most of us accept the compressed audio of an MP3 file as a fair compromise between quality and convenience. We know we\u2019re not hearing the full potential of a violin in the upper frequencies, or getting a visceral wallop from timpani or the lowest register of a pipe organ, but we don\u2019t mind.<\/p>\n

People like Thomas Dolby are far less important in 2015 than the masterminds behind Apple Music. An album can be recorded and mixed any old way, as long as we can stream it wherever and whenever.<\/p>\n

So imagine how strange it seems to run across an artist who is doing everything he can to promote a new kind of recording process, one that brings more vibrancy to the listening experience. He even claims that, on his latest album, he can make us feel like we\u2019re surrounded by a symphony orchestra.<\/p>\n

Even stranger: this champion of a truly high-fidelity recorded symphony orchestra is a pop musician. Belgian Piet Goddaer, better known in the Low Countries as Ozark Henry<\/a>, has been a fixture on local charts and a favourite of critics for more than a generation.<\/p>\n

For his latest album, Paramount<\/em>, a Sony-released compilation of some of his favourite songs from a career that took off in the mid-1990s, Goddaer decided to record with 90 members of the National Orchestra of Belgium and conductor Stefan Blunier, who is based in Bonn, Germany.<\/p>\n

There is nothing new or noteworthy in pop-symphonic crossovers. But Paramount<\/em> stands out in the quality of Goddaer\u2019s orchestrations and the vividness of the audio. The studio recording is touted by Sony as the first album to feature a symphony orchestra captured in a nine-channel process called 9.1 Auro 3D<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In essence, the additional channels capture more of the bloom of sound as it leaves the instruments, by having tall, double-decker microphones (each pole has one microphone closer to the instruments, and the other closer to the ceiling). The results compare to the average MP3 file the way the opening portion of The Wizard of Oz gets blown out of the water by Dorothy\u2019s arrival in a Technicolor land beyond the funnel cloud.<\/p>\n

And, in a nod to the multitudes of listeners satisfied with portable audio and earbuds, the difference is even audible on the iPhone.<\/p>\n

The appeal of Paramount<\/em> depends on one\u2019s affinity with Ozark Henry\u2019s style of pop. But the quality of his orchestrations stands on its own. It turns out that his father is a composer, and some of that craft has rubbed off.<\/p>\n

Goddaer has made a point of speaking out on how the quality of what we hear is essential to connecting audience and artist, including giving an interesting TEDx Talk<\/a> in Li\u00e8ge, Belgium, on the subject last summer. It is a quest as real to the pop artist as to a classical musician. We spend so much time thinking about the quality of our concert hall acoustics, and perhaps not quite enough on the quality of what people get to hear once they take the music home with them.<\/p>\n

Perhaps now that we\u2019ve conquered anytime access from any place, we can turn our attention back to fidelity, and make the listening experience as vivid as it was to the audiophiles of yore.<\/p>\n

I was intrigued by Goddaer\u2019s efforts, and asked him a few questions on orchestration, audio quality and transferring the immediacy of a live concert into recorded sound.<\/p>\n

\"Piet
Piet Goddaer\/Ozark Henry sings with the National Orchestra of Belgium, conductor Stefan Blunier. (Photo: Veerle Vercauteren)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here is our e-mail exchange:<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> Piet, you spoke in Li\u00e8ge at the TED-x talk about wanting to recapture the excitement you felt at a concert in recorded form. Many people who try to compare the live versus recorded listening experiences speak of the energy of the audience and the tension of not being able to stop and fix anything that may not seem perfect as being the two primary forces behind the excitement of a live concert. Judging from your talk, it seems that you think the quality of what one hears is just as important, be it the arrangement of the score, or the quality of the concert space’s acoustics or sound system. Could you comment on this?<\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> It\u2019s the sum of things which defines the uniqueness of a moment. When taking a picture, realizing that whatever happens within the frame is what matters, and not the things that take most of your attention. This means automatically that when one works with a lot of data or input, it implies the need for a big canvas. And a big canvas is the best canvas to communicate a message. To weigh perfection or imperfection as a quality is very personal, it depends on what it communicates. Both can be equally honest or authentic but they still don\u2019t evoke that feeling of equality.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> The orchestrations in Paramount are much more vivid and textured than what we normally hear in pop music that uses a symphony orchestra. The usual crossover sound is quite homogenized, with heavily unified strings, for example. The lushness of the sound in Paramount is not just that of a big orchestra, but of an orchestra where the arranger\/orchestrator has tried to use the full palette of colours as much as possible. How much of a hand did you have in the actual orchestrations, and can you describe the effect you were seeking to achieve?<\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> That was very deliberate. Being brought up with classical music — my Dad is a classical composer — I wanted to show how much I understand and master this beautiful language and rich vocabulary a big orchestra has to offer. Having Ravel in my head as an example amongst others, I wanted the result to be something that is as much 100% pop music as it is 100% classical music, believing that the perfect marriages don\u2019t require any compromise. They go hand-in-hand naturally.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> There is a high degree of fine-tuning one can do in the editing suite after a recording. Were you conscious of trying to get the energy of a single take, live-concert style, using the microphone settings established before each take, or did you rely on making things work afterwards? If your answer tilts more towards the latter, how do you compare the result with the excitement you are seeking from the live concert experience? (I realize that I am repeating elements of the first question here.<\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> Yes and therefore I hardly did any editing. I wanted to catch the energy of the moment, considering that the perfect take for me may not be the most perfect performance, because perfect is not always that interesting anyway. Music is an art form not a sport. I wanted to feel the realness of it all; these are real stories of real people. That\u2019s what really strikes you, touches you, gets your attention. This is for real. That\u2019s the essence of feeling alive.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> Did you have any revelations about working with the orchestra and using the Auro-3D system?<\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> To listen to music in 3D is the most natural way of listening to music, it\u2019s the way we experience sound day to day. So it\u2019s no wonder you get easily used to it. Going back to stereo afterwards is such a downer. But then again, there\u2019s a long way to go before convincing others of that, knowing that the only way to do so is to give them the chance to experience it for themselves. And that\u2019s a long voyage, a long, long voyage\u2026 I don\u2019t mind; I love to travel.<\/p>\n

Piet Goddaer new album Paramount<\/em> is available at iTunes<\/a> or Amazon.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n

#LUDWIGVAN<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Want more updates on Toronto-centric classical music news and review\u00a0before anyone else finds out? Get our exclusive newsletter\u00a0<\/em>here<\/a><\/em><\/span>\u00a0and follow us on\u00a0<\/em>Facebook<\/a><\/span>\u00a0or Twitter<\/a><\/span> for all the latest.<\/em><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the ways to sum up the change in our relationship to recorded music over the past two decades is to call it the triumph of mobility over fidelity. John Terauds chats with Belgian musician Piet Goddaer about audio quality and transferring the immediacy of a live concert into recorded sound.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32044,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[118,4967,29,4937],"tags":[5707,5705,5706],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/11\/ne20-21-7.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-8kP","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32043"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32043"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32049,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32043\/revisions\/32049"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32043"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=32043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}