Bill Dishman

Mr. Laurenop...I have several of the Minnesota Orchestra CD's done by the Reference Recordings label. Were you involved with some of these?

I like the openess of the sound of the orchestra very much on these discs.

My real question is how is it for a member of the orchestra in dealing with different companies? Are you completely out of the mix of decision making and just play the music or do you have some input as to the final result.

Are some companies easier to deal with than others?

Bill Dishman
Gainesville, Florida

jcstites

I want to add a question to this post:

Why dont they list the musicians in the liner notes? I have very few cds that list them.

Manny Laureano

Bill and JC,

Yes, recording companies are different from one anther in the same way that heads of anything are distinct. They each have different agenda regarding the sound of an orchestra. So, that means one wants a richer bass sound, another wants it leaner, one wants to feature strings, another wants the percussion acentuated and on and on.

What is critical to the succes of any company is the producer who is the ears of the conductor from within the booth. He has to be objective with a clear idea of what the conductor wants. The conductor has to know what is possible technically. No one is allowed to have an ego with a good producer. You shut up and do what he tells you and you'll get a good record. If the producer is less than excellent, you'll produce a less than excellent product, al things being equal.

ML

B15M

Manny,

I think that is fascinating. I always thought that they set up the recording equipment and recorded it completely flat. After they had it on tape or now days in a computer the conductor would review it with the recording guy and make changes as necessary.

I have never recorded professionally. I don't know where the vision of two mikes out front came from. Probably school where they only had two mikes