Recording protocols 1 (Stravinsky room)
ACTOR website and Online Orchestration Resource (Studio 5)
Recording Protocols for the Orchestral Distribution Effects in Sound, Space and Acoustics and Composer-performer Orchestration Research Ensemble projects (de Francisco) [Stravinsky room]
ODESSA is a collaborative project aiming to study orchestral blending effects, examining how instrumental sounds are sculpted by the conductor, the musicians and the hall acoustics, and how the sound changes when heard and recorded from different perspectives. Under the combined leadership of four researchers of ACTOR partner institutions, the ODESSA project consisted of a complex multitrack recording of the Orchestre de l’Université de Montréal performing excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony, “Pathétique”. More than 50 microphones were used in a combination of close microphone pick-up and ambient recording. Concurrently, the acoustical balance of the instruments was examined employing techniques such as 3D intensity probes and an acoustic camera. Excerpts of the recording of varying instrumental combinations are used as listening test stimuli with the purpose of investigating timbral blending effects. Additionally, the CORE project at UCSD sought to establish a recording protocol for the Composer-performer Orchestration Research Ensembles piloted by UBC in 2018-2019 and to be further developed by UC San Diego, McGill, UMontréal and UToronto in 2019-2020. The global aim of this session is to explain certain concepts of sound and recording, on which the ACTOR recordings are based, and most importantly to do a crash course in critical listening, as we work through the recorded material in multitrack recordings.
ACTOR website and Online Orchestration Resource (Soden, Noble) [Studio 5]
The ACTOR website represents a significant portion of the public face of ACTOR. This working group will present the current state of the website, including private and public pages, blog posts, news updates, partner information, and so forth, and invite open discussion to assess how well the website is meeting the needs of ACTOR members. The Online Orchestration Resource (OOR) represents one of ACTOR's cornerstone outputs and is slated to be fully embedded in the ACTOR website. Its format, content, and future directions will be further topics of discussion.