Fapy Lafertin & Lejazz - Swing guitars & Hungaria remastered

dBlackie · May 2012

Passacaglia wrote:

dBlackie wrote:

Passacaglia wrote:

Cheers, Dave - thanks again for doing this!

Whole band playing together the final 'take' of Songe D'Automne
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAL5_7BE ... re=mh_lolz

Got my copy yesterday, Dave - and WOW. Masterstroke in capturing the pre-war sweetness, and with such inspired talents! Thanks so much, Dave, both for sending this out so quickly and well, and for the quality of these recordings.

Hey man glad you're liking it. Well worth the effort it seems by the positive feedback. D

dBlackie · May 2012

Jon wrote:

It's interesting how many different band setups are shown in the videos - from 4 mics on rhythm section, Fapy and the violinist, to just one with the clarinet, and Fapy up on a chair like that picture of Django in the studio. Seems like they moved around a lot even between used takes to refine the sound.

What a wonderful album!

Hey Jon. Three basic lineups.
Quartet as in 'What a difference a day made'...just one instrument (Fapy) soloing
Quintet with Steve Elsworth on violin.
Quintet with Bob Wilber on clarinet.

We started off just with one mic but the sound was pretty crap so, after studying some photos, we hung I think 2 ambience mics up around the rhythm section and violin but mostly working on the bass. Wilber fitted into the rhythm section and i love that sound.
The vids on youtube at the moment i think represent all the moving round we did, other than small mixing adjustments of chairs positions etc.
There you go. D

Ahab · May 2012

Hey Dave,

I guess you never got round to asking Fapy what his favourite guitar was?

If I had to guess though, I reckon it would have to be Selmer #501?

dBlackie · May 2012

Ahab wrote:

Hey Dave,

I guess you never got round to asking Fapy what his favourite guitar was?

If I had to guess though, I reckon it would have to be Selmer #501?

forgot sorry! you mean of guitars that he's owned/played?

Jon · May 2012

dBlackie wrote:

Jon wrote:

It's interesting how many different band setups are shown in the videos - from 4 mics on rhythm section, Fapy and the violinist, to just one with the clarinet, and Fapy up on a chair like that picture of Django in the studio. Seems like they moved around a lot even between used takes to refine the sound.

What a wonderful album!

Hey Jon. Three basic lineups.
Quartet as in 'What a difference a day made'...just one instrument (Fapy) soloing
Quintet with Steve Elsworth on violin.
Quintet with Bob Wilber on clarinet.

We started off just with one mic but the sound was pretty crap so, after studying some photos, we hung I think 2 ambience mics up around the rhythm section and violin but mostly working on the bass. Wilber fitted into the rhythm section and i love that sound.
The vids on youtube at the moment i think represent all the moving round we did, other than small mixing adjustments of chairs positions etc.
There you go. D

Thanks so much for that. Very helpful, and very interesting. The clarinet does sit really well without its own mic. I'm starting to experiment with this approach myself, so all the information is great! I noticed you had hung some heavy (looking) black curtains around the place as well. I'd be interested to know how live the acoustic was in there.

Jon

dBlackie · May 2012

Jon wrote:

dBlackie wrote:

Jon wrote:

It's interesting how many different band setups are shown in the videos - from 4 mics on rhythm section, Fapy and the violinist, to just one with the clarinet, and Fapy up on a chair like that picture of Django in the studio. Seems like they moved around a lot even between used takes to refine the sound.

What a wonderful album!

Hey Jon. Three basic lineups.
Quartet as in 'What a difference a day made'...just one instrument (Fapy) soloing
Quintet with Steve Elsworth on violin.
Quintet with Bob Wilber on clarinet.

We started off just with one mic but the sound was pretty crap so, after studying some photos, we hung I think 2 ambience mics up around the rhythm section and violin but mostly working on the bass. Wilber fitted into the rhythm section and i love that sound.
The vids on youtube at the moment i think represent all the moving round we did, other than small mixing adjustments of chairs positions etc.
There you go. D

Thanks so much for that. Very helpful, and very interesting. The clarinet does sit really well without its own mic. I'm starting to experiment with this approach myself, so all the information is great! I noticed you had hung some heavy (looking) black curtains around the place as well. I'd be interested to know how live the acoustic was in there.

Jon

Big stone barn. Stone flagstoned floor and stone wall. Acoustics were about as bad as it gets for these guitars. Sounded like three bags of nails being hit with steel rods. So the blacks had to go up and a quantity of rugs imported. After that, clouds of cigarette smoke completed the sound tempering!
Around the barn were a load of chickens and Corky the cockerel made numerous appearances on tape. As did all aircraft approaching Bristol airport.
Just uploaded the album version of Notes Noir to that playlist. It's pretty cool. See you
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmm_IOXV ... plpp_video

Jon · May 2012

Thanks heaps Dave! You paint quite the picture

I had a couple of lessons with Fapy at his place last year (which were great), and was very interested to see how much he knows about and is into recording. He played me a traditional thing he had recorded around one mic in his room there with a couple of violins (he was playing one of them), double bass and keyboard (I think) that was really stunning.

I've been getting more and more into recording lately. In fact, I recorded an album here in Melbourne earlier in the year that we were lucky enough to get your friend Sebastien Girardot to play on. It was mostly close miced though - next one I'm trying your way

Cheers,

Jon

Ahab · May 2012

dBlackie wrote:

Ahab wrote:

Hey Dave,

I guess you never got round to asking Fapy what his favourite guitar was?

If I had to guess though, I reckon it would have to be Selmer #501?

forgot sorry! you mean of guitars that he's owned/played?

Yep!