Double Bass Home Recordings

Abstract

Name: João Pedro Almeida Lucas Main Subject: Classical Double Bass Research Supervisor: Margaret Urquhart Title of Research: Double bass homemade recordings Research Question: How to get the pure sound of the double bass in a homemade recording? Summary of Results: Often, musicians are required to send out a recording for a competition, an audition or simply for self-promotion. Unfortunately, not everybody can afford a studio and qualified technicians to have a good final result. However, nowadays, there is low budget equipment (microphones, sound cards, hand recorders, among others) that, when used in a proper way, can provide good results. Being fascinated by the recording and studio worlds, I began to take interest in this particular matter. During the past year and a half, I have focused on recording bass players, with different approaches to the instrument and repertoire. There are some factors to take into consideration regarding my experiences: each player was using their own instrument; the recordings were made in different environments (except the ones used for comparison); the same mic settings were used, in order to make a more precise comparison between two different instruments; and all the recordings were made in solo context, with no other instruments involved. The focus was only on capturing the sound (without editing). In conclusion, I believe that a double bass recording can improve significantly even with low cost equipment, when used in a proper way. My main goal with this research was to gather my experiences and recommendations into an accessible guide for double bass home recordings. Biography: João Pedro Almeida Lucas began his double bass studies in 2006 with Romeu Santos at EPABI (Professional Music School of Beira Interior), Covilhã, Portugal. In 2011, João was invited by his current teacher, Quirijn van Regteren Altena to become his student at the Koninklijk Conservatorium. On 2013, João Participated in “KarrKamp”, a summer camp with the world leading soloist Gary Karr in Victoria, Canada. He is a member of Ciconia Consort Orkest, a string orchestra in The Hague; Salad Ensemble, improvised music project, in Portugal; João is a regular guest in The Residentie BachOrkest and in the Rietveld Ensemble.