Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Characteristic Sounds


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Posted by Eric Bamberg on March 09, 2004 at 02:38:53:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Characteristic Sounds posted by Tony E on March 08, 2004 at 13:27:12:

Tommy Johnson likes those rotor valve miraphones, and they do tend to sound pretty bright and bass-trombonish if the bell is aiming right at you. Oddly enough, a lot of recording engineers like to place the microphone so that the bell is aimed right at it. You pretty much only hear the man on recordings and it's not up to him how it gets recorded. I asked Jim Self if he had any control over where the microphone gets placed during a recording session, and he said no. The only time I've heard Tommy Johnson play live is at two Tuba Xmasses. Of the 12 pros in the front row, my french horn playing dad singled him out as being the stellar player (no offense to the other 11!).

The only thing I could have against him is that during the last tuba christmas in LA when I asked him to pick up his tuba standing in the aisle of the theater for a second so that I could wheel my electric sousaphone cart up to the stage, he looked at the cart, looked at the 75 feet of rope lights I had wrapped around my sousaphone, and he scowled at me! Scowled! He then moved his tuba the ABSOLUTE minimum that would let me pass by. I mean there was half a millimeter to spare. But the crowd loved the flashing sousaphone, and I even got to be on tv. Hmmph, what do studio guys know about showmanship? :-)


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