Kenny's flute recordings

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Gromit
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Re: Kenny's flute recordings

Post by Gromit »

Kenny may well have some of the best or only extant recoverable recordings of some tunes played by some of these players. That's sobering. We all need to examine our private recordings and wonder if we have a responsibility to have at least some of them returned to the public domain. Good man, Kenny!
I have some old tapes from various London sessions & Willie Clancy concerts (late 80's & 90's) that could probably be cleaned up / improved, flute players such as Mick Hand, Tara Diamond, Marcus Hernon. This sort of thing - https://soundcloud.com/john-brebner-645 ... elegraph-6

So I'd be interested Terry
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Re: Kenny's flute recordings

Post by kkrell »

I don't cleanup audio for publication, I had Harry Bradshaw do that for me.

However, I do have a Tascam CC222SL MKII deck to digitize cassettes directly to 16-bit WAV CDs, which makes it easier than those capturing an audio line in to a computer. One can then use Exact Audio Copy or similar software to bring over to the computer in either 16-bit WAV or MP3 formats.
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Seanie
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Re: Kenny's flute recordings

Post by Seanie »

Hi Kenny

Peadar is the Irish for Peter. Peter Broderick was a brother of Vincent and was a very fine flute player. There is a good bit about him on the internet.

Cheers

John Moran
kenny
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Re: Kenny's flute recordings

Post by kenny »

Thanks for your post, John - your first two sentences didn't tell me anything I didn't know already, but I was surprised at the 3rd sentence.
I had "Googled" "Peadar Broderick flute", and got nothing, but your post got me thinking and I "Googled" Peter Broderick flute, and you're quite correct, there is a lot about Peadar/Peter that I hadn't come across before. Thanks for making me think about that.
Interesting that to find that you have to use the English translation of his Irish name to access any information about him.
All the best, Kenny
"There's fast music and there's lively music. People don't always know the difference"
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Re: Kenny's flute recordings

Post by kenny »

Seamus MacMathuna playing "Captain Kelly / Gormans" - Willie Clancy Summer School Flute & Whistle Recital 1980.
https://youtu.be/UhcCehLT-68
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Re: Kenny's flute recordings

Post by Terry McGee »

Arrrgghhhh, Kenny, you're just doing this to tease me!

See what we all think of this version (assuming I can dodge the filename issue I struck last time!)

http://www.mcgee-flutes.com/Sounds/Seam ... 201980.mp3

OK, that seemed to work. Now, note, I haven't done too much on this so far.

Again using Audacity, I've used notch filters to take out the massive 50Hz hum and it's major harmonics at 100 and 200 Hz. (US dwellers, remember the mains power in English-speaking countries is based on 50Hz, not 60Hz as you have.)

I've then used a high pass filter to take out other low end noise, and a high pass filter to take out some fairly strong hiss. I tidied up the start and did a quick fade at end.

Taking stock of what's left, I reckon a bit of tone improvement would be warranted, but there is also something strange about the start - what appears to be a glitch or two, perhaps acquired in the transfer from cassette to digital? Ideally, I'd go back to the original source and try the transfer again if that's the case, but of course that might not be an option. Alternatively, we can try to minimise its effect with careful editing. There's also a drop in level after the first two A parts that could be corrected.

Again, it would be useful to get others' opinions. Are we winning, or are we losing anything of importance? That's always the question to be kept uppermost in mind.

I should add, mains hum sometimes comes in handy. Many years ago, working in Sound Preservation at our National Library, I had to deal with a field recording that had been made on a machine with failing batteries. Consequently, the recording sped up on replay at standard speed. Fortunately, there was a little bit of mains hum detectable. Using that as a guide, I was able to correct the speed, then filter out the hum.

These days, there's probably an App for it...
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Re: Kenny's flute recordings

Post by Terry McGee »

Gromit wrote:
Kenny may well have some of the best or only extant recoverable recordings of some tunes played by some of these players. That's sobering. We all need to examine our private recordings and wonder if we have a responsibility to have at least some of them returned to the public domain. Good man, Kenny!
I have some old tapes from various London sessions & Willie Clancy concerts (late 80's & 90's) that could probably be cleaned up / improved, flute players such as Mick Hand, Tara Diamond, Marcus Hernon. This sort of thing - https://soundcloud.com/john-brebner-645 ... elegraph-6

So I'd be interested Terry
Sorry for not getting back to you, Gromit. Yes, that Brebner recording could certainly do with some work! There sounds like some overload distortion (clipping) so it might not be possible to make it as clean as you'd like, but you can certainly overcome a lot of the problems involved. It would make a good study if we go ahead with some sort of "course".

Now I wonder if anyone can point to a really scrumptious flute recording available on the Web. It would be really handy to be able to illustrate the issues and the tools that deal with them.

Anyone? Really scrumptious recordings? Don't be shy if it's a recording of you!
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Terry McGee
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Re: Kenny's flute recordings

Post by Terry McGee »

And, Kenny or anyone, is this likely to be the same Seamus MacMathuna I interviewed back in 1974 at CCE in Dublin? In charge of collecting at that time.
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Re: Kenny's flute recordings

Post by kenny »

Hi Terry - good job with the Seamus M. recording. I'm finding all of this very interesting, but certainly a bit above me at the moment. That would indeed be the Seamus MacMathuna you interviewed. Apart from his playing on Charlie Lennon's "Lucky In Love" Comhaltas LP, and appearances on 1 or 2 of the Comhaltas Tour records, there doesn't seem to be that many examples of his playing recorded. I have 2 other short recordings of him playing a couple of reels for the flute class I was in that year. I'll post them soon - keep up the good work !
"There's fast music and there's lively music. People don't always know the difference"
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Terry McGee
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Re: Kenny's flute recordings

Post by Terry McGee »

kenny wrote:Hi Terry - good job with the Seamus M. recording. I'm finding all of this very interesting, but certainly a bit above me at the moment.
Don't let that worry you (or anybody else!). You are probably accustomed to using a word processor for writing. And maybe a video editor like Photoshop for images. A DAE (Digital Audio Editor) is essentially just a word processor or video editor but for sound. You just need to get your head around sound. To be able to think practically, objectively about it. Low notes, high notes, midrange, presence, distortion, hiss, boom, thin, rich, warm, dry, brassy, dull, strident, woolly, hum, compressed, thin - hey, I reckon I've captured the entire experience of our lives in Irish music! Or folk music in general for that matter.

Interestingly, sound is one of our earliest and finest senses, but vision often blinds us to its importance. Sound is of course the medium of musicians - yet more people take images of us playing in sessions than record our sound!

I remember a telling instruction back when I was learning about community radio (I worked in that field for many years and enjoyed it immensely). The writer opined that sound is a thin and easily damaged link between presenter and listener. If anything weakens that link, the listener loses touch. The magical connection is broken. The weakening factor could be something technical - like hum, hiss, distortion, stridency, popping, dullness, etc. Or it could be a weakness in content or presentation. Saying things like "hello listeners" was an example. Listeners are enjoying a unique experience - 1 to 1 with the presenter. It's a let-down to be reminded that you are just one of many. Audio presenting is a bit like engaging in books - the "suspension of disbelief" is a significant issue. Listening to audio should be magical, not challenging.

So, for all those reasons, anyone seeking to present sound needs to do whatever they can to make sure that the sound doesn't present significant, even impenetrable barriers to the listener. Sound is paradoxically the most intimate of media, yet the easiest fractured. I think we in traditional music are more forgiving than most - sheesh, when I thing about what we've been served up over the years, I think we should be issued medals!
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Re: Kenny's flute recordings

Post by Seanie »

kenny wrote:Hi Terry - good job with the Seamus M. recording. I'm finding all of this very interesting, but certainly a bit above me at the moment. That would indeed be the Seamus MacMathuna you interviewed. Apart from his playing on Charlie Lennon's "Lucky In Love" Comhaltas LP, and appearances on 1 or 2 of the Comhaltas Tour records, there doesn't seem to be that many examples of his playing recorded. I have 2 other short recordings of him playing a couple of reels for the flute class I was in that year. I'll post them soon - keep up the good work !
Hi Kenny

As far as I remember Seamus released a cassette of his flute playing and singing. He was a powerful ballad singer in his day.

I will dig around in my cassettes when I get home to see if I have anything.

Cheers

John
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Re: Kenny's flute recordings

Post by Mr.Gumby »

He is still around.

Image


The WCSS 1976 flute recital is on the Clare Library site here. He's on that as well (I haven't heard it).

I couldn't help noticing his son Lorcan signing up for this site in the last two weeks or so.
My brain hurts

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Re: Kenny's flute recordings

Post by ytliek »

These recordings are wonderful, thank you Kenny!

Also, the audio tidying info is a treasure in itself, thank you Terry!

And of course, photos are always appreciated, thank you Mr.Gumby!

please keep this thread going... love it! :love:
Gromit
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Re: Kenny's flute recordings

Post by Gromit »

Sorry for not getting back to you, Gromit. Yes, that Brebner recording could certainly do with some work! There sounds like some overload distortion (clipping) so it might not be possible to make it as clean as you'd like, but you can certainly overcome a lot of the problems involved. It would make a good study if we go ahead with some sort of "course".
Terry - I've just realised that the recording - https://soundcloud.com/john-brebner-645 ... elegraph-6 is more distorted than the original which was lower in volume, I'll post the original which should give a better result.
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Re: Kenny's flute recordings

Post by Conical bore »

Gromit wrote:
Sorry for not getting back to you, Gromit. Yes, that Brebner recording could certainly do with some work! There sounds like some overload distortion (clipping) so it might not be possible to make it as clean as you'd like, but you can certainly overcome a lot of the problems involved. It would make a good study if we go ahead with some sort of "course".
Terry - I've just realised that the recording - https://soundcloud.com/john-brebner-645 ... elegraph-6 is more distorted than the original which was lower in volume, I'll post the original which should give a better result.
Just a heads-up here about Soundcloud -- that's not a good way to showcase or transfer (by capture) an audio file. Before last January the streaming was at 128 kbps (not great), And now it's down to 64 kpbs, which is really bad, especially for a file where any cleanup needs to be done.

It would work better to host the original .WAV or .MP3 recordings on something like DropBox or a personal web page, if you can manage it.
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