VIBRATING AIR: Remove the Mic for Great, Real Sounds
The holiday season is a time when acoustic music makes a valiant revival. It’s the one time during the year when screaming guitars and pounding drums take a rest.
Recently I was at a concert of the Lange Vocal Ensemble at Lansing’s St. Paul’s Church. Along with this excellent vocal group were handbells, pipe organ, brass quartet, piano and oboe/English horn. All acoustical instruments and there wasn’t a microphone in sight.
All the sounds of that concert were natural and unadulterated. The voices and the organ especially, blended smoothly together like the ingredients of your favorite cake. One could almost imagine the sound waves and the air all mixing together to produce a beautiful, melded cloud of music.
