This past August Paul Kikuchi asked me out to record one of the performances he curated at the Seattle Union Station, partially motivated by its 2010 centennial anniversary. Glance at the included photos and it should be easy to see where the remainder of his motivation came from, as well as why I was thrilled to accept the offer. It’s an immense room, beautifully ornamented and well lit with a rich, dense reverberation. Click on the image thumbnails at the foot of the post to check out the uncropped larger format photos while you listen to the audio clip. They do the space worlds more justice than the preview images on this page.
For the fellow audio enthusiasts: This ensemble consisted of percussion, guitar, trombone, and french horn, all set up in a semi-circle and facing each other. Being allotted minimal set up time, I placed a couple sets of mics fairly quickly: a pair of Neumann KM86s close to floor level in Blumlein at the center of the group and a roughly ORTF Schoeps MK64 pair overhead. With the former, the direct to reverb blend was very nice and the stereo imaging of this technique was fantastic as always. However, after reviewing the tracks, the Schoeps win out, presenting a fuller and more detailed sound, and deeper soundstage. This latter pair is what you’re hearing in the included sound clip.
My standard practice is to monitor through the headphones to keep an ear on the recording, but this time I left the excellent Paul Miller, assisting me at the performance, to watch the board while I found a spot to sit down and let the music and the space capture my senses: The natural hue of sunlight through the windowed ceiling, fellow audience members similarly captivated, and first class musicians performing in a rich and encompassing acoustic space.
