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American Classic in cathedral acoustic?

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sschaub

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American Classic in cathedral acoustic?

PostTue Aug 03, 2021 9:25 am

Are any sample sets available that offer a high-quality American classic-type instrument (Aeolian-Skinner aesthetic) in a cathedral acoustic? I am not aware of any but keep hoping that one will emerge.

Alternatively, has anyone had good results adding reverb to the SP Aeolian-Skinner set using Hauptwerk 5/6 reverb feature, to simulate a cathedral environment?

Stephen
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mnailor

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Re: American Classic in cathedral acoustic?

PostTue Aug 03, 2021 9:48 am

Okay, done snorting coffee up my nose now... Nope.

There aren't that many big acoustic cathedrals in the US, and if anybody has sampled an organ in one, it was probably recorded with mics close and semidry to discard most of the reverb.

I do use a convolution reverb with the SP Oakland organ but only a 4 second reverb. The organ isn't voiced for a cathedral no matter how much reverb you add. Portland is too big for its room and does benefit more from adding a long reverb if you want to fake a US cathedral organ, but Rosales isn't American Classic.
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sschaub

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Re: American Classic in cathedral acoustic?

PostTue Aug 03, 2021 10:30 am

mnailor wrote:I do use a convolution reverb with the SP Oakland organ but only a 4 second reverb. The organ isn't voiced for a cathedral no matter how much reverb you add. Portland is too big for its room and does benefit more from adding a long reverb if you want to fake a US cathedral organ, but Rosales isn't American Classic.


Thank you! Very helpful observations.
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mnailor

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Re: American Classic in cathedral acoustic?

PostTue Aug 03, 2021 11:57 am

I haven't had much success adding reverb to close-recorded samplesets, which includes almost all of the Aeolian-Skinner and E.M. Skinner organs because that's how CLR/Evensong worked up until recently when they started doing surround perspectives. Nobody else seems to be in the business in the US now.

I get a fair but not great result truncating reverb on Mt. Carmel wet and adding a 4 sec convolution, and Oakland and Rosales work as I mentioned above.

I think the problem with adding reverb to a close-recorded sampleset is that moving the mics around to get close to the pipes on a large organ throws away timing/distance and direction cues that you hear from a fixed mic position that "hears" the whole organ. Expanding on that with convolution reverb adds a dimension but doesn't make up for the loss of two dimensions in the close recording. To me, close samples of a large organ with reverb sounds like a Rodgers or Allen digital organ with different pipes -- sort of a cheap imitation.

There are some exceptions, like the Georgian from Silver Octopus that works well. But the in-style registrations there are no more than a dozen stops, and close + reverb doesn't sound as wrong for a small instrument where you aren't expecting a large physical layout.

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