Ramble about Recordings

Not my studio, but feels the same…

Search for NAS flute ten times, listen to ten recordings by ten different players — and they will probably share these characteristics: solo instrument, long tones, arrhythmic. And the reverb turned up to 11. And the other reverb up to 12.

Meditative, healing music….yes. The signature sound of the NAS flute as it is played today. But not good to evaluate a flute by.

When the reverb is high, (wet sound) you simply can’t hear the sound of the individual flute. Every flute - the good, the bad, the ugly - will sound lovely in the oceanic wash of reverberation.

Not only that. Playing long tones without the discipline of rhythm and phrasing avoids aspects of tone production that should be important to the prospective purchaser: what are the transient tones like? How fast does tone respond to changes in air pressure? How about the tonal balance between notes? What is the dynamic range of the flute? Is it even in tune? To answer these questions, you have to sober up from the reverb and put it though a stress test.

— These were my initial thoughts when I began making demo recordings. The early recordings are simply the scale followed by a short improv, recorded dry.

But over time I noticed customers weren’t too bothered by questions of dry vs. wet sound, and I also wanted to have some musical fun. That’s when I started using backing tracks and adding effects to the flute. Currently I like to play melodic lines and demonstrate what can be done with these flutes in different styles of music.

You, the player, will play it as you feel it. Yes, most in the community will play solo, blowing long, steady tones, without rhythm. And the world is a better place for that.

You can be confident every Nyx flute for sale has passed the stress test. (Not all make it. There is a sack full of failed flutes whose destiny is to feed the fire.)

BTW, if you have interest in a particular flute and want a dry recording, message me. More than happy to oblige.

Roger