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Topic: cello noise (Read 2444 times) previous topic - next topic
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cello noise

I got my first CD with cello music (Sol Gabetta plays Tschaikowsky, Saint-Saëns and Ginastera), and though I like the music, some noises drive me crazy
It sounds like a brush on a snare, or even breathing. Does someone know if that noise is cello related, like fret noise from guitars? Or is it a bad recording?

cello noise

Reply #1 –
It might be the bow stoke the string, as a matter of fact I kind of like that kind of sounds, which make the recording realistic.

cello noise

Reply #3 –
Sounds like breathing to me. A lot of musicians make noises while playing, not directly related to their instrument. String players are notorious breathers. Foot tapping is another bad habit. With a microphone at short distance this becomes even more obvious. At a larger distance in a concert hall it's less of a problem.
You can ask them to stop making noises but that will either reduce their musical expression (not good) or it will come back after a while. It's usually best to let it be.

There's also an aspect of timing involved. Breathing helps to synchronize in solo but especially in ensemble playing. I found an interesting similarity with grunting tennis players at wikipedia:

Quote
Louise Deeley, a sports psychologist at Roehampton University, believes that grunting is part of the rhythm for tennis players: "The timing of when they actually grunt helps them with the rhythm of how they're hitting and how they're pacing things". She also believes that banning grunting isn't the solution: "They may feel, on the surface, that this is going to be a distraction to their game, that it is part and parcel of what they do."

cello noise

Reply #4 –
Which reminds me again of Glenn Gould, who hummed while he was playing the piano.

cello noise

Reply #5 –
Just listened to the first clip and yes, it sounds like a breath to me. It can be a distraction, depending on how the musician is miked up and how evident it is.

cello noise

Reply #6 –
Thanks for your help. I hope knowing what it is will help me get over it, because right now instead of enjoying the music I've been waiting for the next breath, which is a shame.
 

cello noise

Reply #7 –
Quote from: Eudaimonius on
Thanks for your help. I hope knowing what it is will help me get over it, because right now instead of enjoying the music I've been waiting for the next breath, which is a shame.


Makes the point that the fact that in an orchestra you have like 100 musicians breathing and moving can significantly raise the noise floor.

What few have heard is a recording of a empty music hall, followed by the entry of the audience, followed by the entry of the musicians.  The noise floor jumps up significantly with every change. Then while they are playing the breathing and other clothes and body noises make a another quantum leap.  There are enough random independent contributions that it appears to be spectrally shaped Gaussian noise.