For The Record

A Roundup of the latest publications from the world of Classical Music Recording

Top recording engineer Cass Ett has published a fascinating warts-and-all account of her many years recording the Thrupiece Philharmonic Orchestra. Many - even those who believe themselves to be "in the know" - will be surprised, delighted and appalled to learn the true inside story of the Orchestra's many trials and tribulations over the years as it struggled to create a representative discography - mainly for the Hornimint Record Company.

The revolutionary Danette record player was an indispensable part of any musical event, be it a girls' night in or a boys' night out.

Ms Ett is notably well-respected as both a sound engineer and a record producer and is largely credited with creating The Hornimint Sound - a rich unbalanced tonal blend which in the words of one reviewer "manages to combine a lack of transparency with an indistinct stereo image to produce an amorphous sound stage akin to that of a large bathroom with 1" thick vibrating walls and noisy neighbours: the perfect acoustic for an orchestra not always in tune with its conductor or even itself". It was a sound perfect - and many believe specifically designed - for reproduction on a portable party-picnic dansette record player, but one ill-suited to a state-of-the-art suburban sitting room phonogram.

After a fine Foreword by industry doyen Ayt Trakke which deftly places Ms Ett's career in the context of the great European tonmeisters*, the early chapters of the book cover Ett's apprenticeship in the world of sound engineering and her work as assistant to veteran Spanish record producer Lōngue Plãya. This was the era [1982-1999] in which the Thrupiece Philharmonic made most of its recordings under founding Music Director Addinsell Threadbone in the old Combe Keynes Salvation Army Citadel and Assembly Hall and those interested in historic sound [especially early experimental Octophonic True Fidelity Full Frequency Living Concert Hyper Realism™]will be fascinated by Ett's account of recording the early classic "Requiem for Brian" as well as the award winning disc of Addinsell Threadbone's seminal Ocarina Concerto - both still available as downloadable cassettes from the Hornimint Record site [HERE].

* eg Germany's Schall Plattenspeiler, France's Tourne Disque; Italy's Grammo Fono; Hungary's Lemez Játszó; Sweden's Fkivs Pelare and Ireland's Dat Talkinting-Indacorna

Later chapters discuss the Orchestras work [in the notoriously difficult Studio 9 of the DBC] under various interim directors and conductors; whilst the final eight chapters give an account - often painful to read - of the turbulent years under Maestra Legova, the obsession with works by unknown [and generally meretricious] contemporary Russian female composers, the move into the state-of-the-art Thrupiece Philharmonic Hall and the founding of the Orchestra's own TPO DIgital Concert Hall project [HERE].

Whilst Ms Ett's fly-on-the-wall, no-nonsense, uncompromising and fiercely unremitting account is unlikely to win her many friends amongst the orchestra's personnel [only percussionist and tubular bells specialist Mike Oldphart emerges with much credit], it will ensure that her many admirers better understand the significance of her contribution to the occasional success of the Orchestra's recording projects.

Cass Ett's book lifts the lid on the often secretive world of classical music recording

The indulgent reader will perhaps allow the repetition of one of many highly amusing anecdotes contained in Ms Ett's book. In September 1989, the orchestra had assembled on a very chilly day in November to record the soundtrack of Adinsell Threadbone's music for thrupiecefilm studio's blockbuster epic Ben Her [later re-issued in Brighton as Ben They] when the principle cellist couldn't find her spike. The recording was in severe jeopardy and chaos threatened to ensue when the assistant recording engineer realised he had been carrying a well sharpened HH pencil tucked behind his ear. The solution had been staring them in the face all the time!! Ms Ett's book is peppered with such laugh-out-loud moments whilst remaining a serious documentary account of the difficult - and often impossible - task of committing a great orchestra's legacy to disc.

For the Record: In the Studio with the Thrupiece Philharmonic Orchstra by Cass Ett is published by the Hornimint Press and is available only as a digital hardback from the publisher's worldwide interweb customer-facing post-analogue one-way euro-portal.