BOSTON AUDIO SOCIETY
April 2008 Meeting

Date: Sunday, April 20, 2008
Time: 6:00 PM
Place: Boston University, Life Science & Engineering Bldg, 24 Cummington St, 1st Floor Conference Room (room 103), Boston, MA 02215, (617) 271-6588

Featured Guest: Bob Miller, Audio Radiance Recordings

Topic: Conductors and Orchestras at Boston Symphony Hall, Recording Mistakes

1. Conductors and the Sound of Orchestras: There has been much debate about the degree to which conductors affect the sound of the orchestras they conduct. The performances of the Boston Symphony Orchestra have been recorded for fifty years (50) with only one major change in the recording techniques used (circa 1980). This provides an opportunity to compare how the orchestra played the same piece under the direction of several conductors. The archives of the B.S.O. will be source of the recordings that are played.

2. Recording Mistakes: Many of us believe recordings are carefully planned and executed commercial enterprises with care taken at all levels of the production process. Often this is not the case. The demo will highlight three (3) recordings that either are (lucky) accidents or were (detrimentally) altered in the editing process.

Bob Miller is a recording engineer (Audio Radiance Recordings) who enjoys recording live classical music concerts. He also is a volunteer at the Boston Symphony's Archives and over the years has become familiar with the vast collection of broadcast recordings in their collection. In a prior incarnation he toiled as an electronic engineer and programmer. Bob has received degrees from M.I.T. and Northeastern University.