9 replies to this topic

[adultpianist]

I was recording my flute playing today but it did not sound that good.   I previously did some recording and when I had a teacher she said it is not me but the device I was recording on.    Today I tried again and it sounded airy but when I listen to myself play it is not airy.   I remembered what my teacher said to me and tried playing and recording and brought my bottom lip more forward and when I played it back it sounded much better.    It sounded less airy.   

 

Is this the way to go?

[EllieD]

I  

 

Is this the way to go?

 

If your teacher says it's the way to go, then it's the way to go!    I dislike airy sounding flute playing too, so investing the time to make a beautiful clear note is certainly the best thing to do.

[JimD]

Your sound is something that develops over time.

 

Follow your teacher's advice - he or she is the only one that hears you play live.

[adultpianist]

my question was not answered,  I asked whether bringing my bottom lip more forward is the way to go?   When i tried that and recorded myself I sounded much better

[sopsaxharpflute]

To sound less airy, you'd probably need to develop a better breath support and that takes time.

 

I don't think bringing your bottom lip forward has anything to do with it.

 

To sound better on a recording, you may try getting a bit more distance to your microphone. With too short a distance to your flute,  your microphone picks up some noises of your playing that an ordinary listener would never hear.

[adultpianist]

ok I no longer have a teacher to guide me because I stopped having lessons due to lack of time

[LoneM]

Did it sound better to your ear as you played, as well as better on the recording?  If it did, then that is the way to go.  Very slight changes in the embouchure and lip position affect the tone, so you need to experiment to find the best ones.  But as sopsaxharpflute says the placement of the microphone is also important.

[Maizie]

What are you recording on?  If it's a phone or tablet, then how it sounds is completely unreliable compared to how your ears hear it.  Only if you have a proper device and audio set up is how you sound on a recording a reliable indicator of how you sound in real life.  Recording by phone, etc, is useful for hearing some errors, e.g. rhythm, but not for things like tone.

[Gordon Shumway]

It sounds like it might be a bit like the violin. The violinist can hear the bow hissing and scraping against the strings, but 10 feet away the audience can't hear those things.

[JimD]

OK, maybe try these videos by Jeniffer Cluff. She has a lot of material on YouTube and I found them very helpful when I was learning.

 

https://www.youtube....h?v=7HWWQpueRvY

 

https://www.youtube....h?v=esfWvq3t6Ag