Mark Heath

Audio recordings

Recording Angie Collins Playing Piano

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Known to many people in the local area, Angie is the regular pianist at our village Christmas carol singing event and teaches music at the local school. Angie also composes her own songs, being influenced by Carole King, Amy Winehouse and Nina Simone. I recorded two pieces on a Yamaha P-515 piano (replicating the Yamaha CFX grand piano).

‘Bête Noire’ was composed in the memory of her friend and pupil Ed Sloper, who died recently.

The second piece was composed by Angie to play at a wedding. She did not get to play her creation at the event, so wanted to record it anyway to send to the bride and groom.

Recording Mark Sturdy Singing ‘Hey There Delilah’

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I’ve known Mark Sturdy for many years and have seen his and my family grow up in the same village in Cambridgeshire. I’ve regularly taken photos of Mark and his band, and these photos were taken at two of the earliest occasions, both back in 2012.

I’ve seen Mark perform ‘Hey There Delilah’ on several occasions. Mark kindly let me test my basic recording skills to capture his signature piece. Equipment used: Neumann U87 (vocal) and Rode NT4 (acoustic guitar) using an Apogee interface. Recorded at 192 kHz 24 bit resolution.

Recording Saxophonist Rob Burton Performing ‘Braemar’ by Graham Fitkin

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I was asked by Rob Burton’s father to record Rob live at a Christmas concert in Spaldwick Church. He played a modern composition entitled ‘Braemar’ by Graham Fitkin, who is a British composer, pianist and conductor. This piece was premiered in St. Margaret’s, Braemar at the 2017 ‘One Fine Day’ Music Festival and was played by Rob Burton during the BBC Young Musician of the Year Woodwind Finals in April 2018.

The saxophone was invented much later than other traditional classical instruments, such as the piano or violin, and has been more associated with jazz than classical music. As a result, there is relatively limited classical repertoire for the instrument. However, Rob has been seizing the opportunity to perform exciting, modern compositions like ‘Braemar’.

For the recording, I used a Zoom H6 portable audio recorder with its built-in condenser microphones. While my audio equipment has been substantially updated since then, I think it captures the acoustic of Spaldwick Church. Being a live recording, there are occasional sounds from the audience, such as knocking of the pews. I hope that I’ll be able to re-record the piece in more controlled conditions, and with my better equipment!

You can view Rob performing on the BBC as part of Young Musician here:

Saxophonist Rob Burton in BBC Young Musician Final (May 2018)

Rob Burton Wins the Woodwind Category Final of BBC Young Musician (Apr 2018)

Other pages you may be interested in:

View All Posts About Rob Burton

Videoing Ben Rice Singing at the Spaldwick Christmas Concert

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Ben Rice

At the 2018 Christmas Carol concert held in Spaldwick Church, Ben Rice sang ‘The Three Kings’ in German. At Kimbolton School, he was active in a number of musical pursuits, including the school’s Chamber Choir. He played the role of Javert in the school’s production of ‘Les Misérables’ and achieved a Grade 8 with Distinction. Ben was invited to join the Rodolfus Choir, which is one of the leading young choirs in the UK (with its members aged between 16 and 25). Ben now studies Music at York University.

The video clearly shows why TV companies bring and set up their own lighting in churches when they do recordings/live broadcasts, which was not feasible at the time. The church lights did not have a good CRI (Colour Rendering Index) and the low light levels meant that the lenses had to be used at the limit of their capabilities (typically F1.2 to F1.4) to avoid noise. This made it very difficult to maintain focus. Since this time, I have invested in bright broadcast-quality lighting! Audio was captured with a Zoom H6 recorder with built-in condenser microphones.

Videoing Rob and James Burton Perform at Christmas Concert

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It was lovely to see saxophonist Rob Burton and his brother James perform together at the 2018 Christmas carol concert in Spaldwick Church. Despite it being an amazing year for Rob, winning the Woodwind Final of BBC Young Musician and getting through to the final of the competition, it was great to see the two brothers together for the Christmas period just having fun and not taking themselves too seriously.

In the video below, saxophonist Rob Burton performs the piece ‘Hallelujah’, accompanied by James Burton on guitar. I posted this video online (including Facebook) as many people who were unable to attend the concert wanted to see it. Within a few days, the video had been viewed more than 4,000 times – many times more than the number attending the service in person.

In terms of video production, there is nothing I realistically could have done with lighting in the church. Subsequently, I invested in broadcast-quality lighting to give me the option of substantially light levels and quality for future events.

Other pages you may be interested in:

View All Posts About Rob Burton

Zoë Perkins Delivers Amazing Performance at Young Musician of the Year Brass Final

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Local musician Zoë Perkins delighted the audience and her family and friends by delivering spectacular performances at the recent Brass Final of the Young Musician of the Year 2016 competition. Click on the video below to see Zoë on BBC TV.

Zoë said, “I found the overall experience very exciting and very useful.”

“The build-up to the day was very exciting, with all the filming and the practicing, and the day itself was very thrilling. I was inevitably nervous but, by the end, it was pure enjoyment.”

Asked about the immense pressure of the event, Zoë replied, “I learnt a lot from performing under such a large amount of pressure, and ended up forgetting about the cameras when I was on stage playing.”

Zoë sees the event as a huge learning opportunity. She said, “I think the best part for me is getting the opportunity to view my performance so I can evaluate and see what went well and what could have gone better.”

Zoë was accompanied by Marie-Noëlle Kendall, who was herself a finalist in the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition. “I loved playing with my accompanist Marie-Noëlle Kendall”, said Zoë. “We are a very good team and it’s always a lot of fun performing with her.”

Zoë is currently Principal Trumpet with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and will be studying at the Royal Academy of Music from September. She currently attends Hinchingbrooke School. We wish her well in her future career, and will continue to track her phenomenal progress.

To listen to the recent BBC Radio 3 broadcast featuring Zoë, click on the play icon below.