It was May 25th. I was to record Dr. Dary Bird and his son Christopher perform Conrad De Jong's "Music for Two Tubas." Dr. Bird was on his Yamaha YFB-822  F Tuba in a silver plate, while Christopher Bird was on his dad's Miraphone 186 CC Tuba, which was an unlacquered brass tuba with a silver garnish on the bell. 

For this session, I knew that we were going to need to capture the sound of the tubas with the best fidelity at my disposal at the time. Hence, I brought my Zoom F8n field recorder, a couple microphone stands, a pair of MXL 603S pencil condenser microphones, and an MXL4000 to capture the room's response, along with a power conditioner.

Dr. Bird's house featured a large living room with wood construction and tall ceilings which offered breathing room for the sound and warmth. That room was absolutely incredible to work with in setting up the microphones, and getting my laptop situated for an amazing recording of these two amazing tuba players.

With the microphone choices, The MXL 603S pencil condenser microphones were implemented for close miking the two tubas, while the MXL4000 was the overall sound of the room. This offered the best realization of the space.

Following the recording day Dr. Bird scheduled an in-person editing session the next day. It was amazing to hear his ideas as we went through all the recorded materials and handled the mix of the 3 movements from there. It was a wonderful time getting to work with Dr. Bird in producing this amazing recording for his friend, Conrad de Jong, the composer of this wonderful music. Dr. Gary Bird and his son were very pleased with the overall results of the recordings produced:

"Ryan was prompt and well prepared from the start of our recording session. He uses state of the art equipment and has a keen ear for excellence. He worked carefully to acquire the best sound from the group, and was very professional from the initial recording through editing and mastering.  He also has expertise in video and voice-over recording. I highly recommend Ryan Udairam for all your recording needs." - Dr. Gary Bird(Professor Emeritus - Indiana University of Pennsylvania; D.M. - Tuba) and Christopher Bird(Instructor of Tuba and Euphonium - Coe College; M.M. Tuba Performance)

You can listen to the 3 Movement recording of Conrad De Jong's "Music for Two Tubas" on our site. Sheet music for the work can be purchased through Carl Fischer publishing.