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Mélanie Bonis – Cléopâtre
Junge Norddeutsche Philharmonie at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, conducted by Oscar Jockel. Orchestral film with multiple cameras.
Concert recording with Tonmeister sound
I’m a Tonmeister – a recording engineer with a musician’s training – and I make high-end concert films for musicians who care as much about the sound as about the picture.
“A recording has to be better than the real thing.”
At a concert you don’t just listen – you’re part of it. And your brain quietly smooths over a great deal. From row seven the hall is actually far too reverberant, the person next to you is coughing and the one in front of you is nearly two metres tall. Yet you still hear every instrument and feel the atmosphere. On film, all of that is lost: picture and sound have to carry the whole concert on their own.
So a good recording is never just a copy of reality. Like a good photograph, it sets the mood and draws the eye and ear to where the music is happening.
I shape the sound at the recording stage, not afterwards: a handful of carefully chosen microphones, placed precisely for the room and the ensemble. The same goes for the picture: three or four cameras, set up with care beforehand and unobtrusive in the hall. The cutting follows the music. Viewers see what they’re hearing – and hear more as a result.
Fixing mistakes – even on film
In a typical concert video, the sound can’t be touched once it’s recorded. A wrong note stays in – and often that’s enough to make the whole film unusable.
Over the past few years I’ve developed a way of working that lets me replace wrong notes and botched passages in the audio while the picture stays in sync. For you, that means a concert film that lives up to your musical standards – with no visible trace of the edit.
Top quality at a price musicians can afford
Musicians today need concert films of this standard. But a conventional film crew is usually beyond their budget – and rarely knows much about classical music.
So I’ve built my equipment and workflow entirely around concert recording. I work alone on chamber music and as a team of two for orchestral concerts. The result is high quality with a small crew, at prices musicians can actually afford.
The CD has had its day
Today, anyone who wants to hear a piece or an artist looks on YouTube. Promoters and agents want to see and hear you. If you want a career as a musician, you need a strong online presence – these days that simply comes with the job. And a good concert film is the best calling card there is.
To get noticed in the first place, short reels on Instagram and other platforms have become essential. They play by different rules from a concert film made for television: for YouTube I edit in a classic, unhurried style; for reels and social media, in a more contemporary style that suits the format.
Films
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Robert Schumann – Fantasiestücke
Benedict Kloeckner (cello) and Yu Kosuge (piano). Live recording focused on the musical dialogue.
“Accelerando produces concert videos and recordings of the highest technical and artistic quality! I recommend them wholeheartedly.”Benedict Kloeckner, cellist
What I record
Prices
- Chamber music, 3–4 cameras
- €1,200 + €25 per minute of film
- Orchestra, 5–6 cameras, team of two
- €1,900 + €40 per minute of film
Net, plus VAT. Travel within 150 km of Andernach included.