A classic concert took place recently at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theater Concert Hall, featuring Nobuaki Fukukawa. One of the world’s most active horn players, he is also principal player in the NHK Symphony Orchestra and a major name in the orchestral world.
At this recent recital Mr. Fukukawa had the clear desire to emulate his recordings from King Records, and play the songs on it in the form of an eight-horn ensemble, by overdubbing himself.
Mr. Fukukawa and King Records consulted with Koichi Ishimaru, sound master at Tokyo Metropolitan Theater, and he suggested “treating the loudspeakers as musical instruments.” His idea was that Mr. Fukukawa should perform live on stage to create the one part while the seven remaining parts should be played back one by one through the surround speakers, with the recorded source created in Pro Tools.
However, this was no easy task. The system had to be able to reproduce the accurate horn tone and unique localization with natural sound. To solve...
