RECORDING IN GERMANY - The WIND Project
This concert season started with a biggy - I recorded my new album WIND in Germany!
We specifically chose a venue in Germany called Reitstadel, a historic building in the tiny town of Neumarkt in Bavaria. The Reitstadel not only houses some of the most prestigious Hamburg Steinway Concert Grand pianos, but it also attracts some of the world’s most renowned recording artist.
I wanted to record on the best imaginable instrument, but we were also looking for a place with excellent natural reverb. I feel that there is quite a difference between computer generated reverb and the real environment of a space. It is that natural immediacy I am looking for and that seems to speak most directly to my listeners.
Recording days are very special. Ours were long ones of 12 or more hours. The combination of complete focus, trying to stay in the moment, and expressing the most heartfelt emotions makes for quite a stressful but also exhilarating time.
The moment when all sound stops, when I see the piano keys in front of me and when I hear the producer over the speaker saying his “…we are rolling” - that is the moment, when it all comes together. Months of dreaming and hard preparation fuse into creating sounds and colors to last.
As always in intense situations, there was also some comic relief! We were laughing so hard about my single shoe on stage:
For one of the tracks I used my iPad and page turner pedal. Without my left shoe I just simply feel the pedal a lot better.
So I kicked of my shoe, which is the reason for that single shoe sitting around all by itself on stage!
…the lonely sneaker…
Neumarkt is a picturesque and quaint little town with coffee shops and ice cream parlors. I loved the signs all over town showing directions to the main sights and even to shops. It felt good to enter the ‘real world’ in our coffee breaks and sit watching people stroll through the city.
Time to thank my producer Udo Wüstendörfer and my piano technician Christian Niedermeyer for these unforgettable, super intense and so very creative days in Neumarkt! I could not have done it without their dedication to high quality work, their never ending patience, their upbeat attitudes and their smiles.
Meet the ‘dream team’ producer Udo Wüstendörfer (L) and piano technician Christian Niedermeyer (R)
I can’t wait to listen to the first album draft. Stay tuned for more updates about the making of WIND!