Introduction | Subject 1 | ODESSA I

Subject 1

Jul 31

Perception of a Violin Section

¿What is the timbral difference between a solo, duo, quartet, sextet, or an entire section of violins?

¿How does multiplicity impact the timbral quality of a melodic passage?

The goal of this subject is to examine differences between a single violin, two, three, four, six, or the entire violin section taking as example Tchaikovsky’s Symphony no. 6, mov. I, mm. 89-97. By gradually increasing the number of violinists, we can have an idea about how multiplicity impacts the timbral quality of a melodic passage. This is helpful when the intention of the composer is to create a chorus effect.
Additionally, this subject explores the impact of microphone placement and room acoustics in the timbral quality of the orchestra.
In the Practicalities section, you will find the details about the orchestra, the composition, and the recording session.
In In-Depth, recordings from different microphones are compared starting from the closest microphones to the room microphones.
In the Orchestration section, a more detailed analysis of the blended violin section is presented.