Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf

Ravel - Boléro

The ban on social contact in response to the coronavirus outbreak has resulted in unusual music projects. This is how this recording of Ravel’s Boléro was made, played by the Essen Philharmonic and the Aalto Ballet Essen and put together by IMM students Martin Zimny and Benedikt Fuchs.

The biggest obstacle when performing together remotely is synchronization of the musicians. In many such productions, the musicians play with a metronome set at the correct tempo. However, because Ravel’s Boléro steadily builds up in loudness, it was important to us to give the musicians a reference in this regard as well.
 
For this reason, a guide track was initially produced with only the orchestra’s percussionist giving the right tempo, including cues for rehearsal numbers, which the musicians could use as a guideline rhythmically and dynamically. It is particularly important for the end of the tutti, as almost the entire orchestra plays the same rhythm.
 
After this track was sent to all the members of the Essen Philharmonic, the orchestral players then recorded their parts. They were asked to do this in a well-lighted and acoustically acceptable room so that the best possible quality could be achieved for the individual signals. Remember, however, that all the musicians recorded audio and video only with their own cell phones!

After completion of the rough cut and mix, it was given to the dancers of the Aalto Ballet Essen so that each troupe member could develop choreography to match the music. After this, 27 more videos were produced, meaning that together with the musicians, the videos to be processed simultaneously rose to a total of 115.
 
In addition to the compilation of the 88 individual parts and the synchronization of sound and video, the challenge was to achieve a natural mixing of tracks, as happens all by itself in a concert setting. The different levels of quality and varying formats of the recordings had to be restored and adapted to one another in terms of both sound and visual appearance.