the left, and the
gangsa
off to the right, so that they
formed the inverted “V”. We hid the time-beating
gong pot behind the
gangsa
so that it wouldn’t be too
loud, with the small cymbals - also really loud - beside
it. The most difficult thing was placing the drummers.
In the
gamelan gong
, the key people are the lead
gangsa
player and the two drummers. Together, they
control the whole ensemble. Since the drummers play
both heads of the drums, I needed them to face the
mics rather than facing one another. It was difficult
for them because they never perform that way. I
positioned the flutist between the two drummers. But
when we started recording, we knew this was the way
to record the big gamelan.
Were they okay with moving things
around?
Yeah. Well, this was Bali’s best gamelan so, when I
explained what we needed of them, they said, “Okay,
we’ll give it a try.” And it worked. When we played back
the first take, everyone loved the result. The musicians
loved it, my hosts loved it, and I loved it!
r
* In the kecak (the Balinese music drama, nicknamed the
“Monkey Chant”) 100-200 men seated in concentric
circles create complex rapid vocal patterns based on the
syllable ‘cak’; this ‘cak chorus’ acts as the rhythmic motor
which propels the hour-long reenactment of the
Ramayana legend by dancers, singers and a narrator.
** Gangsa and gender are metallophones somewhat like
marimbas. The cheng-cheng consists of a horizontally-
mounted pair of cymbals.
Analog tape by R M G I
Pro A/V hard drives by A v a s t o r &
Glyph
Full lines of data media and
accessories
Always FREE ground shipping
N O Minimum orders
THE Full-Range Mini Reference Monitors for the
NEW MILLENNIUM
Quickly becoming the new industry “reference standard” in
representing real world, bass-challenged playback systems
Hey, We’re Avant Electronics and We Hear You…
www.avantelectronics.com Tel: (909) 931-9061
www.tapeop.com
free subscriptions online!
38
/Tape Op#57/
Mr. Lewiston/
(Fin.)
