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Posts: 15725
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
RE: Anyone tried Recitalbox? (in reply to Taranto)
Sure. Any piece of wood you touch to your guitar will help. Touch your guitar to a wooden door and play and notice how much louder it is. But come on, it is nothing compaired to a good PA. I saw a guy play classical guitar, with the metal pole at the end like a cello, it was a special made guitar. He fitted the metal pole to a wooden box that amplified the sound of the guitar. I saw him in a medium small sized church. Guess what....I could hardly hear him.
Why can't folks just accept the guitar is an intimate quiet instrument. That was it's design all along. That is it's charm IMO. It is not even ment to be part of the string orchestra. So in a large or loud venew USE A MICROPHONE! So many classical and flamenco guitarist are scared about it, but just simply edjucating one's self a bit about live sound really helps.
RE: Anyone tried Recitalbox? (in reply to Ricardo)
quote:
Touch your guitar to a wooden door and play and notice how much louder it is.
Nobody can play with his guitar stuck to a door (at least not comfortably). Can you attach anything OF THIS SIZE to the guitar and get the same effect?
quote:
Why can't folks just accept the guitar is an intimate quiet instrument.
Don't know and I've witnessed so many times the guitar being abused in juergas with ultimate cruelty, one single guitar with no mike among singers and percussionists (not to mention the audience beating foot AND tables).
Do any of you guys NOT use a mike for dance classes? Val
Me after all that!!!
But only because I am lazy. That is class and rehearsals. Only dress rehearsals and gigs. But honestly, I don't kill myself in classes or rehearsals. When I start to get over powered, I "give up " and let them cover me and play comfortable, normal. But when I get the mic, look out. I also don't do that weekly. If I did, I surely would bring my gear.
Honestly, good dancers are just like good percussionists. I never need more than normal playing volume in rehearsal with a good dancer soloist. But when the palmas/cajon are too strong, THEN I "give up" as I said before. And in the foot work of the group numbers of course. I mean I could kill myself and nails to be barely heard, so no point. Depends on the room too. Some dance studios are nice and dry, others real noisy.
RE: Anyone tried Recitalbox? (in reply to Taranto)
I have the Recitalbox and find it great. The effect is like a reverb amplification, even to cheap crap guitars. If you´re interested, then I´ll make a sample clip.
RE: Anyone tried Recitalbox? (in reply to Taranto)
apparently it's supposed to magically channel the vibrations of the universe into the top of your guitar, to imitate the effect of playing alot. i guess you could use it to help open up your spruce.... http://www.recitalbox.de/english/improvement.php
RE: Anyone tried Recitalbox? (in reply to Taranto)
I own a Recitalbox. I find that it does produce a nice reverb effect for my guitar. I wouldn't say that it makes the guitar any louder then it was before. It does sound good and I am happy with it.
Posts: 1827
Joined: Jul. 26 2009
From: The land down under
RE: Anyone tried Recitalbox? (in reply to rombsix)
Hey Ramzi,
I have never heard of the recital box before so thanks for sharing the videos.
Looks like you could have some fun with something like that. It certainly creates a lot of reverb.
I like that you can adjust the amount of reverb with the lever.
It looks a bit ugly. And over time I imagine it could start to get annoying? I think it could sound good playing something slow and open with heaps of space, just to really make use of it. It seems to get a bit muddy overall when playing to many notes in quick succession.
RE: Anyone tried Recitalbox? (in reply to Taranto)
cool, thanks for the videos ramzi, btw, that graniana at 3:50 to 4:50 in the first video, where is it from? sounds familiar, like gino D'auri or something?
RE: Anyone tried Recitalbox? (in reply to Taranto)
quote:
ORIGINAL: Taranto
quote:
Touch your guitar to a wooden door and play and notice how much louder it is.
Nobody can play with his guitar stuck to a door (at least not comfortably). Can you attach anything OF THIS SIZE to the guitar and get the same effect?
quote:
Why can't folks just accept the guitar is an intimate quiet instrument.
Don't know and I've witnessed so many times the guitar being abused in juergas with ultimate cruelty, one single guitar with no mike among singers and percussionists (not to mention the audience beating foot AND tables).
If your guitar makes contact with the backside of the wooden chair you sit on (the kind of chair all players use during concerts) you can hear a clear increase of volume and resonance as well....like Ricardo said all wood touched by the vibrations start to vibrate as well and as such become part of the sound board.
Ricardo is also right that the guitar basically is a charming, intimate and quiet instrument and that both players and public should (learn how to) set there ears/mind on it's natural live sound. When i go to a lute concert at first ear it will sound very soft.....but being the only sound in the room your ears and mind will partially adapt to the new situation and at the end of the concert you might even experience louder volumes as "hard".
On top most people have two integrated soundboards to there disposal called hands....despite having better (trained) ears than the majority of concert visitors (and even artists) i frequently hold my hands behind my ears to amplify the point of my interest. By altering the hand position one can aim on certain instruments and/or exclude others..... so if i hold my hands behind my ears that's not a bad sign.....you only have to worry when my hands COVER my ears because that either means i can't stand the sound you produce ore that i want to protect my ears to irresponsible (ear damaging) hard volumes.
When Rotterdam University of Music started the flamenco department it opened with a fabulous concert of Pepe Habichuela and Carmen Linares. As far as i can remember the 2 mic's were only used to record the concert. At the time i was a real audio-freak and i owned one of the best cassete-decks ever build (recording 20-23.000 hz. straight as straight can be). It could set the L/R input separately and to my amazement the guitar was hardly audible/visible and the singing was extremely loud and structurally in the red danger zone of distortion. To balance it i had to turn the guitar input to maximum levels and the singing part to minimum input levels.
So obviously in a setting with singing, percussion and loud audience a mic is a good thing. Paco Peña refused to use mic's in the 80ties (and did not allow us to use them at Rotterdam Concervatorium at first). For his solo concerts that was a good thing (he sounded fabulous compared to others) but obviously he was not audible when performing with singers and dancers (not even with both hands behind my ears). Later he accepted that using a mic. every now and than was not such a bad thing after all.
But as we all know things runed out of hand....it started with an occasional mic to level the low volumed instruments and at precent day even the drummer needs 20 mic's to believe in himself. I think one of the problems is indeed that people don't believe in themselves anymore when they don't hear a wall of sound filling the whole room. As a result extremely hard volumes seem to become standard more and more. It's not uncommon that i use cotton wool (or even leave a concert) to spare my ears and many other concerts are spoiled by an overdose of delay (Vicente Amigo always had an excellent sound on stage but Paco de Lucia seemed to use a rusting car-wreck to generate delay). Producing a good sound with mic's and other equipment is an art on it's own and often confused with "turn the buttons to maximum levels".
Funny enough my fathers band very well might have been the very first dutch band enjoying the pleasures of a self owned sound system (a novelty that was copied from the American bands that came to visit the netherlands..up to that moment the artists simply used what was available at the location, which generally mend sharing the only mic available with the guy introducing the artists). He was also the first one to introduce mic's (and audio/video) to the university school of music mentioned above. The same overuse of delay he applied in the 50ties (one always favor the newest toy that came to ones disposal) was seen in the flamenco scene when they discovered delay 20 years later and quite often they still overdo.
But mic's were not the point of interest of this topic, natural acoustic improvement was. As i revealed before, when Paco Peña want's a certain note to stand out over a longer period of time he plays it SOFTER (not harder) since a loud note also dies more quickly and it is the soft note that lasts the longest (at least in our perception). The same idea was explored by Georg Bolin who also experimented with wooden acoustic soundboards all his live and owned wooden soundboards that were indeed as big as a door. My father owns a Bolin alto-guitar (basically a guitar with 5 or 6 extra base notes imitating the english lutes). When he collected it in Stockholm he was probably welcomed in the same room as described by this guy (they bought the same instrument in the same period of time).
RE: Anyone tried Recitalbox? (in reply to Ricardo)
quote:
I saw a guy play classical guitar, with the metal pole at the end like a cello, it was a special made guitar. He fitted the metal pole to a wooden box that amplified the sound of the guitar.
RE: Anyone tried Recitalbox? (in reply to koenie17)
quote:
That´s an amazing difference Ramzi! So does it work on batteries or what? Quite expensive though... Nice review, great soundhole
I know - I really like the difference in sound. Not only does it create reverb, but it seriously makes the guitar much louder (at least subjectively). Olé!
It has absolutely no electronics in it whatsoever. It is all mechanical / acoustic. It works through metallic springs (found inside the box) that create the reverb.
RE: Anyone tried Recitalbox? (in reply to Taranto)
It seems to me that the "Recitalbox" has applications above and beyond merely amplifying and providing a spring reverb effect for guitar.
I wonder if certain politicians, government employees and media types in this country have them installed in their throats or mouths for that 'echo chamber' effect...
RE: Anyone tried Recitalbox? (in reply to Taranto)
there´s this other gadget called "Tonewoodamp". I do think this one works on batteries, has got a reverb and a delay without an amplifier There´s a video of Al Di Meola trying one out. Looks like fun Anyone tried or heard about it? So is this like the future of acoustic guitars? For now too expensive... Maybe later
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I also don't do that weekly. If I did, I surely would bring my gear. 
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