REQ: Audio Angelorum Peterborough Cathedral Hill Organ (Hauptwerk)
One of the pre-requisites for proceeding with the re-pitching of the instrument was that the sound of the instrument should be captured and archived in some way at its original pitch. Traditionally this would have been done by recording some reference pieces of varied repertoire, but with the development of the Hauptwerk virtual pipe, there is now the possibility of creating a playable archive recording. With this in mind, a few ranks of the organ were recorded in 2009, and it very quickly became apparent that this would be huge undertaking, involving the recording and processing of hundreds of hours of Audio.
A Robot was built in order to play the notes and select stops (using the built in combination system), which allowed sampling to be performed non stop right through the night, with absolute accuracy in terms of note lengths (for multiple releases), and ensuring sufficient gaps between all notes for the building acoustic to die away. As an added bonus, it is also possible to collect the marker positions for the note start and key release at the time of sampling, which saves time and effort in later processing.
The recordings were made in nine overnight sessions over a period of a few months at the beginning of 2015, with an additional two nights of recording made in 2017 following the repitch to capture the tonal changes and some of repitched pipework. Sustain samples of at least 8 to 10 seconds were recorded for every note, with a minimum of 3 releases per note, with some ranks having up to 5 different lengths of release. Microphones were placed in the organ itself, right up close to the pipework, as well as ambient mics in multiple locations between the choir stalls and further down the nave. The main source used for the stereo set is based on a microphone in on the south side of the choir stalls, very close to the console itself, being around a few feet closer to the organ case, and a few feet lower than the bench. All audio was recorded and processed at 96KHz and 24 bit (32 bit floating point), using RME Octamic II and soundfield MKV / SPS422B preamps, with RME A/D conversion from a Fireface ufx. Microphones used were Soundfield MKV / Soundfield SPS422B, Core Sound Tetramic, Earthworks QTC40, ADK TL51, AKG C414, Rode NT4. Tremulant affected samples of all notes were recorded where possible, although the Swell tremulant was not functional in the original sessions, and so these were recorded post repitch.
This version of the sample set recreates the organ as it was just prior to its re-pitch in 2015, being at the higher pitch of around A = 452. There will be an update available at a later date which will reflect the current specification and pitch following the re-pitching.
Considerable effort has gone into developing post processing methods and software to optimise the creation of the very highest quality samples. In particular careful consideration has been given to optimising the trade off between removing background noise and preserving the intricate detail in the sound to give it life. . In addition to processing note samples, all blower, stop, switch, key, tremulant and action noises have been reproduced, and a significant number of impulse responses taken from various locations within the organ, which have been used to recreate parts of the reverb tail which were lost below the building noise floor.
The Tremulant affected ranks on the Choir, Swell and Solo use a combination of tremulant affected samples and hauptwerk modelled tremulants where required (mainly for the Swell, due to a malfunction during recording sessions), and where the Hauptwerk model is used, these use individual waveforms for every note and are programmed to match reference recordings. The enclosure models for the Swell, Choir and Solo are all carefully prepared on a rank by rank / note by note basis using reference recordings, and the wind system has been modelled based on meaasurements of the real organ and test recordings of the pipework. The samples have been programmed with multiple loops (up to 9) for added realism.
The Organ Controls are all faithfully reproduced and fully functioning, including the solid state logic Capture system with 128 general level memories and 8 divisional levels.
A Robot was built in order to play the notes and select stops (using the built in combination system), which allowed sampling to be performed non stop right through the night, with absolute accuracy in terms of note lengths (for multiple releases), and ensuring sufficient gaps between all notes for the building acoustic to die away. As an added bonus, it is also possible to collect the marker positions for the note start and key release at the time of sampling, which saves time and effort in later processing.
The recordings were made in nine overnight sessions over a period of a few months at the beginning of 2015, with an additional two nights of recording made in 2017 following the repitch to capture the tonal changes and some of repitched pipework. Sustain samples of at least 8 to 10 seconds were recorded for every note, with a minimum of 3 releases per note, with some ranks having up to 5 different lengths of release. Microphones were placed in the organ itself, right up close to the pipework, as well as ambient mics in multiple locations between the choir stalls and further down the nave. The main source used for the stereo set is based on a microphone in on the south side of the choir stalls, very close to the console itself, being around a few feet closer to the organ case, and a few feet lower than the bench. All audio was recorded and processed at 96KHz and 24 bit (32 bit floating point), using RME Octamic II and soundfield MKV / SPS422B preamps, with RME A/D conversion from a Fireface ufx. Microphones used were Soundfield MKV / Soundfield SPS422B, Core Sound Tetramic, Earthworks QTC40, ADK TL51, AKG C414, Rode NT4. Tremulant affected samples of all notes were recorded where possible, although the Swell tremulant was not functional in the original sessions, and so these were recorded post repitch.
This version of the sample set recreates the organ as it was just prior to its re-pitch in 2015, being at the higher pitch of around A = 452. There will be an update available at a later date which will reflect the current specification and pitch following the re-pitching.
Considerable effort has gone into developing post processing methods and software to optimise the creation of the very highest quality samples. In particular careful consideration has been given to optimising the trade off between removing background noise and preserving the intricate detail in the sound to give it life. . In addition to processing note samples, all blower, stop, switch, key, tremulant and action noises have been reproduced, and a significant number of impulse responses taken from various locations within the organ, which have been used to recreate parts of the reverb tail which were lost below the building noise floor.
The Tremulant affected ranks on the Choir, Swell and Solo use a combination of tremulant affected samples and hauptwerk modelled tremulants where required (mainly for the Swell, due to a malfunction during recording sessions), and where the Hauptwerk model is used, these use individual waveforms for every note and are programmed to match reference recordings. The enclosure models for the Swell, Choir and Solo are all carefully prepared on a rank by rank / note by note basis using reference recordings, and the wind system has been modelled based on meaasurements of the real organ and test recordings of the pipework. The samples have been programmed with multiple loops (up to 9) for added realism.
The Organ Controls are all faithfully reproduced and fully functioning, including the solid state logic Capture system with 128 general level memories and 8 divisional levels.