Songs Of Praise Today

[OmegaConsort]

Did any of you see this?

I found it quite entertaining; it is interesting how lush it all sounds when mixed through the desks compared with the sound when singing live (It looked like they might have been miming through some of the programme?).

Anyway the reason for this topic was not so much on the strengths and weaknesses of Libra, but to ask if any of you know the church in which most of the programme was recorded?

They mentioned Torquay and the arts & crafts church where they performed is certainly a church in Torquay where I once visited (tho I cannot remember the dedicated Saint), but there was also a very fine church with an apse and a minstrel's gallery on the South side which I just couldn't place (I don't think it was Malmesbury Abbey!).

Best wishes

Richard

[gazman]

I didn't see this, but have just flicked through on IPlayer. The Torquay church which was featured only briefly and towards the end of the programme is St. John's Church, Montpellier Place, Torquay. I don't recognise the building where the majority of the performances took place, though.

[P DeVile]

I didn't see this, but have just flicked through on IPlayer. The Torquay church which was featured only briefly and towards the end of the programme is St. John's Church, Montpellier Place, Torquay. I don't recognise the building where the majority of the performances took place, though.

 

I wondered whether it was St. Bartholomew the Great in Smithfield, London.

 

Peter

[OmegaConsort]

I wondered whether it was St. Bartholomew the Great in Smithfield, London.

 

Peter

 

I thought that too - but the church looks too wide...

[Tony Newnham]

Did any of you see this?

I found it quite entertaining; it is interesting how lush it all sounds when mixed through the desks compared with the sound when singing live (It looked like they might have been miming through some of the programme?).

Anyway the reason for this topic was not so much on the strengths and weaknesses of Libra, but to ask if any of you know the church in which most of the programme was recorded?

They mentioned Torquay and the arts & crafts church where they performed is certainly a church in Torquay where I once visited (tho I cannot remember the dedicated Saint), but there was also a very fine church with an apse and a minstrel's gallery on the South side which I just couldn't place (I don't think it was Malmesbury Abbey!).

Best wishes

Richard

 

Hi

 

I found much of the sound was just swimming in too much reverberation - it says something for the boy's diction that most of the words could still be heard! I don't know what location was used, but the director seemed to be fond of wide-angle lenses, so maybe that distorted the perpestive somewhat.

 

Every Blessing

 

Tony

[Guest Nigel ALLCOAT]

Hi

 

I found much of the sound was just swimming in too much reverberation - it says something for the boy's diction that most of the words could still be heard! I don't know what location was used, but the director seemed to be fond of wide-angle lenses, so maybe that distorted the perpestive somewhat.

 

Every Blessing

 

Tony

 

Having just seen about 15 mins worth so far on my computer I can hazard a guess that it is the recording engineers that you hear producing the acoustic and not the church(es). As it is a London based group (NOT band!) I also agree that filming was in St Bart's. The interview with Aled (where they are sitting around) is in the glorious Pearson Church (topic elsewhere on the Board the other week) of St John's, Upper Norwood. This choir started off around the Streatham area I think and so central and South London churches are ideal locations. St John's has often featured on S of P - it has a fine stone screen and is given added mystical qualities for Libera by lighting and haze! Nevertheless, I doubt that the cherubs in heaven will ever sing to sweetly. I shall enjoy them all here for as long as Mr Prizeman and the Mixers produce. For where I shall be going, I will never know anything so soothing as I shall solely hear the constant sound of ineffectual fire extinguishers.

Best wishes,

Nigel

[Malcolm Kemp]

I have always understood that Libra is basically the boys' choir of St Philip's Norbury where Bob Prizeman has been D-of-M for many years.

 

Malcolm

[Andy]

I have always understood that Libra is basically the boys' choir of St Philip's Norbury where Bob Prizeman has been D-of-M for many years.

 

Malcolm

 

You are quite correct. There is no difference in the line-up. They also manage to sing a (very fine) full choral evensong every Sunday evening using a wide repertoire. The congregation is usually meagre so there's plenty of room if any of you are in the area.

 

 

Andrew Chadney

 

BTW The name is Libera.

[Tony Newnham]

Having just seen about 15 mins worth so far on my computer I can hazard a guess that it is the recording engineers that you hear producing the acoustic and not the church(es).

 

Hi

 

I would agree, and for me it rather spoiled the sound. it seems to be a trend in recent years tin choral recordings to go for the sound above the clarity of the words, which seems counter-productive. If you can't hear the words, why bother listening?

 

Every Blessing

 

Tony

[tribunegallery]

Tricks of the camera! The church concerned was made to look bigger by camera tricks. Also, when recording choirs and singing groups, the BBC quite often re-take camera shots with miming, once they've got a good sound recording.

[Tony Newnham]

Tricks of the camera! The church concerned was made to look bigger by camera tricks. Also, when recording choirs and singing groups, the BBC quite often re-take camera shots with miming, once they've got a good sound recording.

 

Hi

 

That's sometimes painfully obvious, as when the singers are obviously in the open air and the sound has significant amounts of reverb!

 

Every Blessing

 

Tony

[innate]

Hi

 

That's sometimes painfully obvious, as when the singers are obviously in the open air and the sound has significant amounts of reverb!

 

Every Blessing

 

Tony

And no wind noise!

[Tony Newnham]

And no wind noise!

 

Hi

 

Given the sort of wind gags that are available these days, that's not an issue.

 

Every Blessing

 

Tony

[innate]

Hi

 

Given the sort of wind gags that are available these days, that's not an issue.

 

Every Blessing

 

Tony

I bow to your expert knowledge, Tony, but I remember shots of Harry Secombe and a choir on some clifftop singing something beautifully soft and controlled whilst their hair was blowing in all directions - with no microphone to be seen. Is there no impairment to the recorded sound when using "extreme" wind gags?

[pwhodges]

Wind noise at the microphone can be prevented without serious ill-effects to the sound. However, there is also the noise of wind whistling round the rest of the scenery, which is part of what is there to be heard, and cannot be suppressed other than by going closer to the main source with the mic.

 

Paul

[Tony Newnham]

I bow to your expert knowledge, Tony, but I remember shots of Harry Secombe and a choir on some clifftop singing something beautifully soft and controlled whilst their hair was blowing in all directions - with no microphone to be seen. Is there no impairment to the recorded sound when using "extreme" wind gags?

 

Hi

 

It was almost certainly mimed to a pre-recording - that's the usual practice, and has been for quite a while.

 

Every Blessing

 

Tony

[Arp Schnitger]

It was almost certainly mimed to a pre-recording - that's the usual practice, and has been for quite a while.

 

About 10 years ago, our school choir was enlisted to do the 'choir' slot in a Songs of Praise broadcast. Their singing was recorded in a gruelling 2+ hour session at school, with very gentle keyboard accompaniment and Paul Leddington Wright in attendance. Two weeks later we went off on location for filming, by which time the soundtrack had been edited and had an orchestration added, by Robert Prizeman in fact, who was the musical adviser on that episode. The children were however asked not to mime, but to sing along; the producer explained that miming looks like miming, and singing when being filmed makes the body do all the 'right things'. Another two hours later, with filming from all sorts of angles done, we were finished- the end product was overlaid with all sorts of soft filters and cutaways to rural summer scenes (we had been asked to do Rutter's 'All things B&B', rather unoriginal but it made sense in the context of the programme) and actually looked and sounded pretty good.

[Tony Newnham]

About 10 years ago, our school choir was enlisted to do the 'choir' slot in a Songs of Praise broadcast. Their singing was recorded in a gruelling 2+ hour session at school, with very gentle keyboard accompaniment and Paul Leddington Wright in attendance. Two weeks later we went off on location for filming, by which time the soundtrack had been edited and had an orchestration added, by Robert Prizeman in fact, who was the musical adviser on that episode. The children were however asked not to mime, but to sing along; the producer explained that miming looks like miming, and singing when being filmed makes the body do all the 'right things'. Another two hours later, with filming from all sorts of angles done, we were finished- the end product was overlaid with all sorts of soft filters and cutaways to rural summer scenes (we had been asked to do Rutter's 'All things B&B', rather unoriginal but it made sense in the context of the programme) and actually looked and sounded pretty good.

 

Hi

 

Fair comment - I should have said that they perform to a pre-recorded track - so the sound is not usually from the "filmed" performance.

 

Every Blessing

 

Tony

[DQB123]

I can't help noticing that the repertoire of hymns on Songs of Praise is becoming very limited indeed. Whilst I like "Christ Triumphant, ever reigning", I'm sure we only heard it a couple of weeks ago, and yet there it was again last evening from Southwell Minster (good shots of the organ pipes, but no console shots!). The same goes for many of the hymns on that prog just lately. Could it be that when they have that brass ensemble they only have a few musical arrangements so they're trying to get their money's worth out of them?

 

I fear that S of P is becoming very weary (even wearisome) these days. Or maybe I am in a grouchy mood today. Has any one else noticed the endless repetition?

 

[MusingMuso]

I can't help noticing that the repertoire of hymns on Songs of Praise is becoming very limited indeed. Whilst I like "Christ Triumphant, ever reigning", I'm sure we only heard it a couple of weeks ago, and yet there it was again last evening from Southwell Minster (good shots of the organ pipes, but no console shots!). The same goes for many of the hymns on that prog just lately. Could it be that when they have that brass ensemble they only have a few musical arrangements so they're trying to get their money's worth out of them?

 

I fear that S of P is becoming very weary (even wearisome) these days. Or maybe I am in a grouchy mood today. Has any one else noticed the endless repetition?

 

 

 

==============

 

 

Southwell has never had architecture like that Quentin. I think you'll find that it was Beverley.

 

It's all terribly milk and honey these days, with lots of sentimental clap-trap and an affluent middle-class thanking God for their good fortune.

 

The more "market town" it gets, the worse the sentimentality and self-satisfaction, though in fairness, I don't really want to be too challenged of a Sunday evening.

 

I personally enjoy S of P for a different reason; the chance to sit in a chair and look at architecture. Sometimes the musical arrangements are very good, and sometimes we see pretty images of organ-cases and people we either know or have heard about, flapping their arms at choirs.

 

I suppose the average viewer age is about 70 these days, so perhaps we shouldn't knock it too much.

 

It was nice to see Beverley on screen again. It's a while since I marvelled at the architecture of the place and the colours of the sensational stained-glass windows.

 

As Dr Alan Spedding used to say, "Welcome to Beverely. There are two great Minsters in Yorkshire: the biggest one and the best one."

 

From an architectural point of view, he was probably right.

 

I was a bit disappointed with the sound of the organ during the broadcast, and even if Beverley isn't the loudest organ, it makes a bit more noise than that which we heard. (Shades of the broadcast from St Paul's Recital Hall, University of Huddersfield, when they managed to make the organ sound like it was in Belgium.)

 

MM

[Guest Patrick Coleman]

I am always working when SoP is on, and somehow I don't have the motivation to watch it on the iPlayer. I don't care for Aled Jones either, though I know plenty of old ladies who swoon over him - and why not?

 

The organist in my previous parish used to apply the 'Songs of Praise' test to hymns suggested for weddings and funerals. She reckoned correctly that even if we never sang a particular hymn in church, if it came up regularly on SoP then the non-churchgoers would know it. She was invariably right.

[James Dawson]

==============

 

 

Southwell has never had architecture like that Quentin. I think you'll find that it was Beverley.

 

It was nice to see Beverley on screen again. It's a while since I marvelled at the architecture of the place and the colours of the sensational stained-glass windows.

 

As Dr Alan Spedding used to say, "Welcome to Beverely. There are two great Minsters in Yorkshire: the biggest one and the best one."

 

From an architectural point of view, he was probably right.

 

MM

 

I note that the Antiques Roadshow came from Beverly Minster yesterday, and again showed some fine shots of the organ. I wonder whether it was just coincidence that both came from Beverly, or whether the Beeb were killing two birds with one stone whilst the camera crews were in the area?

 

Shock horror, they might even be trying to work more efficiently these days.

[Tony Newnham]

Shock horror, they might even be trying to work more efficiently these days.

 

Hi

 

I don't know if both shows were recorded by the same crews - especially as they are produced by different BBC departments and have very different technical requirements, although I suppose it's possible.

 

Regular SoP viewers will have noted some repetition of venues a couple of months or so apart - that's because on occasions they have recorded material for 2 shows at the same session (as recently with the 2 broadcasts from Southwark Cathedral - one of my sons sings in the one of the local choirs that was recruited as part of the "congregation".

 

Every Blessing

 

Tony

[MusingMuso]

I note that the Antiques Roadshow came from Beverly Minster yesterday, and again showed some fine shots of the organ. I wonder whether it was just coincidence that both came from Beverly, or whether the Beeb were killing two birds with one stone whilst the camera crews were in the area?

Shock horror, they might even be trying to work more efficiently these days.

 

=============

 

 

I expect we'll be seeing "Bill Oddie in Beverley" next.

 

MM

[peeweeel]

Hi

 

I don't know if both shows were recorded by the same crews - especially as they are produced by different BBC departments and have very different technical requirements, although I suppose it's possible.

 

Regular SoP viewers will have noted some repetition of venues a couple of months or so apart - that's because on occasions they have recorded material for 2 shows at the same session (as recently with the 2 broadcasts from Southwark Cathedral - one of my sons sings in the one of the local choirs that was recruited as part of the "congregation".

 

Every Blessing

 

Tony

 

We have had both SoP and Antiques Roadshow at Lichfield. The SoP recordings with congregations were done on succesive nights in November 2006, one for Christmas and one for Easter. We had to rehearse on the days before and wear "spring" clothing for the Easter "show". They also recorded non-congregational items at other times with the Choir, Chamber Choir and a visiting duo "Opera Babes" of whom least said the better! These were used as inserts and also to make a third SoP programme "Saints and Angels" transmitted in the following June. Aled Jones came back several times to do intros and linking pieces to camera for the last one. Jonathan Edwards did the first two before he dropped SoP.

 

The Antiques Roadshow team were around setting up for about a week one May with the recording on the Saturday. Transmission was the first of that autumn season. It seems to be tradition to start each series from a large church.

 

I don't think that they would have been able to use the same crew and sets for both shows simultaneously but Aled Jones could easily "drop in" for links and chat.