3 Hands Clapping - Way Over Yonder
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"From the tender country & western track 'Way Over Yonder' to the groovy 'Theme From Baretta' and George Benson's smooth jazz hit 'Affirmation', the album offers a captivating blend of genres. The trio's interpretation of the originals goes beyond mere replication; they have breathed new life into these classic tunes, reimagining them with their unique touch"
- Jazzism
Peter Tiehuis – guitars
Theo de Jong – bass guitar
Bert Fermie – percussion
Total time: 42:36
Original recording format: DXD 352kHz-24bit.
Mastered through an analog chain to PCM352kHz-32bit.
All other formats are converted versions of the original master.
"Music is forever; music should grow and mature with you, following you right on up until you die." – Paul Simon
Way Over Yonder by 3 Hands Clapping
A 3 Hands Clapping performance is a musical adventure. It spans the whole spectrum from breathtakingly earthy grooves to serene, intimate beauty.
The virtuosic individual level of playing is an important aspect but even more striking is the magical ensemble playing. It’s transparent and flexible, ranging from "less is more" to dynamic and exciting interaction. The trio trades ideas with an unpretentious joy of being there in the moment, unabashedly sharing their love of music.
Tiehuis, de Jong and Fermie learned their craft supporting various international stars. George Duke, Toots Thielemans, Chaka Khan, Ivan Lins, Batida and the Metropole Orchestra have all benefited from the trio’s versatile musical abilities.
"We noticed that when the 3 of us were together on a studio date or a project, the music was being lifted to a higher level but also that a great deal of fun and spontaneity became part of the equation. We played a concert with the trio and realized that this felt too good to be a one-off."
We love when we are able to record musicians playing together without headphones. When not "separated" by headphones, musicians interact much more as they would do in a concert situation, creating their own musical balance which makes the need for compression to control levels unnecessary. And since everybody is in the same room, the boxed sound which is so common in many modern recordings is absent. Instead, the beautiful sound of Studio 2 helps "glue" the sound of the recording.
When creating the sound stage, we spent a great amount of time getting the balance of the trio as optimal as possible using the ambient stereo microphone (C700S) placed in the "sweet spot" in Studio 2, before adding the spot microphones.
We have created a sound field that is intimate but also with enough depth to have a visual representation of the instruments.
The idea is to let the melodic part of each instrument stand out yet never overshadow the whole. The benefit of this approach is that you can visualize the ensemble in front of you: guitar left, percussion in the middle, and bass at the right.
This is NOT the commercial radio-friendly approach, with the instruments piled on top of each other straight down the middle.
In a sense, we are old-fashioned—maybe we listened to too many old jazz recordings—but on the other hand, as the great Louis Armstrong said:
"The memory of things gone is important to a jazz musician. Things like old folks singing in the moonlight in the backyard on a hot night or something said long ago."
Frans de Rond & Peter Bjørnild
Recording Details
Recording, mixing and mastering: Frans de Rond
Produced by: Peter Bjørnild
Music arranged by: 3 Hands Clapping
Recorded at: MCO, Studio 2, Hilversum, The Netherlands
Dates: 6th and 7th of October 2018
Stage engineer: Lex Amrein
High-End Audio Equipment Used:
- Microphones: Josephson C700S – premium stereo condenser microphone offering three capsules for versatile polar patterns and exceptional clarity in high-resolution recordings.
- Speakers: TAD Compact Evolution – professional reference monitors delivering neutral, low-distortion sound.
- Loudspeakers: Linkwitz LX521.4 – a high-end 4-way open-baffle loudspeaker system known for its natural, phase-coherent soundstage and immersive listening experience.
- Power Amplifier: Moon 760A – high-performance amplifier providing clean and dynamic power, ensuring accurate playback for monitoring and mastering.
- Analog-to-Digital Converter (Recording): Merging Horus – state-of-the-art A/D converter used for capturing the original performance with transparent, detailed sound quality at high sample rates.
- Mastering Analog-to-Digital Converter: RME ADI-2/4 Pro SE – premium A/D converter employed during mastering to create the 768kHz-32bit PCM master, known for ultra-low distortion and detailed audio reproduction.
- Mastering Headphones: Hifiman HE1000se and Sennheiser HD800S – world-class open-back headphones used for critical listening during mastering, providing wide frequency response and exceptional spatial accuracy.
- Cables & Power Conditioners: AudioQuest – audiophile-grade cables and power conditioning equipment ensuring signal integrity and noise reduction throughout the recording and mastering chain.
- Network Switch: SOtM – high-quality network switch engineered for minimizing jitter and preserving audio fidelity in digital audio streaming and studio setups.
Cover design: Frans de Rond
Catalog Number: SL-1056A