Morgan sings about the western isles
Duig’s dream, the second album we produced together, was recorded with omni couples (one close, one far) in reverberating acoustics. A given song in a given church, a second voice in this chapel and a third one in the Vauban Tower of La Hougue.
Morgan has taken part in nearly all of our binaural productions and the idea of a 3D album had been in the air for a long time.
On the occasion of a tour in Poland mid-fall 2016, with a repertoire based on the western isles, Ynys is recorded around a dummy head. Or in front of it, rather. We had compared with the AB couple we mentioned earlier (and found its quality again), but the extra presence and 3D opening due to binaural did tip the scales.
This time, we were concerned that the compatibility between headphone listening and speakers listening should be good, at least regarding the timbres. Obviously, upholding the exclusive use of headphones when listening to immersive productions is no issue for us, but the question of a more « floating » listening had to be considered : speakers seem well-suited to the simple relationship between the listener and the singing.
We reached a compromise so that the colour would match speakers while doing as little harm as possible to the 3D projection, which is very fine here. Through headphones, the closeness of the singer is appreciable and micro movements sound natural, the harp is clearly defined and stretches on the vertical field. The reverbs come from reel prints and reward the choice of headphone listening.
It is therefore a simple enough record, a quiet first attempt. The last track is recorded in a Cretan church, with the Sunday after mass atmosphere, but the other tracks are recorded in studio, without any movement or whispering effect nor that of piling up layers as is our usual way. The album rests on the radiant nature of these ten evocations of the Celtic isle.