Well, at long last, I've finished it! 1.5 years ago, I started this project after finding the sheet music to this arrangement. After lots of practice, editing, re-recording, sweat, and tears, I have produced my final version. While still imperfect, I finally find it presentable.

The Eb clarinet recording, I've found, was not as perfect as I thought. Often it was not in time with the other parts, to the point that it was unbearable. Since I have no access to an Eb clarinet, I had to re-record the part on Bb. The result was a compromise: fixing some of the technical problems in the old take, but not having as satisfactory of a tone. This is really apparent in the solo: the original take was almost perfect as it is, but the retake is nowhere as good.

Rerecording the Bb clarinet parts was a lot of fun. The 1st part is tough, but my end result is far superior to the first take I did, which only got replaced now. The 2nd part was rerecorded quite easily, and I even took a few ad libs here and there.

The alto clarinet take from Spring 2015 is sufficient, save for a few sections. I kept it as is.

The bass clarinet part was rerecorded using the contra alto. I read off the bassoon substitute included in the folder. Since the tones of the two instruments are quite close, it was an excellent substitute. 

The contrabass retake I took in January 2015 is near perfect the way it is, so I left it alone.

As I mentioned earlier, it's not perfect, but I'm pretty damn proud of it! 

The final line up:

• Bb soprano clarinet for Eb clarinet and Bb clarinet 1, 2 (LeBlanc Normandy, Vandoren 5RV Lyre mouthpiece, Bonade Inverted ligature, Vandoren V12 #4.5 reeds for Eb clarinet and clarinet 1, Vandoren Blue Box #4 reeds for clarinet 2)

• Eb alto clarinet (Noblet, JD Hite mouthpiece, an unknown inverted Vandoren ligature, Vandoren Java alto saxophone reeds #3)

• Eb contra alto clarinet (Selmer Bundy, Clarke Fobes Nova mouthpiece, Rovner Dark ligature, Legere synthetic reed #3)

• Bb contrabass clarinet (LeBlanc paperclip, stock mouthpiece, stock ligature, Legere synthetic reed #2.5)

UPDATE: While I do call this the final version, I did so because I didn't think I would get access to an Eb clarinet and bass clarinet again to rerecord their respective parts. But if chance does occur, I have two interesting choices:

• Rerecord the Eb clarinet and bass clarinet parts on the correct instruments. I may rerecord some of the other parts, mainly the alto clarinet part while I'm at it.

• Do the same with the Eb clarinet as above, but rerecord the alto clarinet part on bass clarinet instead. And then rerecord the 2nd Bb clarinet part on alto clarinet. That way, all 6 main members of the Eb/Bb clarinet family are represented: Eb sopranino, Bb soprano, Eb alto, Bb bass, Eb contra alto, Bb contrabass.

Senbonzakura (千本桜) [Final]

BL0rangeReEdz