DUEL - Interview with Sound Engineer Tuukka Tervo
Below is a transcription of a discussion that I had with sound engineer Tuukka Tervo about our work together on this album. This informal conversation was held on March 17, 2022.
LUCY: How was this recording like or unlike other albums you’ve worked on?
TUUKKA: Well, it’s the only album with clarinet plus electronics that I’ve done so far! It’s not totally unlike other stuff I’ve done, but it’s an interesting album with mostly new works and mostly for clarinet and electronics. There’s one work that mostly acoustic chamber ensemble [Maija Hynninen Earthship], so it’s a nice combination of different kind of works. I hope we made it cohesive!
L: Yeah, that’s a big question, but if my sales text writing skills are any indication, I will make it cohesive if it kills me!
From the process of actually recording in the studio - mic set-ups, time, focus of the actually recording and mixing sessions – was any of that different from your past work? Just if there’s anything that comes to mind that was new? Or not new?
T: I think that maybe the most unusual was the Molly Joyce [Attack and Sustain], where we recorded lots of tracks of clarinet that then got manipulated by the composer and that became the work. Maybe that was the most unusual for me. Other than that, I don’t think there was anything that was too unusual but it’s always interesting to think about the sound aesthetic for this kind of music. Is it supposed to be recorded like acoustic music is recorded or is it like a studio recording that allows for different techniques? I think that mostly we, or for most of the works, it is more of the latter.
L: You mean recorded like a studio recording?
T: Yeah
L: What is the difference – for someone who is new to recording?
T: We recorded clarinet in a quite dry acoustic, with close mics, and then added whatever reverberation we wanted. I’m not saying that’s unusual, but it’s interesting to consider the different possibilities and make the choices.
L: So if it was, for example, clarinet without the electronics, there would be more flexibility to use more room mics or pick a space to record – like Kallio Kuninkala – and actually use the room, this kind of thing.
T: Or even a concert hall.
L: I understand, yeah I hadn’t thought about that. What do you think was the biggest challenge – either the biggest challenge piece or the biggest challenge we faced at any stage of the working process? Or the time frame, we worked over a really long period of time so that could be considered a challenge?
T: Maybe the Molly Joyce piece was challenging from the editing perspective.
L: I agree it was challenging! I think that was also the track that was the biggest challenge for me because it wasn’t what I expected and even in the way it was performed, was so different than the other tracks. In the sense that we really laid everything down, there wasn’t a lot of attention to detail within any given line, it was just kind of putting it all together and that was a weird, or different… I don’t know what the right adjective is.
T: And in the end I think Maija Hynninen’s Earthship, in the end was quite straightforward. I don’t think there was anything [odd, different]. But I hope we managed to make it sound like it fits on the album because it’s so different from the other tracks. And I hope we managed to make the sounds we got from Kallio-Kuninkala [Earthship, Pheme, live track of Attack and Sustain] sound good.
L: I think we did, but it is true that genre-wise, even though everything is clarinet and electronics, there is so much diversity. Like, even Riikka’s piece [Seireentydi] is super different in terms of how much clarinet is in it versus Maija’s piece [Earthship] versus Molly’s piece [Attack and Sustain]. Although I can make connections between pieces, but in terms of actual logistics of sound, Maija’s piece is very different.
This is probably a redundant question but what do you think was the hardest track? Probably the Joyce?
T: Yeah, it was the most work.
L: It was the most work and it was also artistically the hardest for me. Which is also interesting because musically, in many ways, it’s the simplest.
T: Yeah.
L: Which do you think was the easiest?
T: For me the easiest tracks would be the ones with just tape and one instrument, because the tape is already done and it’s just a matter of getting your performance down.
L: Yeah, I suppose the clearest was the Shekhar [Honk if you Love Me], because most of the information we ‘needed’ was in the score and then it was just deciding what clarinet [track] I liked the best. But for me, I found the Trbojevic [Le Fantome du Vent] the hardest to record because it was the hardest piece for me. And even the Hinkle-Turner [Spellbound] was maybe not as hard technically, but there were less electronic queues in the score so figuring out where to match things up was challenging.
T: Yeah, I can’t remember which piece it was, but some minor challenges but when there was a discrepancy between the score and the tape. But that was just something we had to figure out.
L: If you can remember, do you have a favorite? To work on or listen to?
T: I somehow like the Trbojevic [Le Fantome du Vent], I enjoy the music.
L: (laughing) Yeah, I like that piece a lot also. You know I worry about my own execution of said piece. It was a big challenge for me.
If you could do anything over again - in any way, even the order we did things in, or the time we spent, or putting one track in and taking one out – is there anything you would do in hindsight?
T: Well, it would be nice to maybe, as a comparison, get to hear some of the pieces in another acoustic. Like in a bigger hall.
L: Like in a live performance situation?
T: Or even recording in a bigger hall, maybe. The Earthship might sound good in a bigger hall, or some of the clarinet parts. I’m not saying we made the wrong choice [by recording where and how we did] -
L: But yeah it would be an interesting experiment!