[Ken Fujimoto's Digital Audio Laboratory] Live sound source becomes super Hi-Fi sound !? Emi Fujita's experimental high-resolution production behind the scenes-AV Watch

What is the best way to record a live performance? A total of 4 events were held over 2 days, with 40 spectators participating.

Scene from the venue

Although the concert hall is usually filled with loud sounds from the PA, this concert did not use a PA at all. It is quite a strange style that the person enjoys with headphones / earphones brought.

So you can't hear anything when you take off your headphones?

Other than the electric ukulele bass, performances with live instruments such as vocals, acoustic guitar, grand piano/tin whistle/accordion, violin/trumpet, percussion, and wood bass. However, I can only hear it with the nuance that it is ringing in the distance. But when you put on your headphones, you can hear what was played on stage in a completely different world, with ultra-high-definition sound.

Emi Fujita, Takashi Nishiumi, Toshihide Uto, Masahiro Takekawa, Shinji Asakura, and Tetsuzo Kawai

​​The “Headphone Concert 2021” was hosted by Tetsuya Abe, a recording engineer and president of the label HD Impression.

Emi Fujita (left) and Tetsuya Abe (right)

I learned about this project in November last year. Emi Fujita posted on social media, “On February 18th and 19th, 2021, we will be holding a strange concert! A concert like a recording? A recording like a concert?"

The venue was Sun Heart Hall, and I had previously interviewed Mr. Abe when he was recording at this hall. As expected, he seemed to be thinking about something quite interesting. However, at the time of the announcement, the details had not yet been worked out, so I interviewed him again in February this year when everything was in order. After asking about the setting, I challenged the interview on the day.

When I looked into it, this was not the first time for a headphone concert.

Forty years ago, Eiichi Otaki held the world's first headphone concert at Shibuya Public Hall. It is said that Mr. Otaki's aim was to create an experimental concert where "you can hear the same sound with the best balance no matter where you listen to it in the concert venue."

At this time, it seems that the collected sound was sent to the venue with an FM transmitter, and the audience listened to it with the distributed FM Walkman. As far as I researched, I could not find a record of such a large-scale headphone concert after that, so it may be the second time in 40 years.

By the way. On a smaller scale, there was also something called "Silent Street Music," which I introduced in a previous article. It was planned by the former president of Roland, who developed the TR-808 and TB-303, and was intended to quietly realize a live performance on the street without disturbing others. However, the headphone concert planned by Mr. Abe this time has a completely different purpose.

"About 10 years ago, when I was thinking about how to make Emi-san's live album with the highest quality, I came up with the idea of ​​a headphone concert, and I've been thinking about it for a long time. It's not a live performance, but when I was making an album called "Kokoro no Shokutaku", I rented a hall and recorded one shot.However, I wanted to try recording a real live performance with the best possible sound, including the audience,” says Abe.

However, although he tried to consult with various people so far, he was not able to understand it easily, and he was working out a plan by himself. In order to make it happen, I had to host it myself, so this time, I decided to make use of the support money from the Agency for Cultural Affairs. Partly for that reason, visitors are invited and free of charge. It was a large hall with a capacity of 300 people, but due to corona measures and the relationship between equipment, it was a live show with a capacity of 40 people per performance.

However, at the time of planning, it was already a situation that could not be said to be smooth.

Mr. Abe said, "Mr. Emi told me that it looked interesting, but the musicians scolded me, saying, 'For performers, live performances and recordings are completely different!' (laughs). For the player, the feeling of performing is completely different.In recording, we put our heart and soul into recording the best possible performance, and if there's something we don't like, even the slightest bit, we retake it. There is a tremendous amount of tension in playing in front of a large number of spectators.The players concentrate on playing as much as they can and perform without worrying about anything. It's a strange reaction, but I wanted to record that moment."

After carefully explaining his thoughts to the musicians and getting their understanding, the preparations for the concert finally began.