Band Directors Find Superscope CD Recorder Indispensable
Music educators face many challenges. From organizing a
curriculum, equipping a band or orchestra, teaching, tutoring, and testing,
to conducting concerts and meeting regularly with parents and boosters.
It’s enough to frazzle the nerves of even the best of professionals.
That’s why music educators are always on the lookout for new technologies
and tools that can make their jobs easier and help their young musicians
develop faster.
Superscope’s PSD300 and
PSD340 CD recording systems are just such an advance. They has won rave reviews from the press for its innovative
music practice controls and impressive recording capabilities.
Superscope’s products have been reviewed by School Band and Orchestra
magazine, the Jazz Educator’s Journal, Jazz Times, Downbeat, Pro Audio
Review, Electronic Musician, and the New York Times.
Band directors who already own a Superscope PSD Series Dual Drive CD recording
system can attest to its capabilities as a powerful rehearsal and recording
tool. Best of all, it’s easy to use.
Wiley Cruse is the Director of Bands and Orchestra at Dakota Ridge High
School in Jefferson County, Colorado. He purchased a PSD300 to record his
students’ rehearsals, and to manipulate the key and tempo of any music CD
in real time. “Once I started using the PSD300 on a daily basis, I found
more ways to take advantage of its capabilities than I ever thought
possible,” Cruse says.
A Rehearsal Tool
At his program, Cruse uses a computer to compose
rehearsal tracks with the Band-In-a-Box software program, then burn a
variety of tracks to a CD. “By putting this compilation CD in the PSD300,
I can quickly select certain tracks and create a customer CD for each person
in my Jazz band. That way, each musician can concentrate on his or her
separate part or solo.”
Students can also take a favorite song, and if
needed, change the key to match the key of their instrument. They can also
slow down a song using the tempo control button to more easily play along as
they learn the notes and chords. For particularly challenging parts, they
can create A-B practice loops, so just the part they are working on will
continuously repeat, avoiding the delays caused by rewinding, and starting
or stopping. These loops can also be made at a changed key and tempo.
“The PSD300 is portable enough that students can
take it anywhere to listen to CDs, rehearse, and record themselves playing
along to an accompaniment CD,” Cruse adds.
A Testing Tool
Cruse has found a way to spend less classroom time
testing students, leaving more time for group practice and other activities.
In his symphonic band, each section leader will use the PSD300 to record a
5-minute CD of that section.
“For example, I’ll have the clarinet section on
one CD, the trumpet section on another CD,” says Cruse. “I’ll then
play these CDs in my car CD player going to and from work, and I’ll record
my comments in a handheld tape recorder, much like an adjudicator will do at
band clinics. His students can later listen to the tapes while playing back
their recording.
Booster Recordings Made Easy
Leroy
Eversgerd is band director at Jane Adams Middle School in Bolingbrook,
Illinois. A year ago, he hired an audio professional to record a school
concert in order to sell CDs to parents for the band boosters. The audio
professional recorded the concert on a DAT (Digital Audio Tape) machine,
edited it in a studio, and duplicated CDs. “We ended up losing money on
the deal,” says Eversgerd.
This year he recorded another school concert using
the Superscope PSD300.
“You simply plug you microphones into the PSD300
and can record directly to CD. It’s easy,” says Eversgerd. The resulting
digital recording was hiss-free, and CD-quality. By marking tracks with the
remote control during the concert, a band director can place original master
recording in the CD player drive, then create a play list of only those
tracks he or she wants to keep. The last step is to burn a final master that
is ready for duplication. “It’s a convenient way to edit out the warm up
and crowd noises between numbers without having to use editing software or
spend money at a studio,” says Eversgerd.
“I’ve
been a teacher for 30 years,” he says. “Whenever I hear a recording of
my students, I’m so critical I can hardly stand it. However, parents
absolutely love it. They love to hear their child’s performance, and they
appreciate being able to give a CD to grandma and grandpa for Christmas.”
At Dakota Ridge High, Wiley Cruse uses his PSD300 to
record most every day. “I always have a mic stand set up, ready to go.
I’ll put it in my backpack and take it anywhere. I’ve recorded our
marching band from the top of our practice scaffolding. I’ve also recorded
All State audition performances to CD. I’ve also recorded seniors who need
to mail a CD to a college music departments that they are applying to as
part of their music scholarship and application process. More college music
programs are looking for CDs instead of tapes from their applicants,” he
says.
He’s also allowed students to take the PSD300 home
to make their own practice CDs.
“The Superscope PSD300 CD Recording System is
“an invaluable resource,” says Cruse. “Once you own it, you’ll find
more ways to use it than you ever thought possible.”
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