Denver Recording Studio

The alto flute has such a beautiful tone that recording it well was a big priority for me. Cynthia Jaffe is a flute player extrordinaire. She plays alto, C silver flute, and Irish wooden flute. I had the privelidge of recording Cynthia’s flute at CCM Studios for the first time with Digeridoo player Dave Crowder. After that sessions Cynthia and her Celtic guitar partner Gregg Hansen chose to record their celtic flute and guitar duo Peace & Love & Jigs & Reels debut CD Rapture at CCM Studios.

For this alto flute recording session, I used our R84 ribbon mic and was flooored with the results. I do not think anythiong else I have recorded with the AEA R84 sounded as good as the alto flute. Round but real is how I desrcibe it.

Miss Jaffe was recording her contribution to the upcoming Acoustitherapy Nature Walk CD due to be released in September. The song “An Unconditional Aire” uses both the silver C flute and the alto flute. We also added some strings and a delicate harp part to round out the recording useng the Mach 5 sampler plug for ProTools.

About the Alto Flute - The alto flute is a type of Western concert flute, a musical instrument in the woodwind family. It is the first extension downward of the C flute. It is characterized by its distinct, mellow tone in the lower portion of its range.

The tube of the alto flute is considerably thicker and longer than a C flute and requires more breath from the player. However, this gives it a greater dynamic presence in the bottom octave and a half of its range.

Said to be popularized by Theobald Boehm, it is pitched in the key of G (sounding a 4th lower than written). Its range is from G3 (the G below middle C) to G7 (4 ledger lines above the treble clef staff) plus an altissimo register stretching to Db8. The headjoint may be straight or curved.

In addition to being used in various flute choirs and concert ensembles, alto flutes are also popular in many jazz groups. It is considered a doubling instrument for saxophonists (saxophone). It is a harmonic instrument which allows the changing of note without adjusting the keys.

In the classical literature, the alto flute is particularly associated with the scores of Igor Stravinsky and Maurice Ravel, both of whom used the colouring effect of the instrument in a variety of places. It is featured in Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, for example, and in several movements of Gustav Holst’s The Planets.