Here's a series of posts about Oscar music nominations from the 80s. 1984 was ridiculous! [link] Every nominated song hit #1, and none of them are from Purple Rain...

If you're a member of a symphony orchestra, can you hear your own performance in a recording, or does everyone blend together?

If you're a member of a symphony orchestra, can you hear your own performance in a recording, or does everyone blend together?

My friend Ivor is a drummer and he's primarily listening to the drumming in any particular song. I guess it would depend on how well that particular section blended together (some are more famously uniform than others).

A a person who is not in a symphony orchestra, I can definitely pick out the sections-- that is, I can hear the French Horn part, which is what I played. With something like the French Horn, I could probably pick myself out, because there is often only one person per part. Not sure if I could if I played violin or something else with a large section.

It depends on what you play. I have a couple of recordings where I can hear myself in a few places, but I was the only contra-bass clarinet player in the band.

I can hear the French Horn part, which is what I played.

That's because the French Horn is never in tune.

That's because the French Horn is never in tune.

Hee! That thing was f-ing impossible to tune, and then you sort of controlled everything with your lips anyway. Or by whether or not you were using the part that was tuned to F or the part that was tuned to b-flat.

I just learned my first french horn joke! (How do you tune two french horns?)

(what is the punchline?)

In a smaller orchestra where there are fewer parts overlapping, I can definitely pick out the individual players, especially if I know them and am used to their intonation or whatnot. Listening to the local symphony that the SO played with, I could pull out the 3rd trumpet part that was him (he hopped in midseason, so declined to challenge any chair, although he was clearly a better player (I dunno why I had to assert that, but there you go)) pretty easily. Although picking it out live is easier than listening to a recording without any visual cues to line up.

But it's a learned skill. I mean, I think in general, musicians have a hard time hearing themselves, which is what leads to the "more of me in the monitor" escalation problem. I always ask for less of me in my monitor, and I have nothing else in there at all because the stage levels are so hot overall. But that's because my job requires that I pick out one line of melody (on the same instrument as everyone else) in a roomful of cacophony, so it's a skillset I've deliberately worked on and improved over the years.