Up next in the First Solos for the Horn Player series is the second movement from Mozart’s Quintet for Horn and Strings, K. 407. It’s a fantastic piece, easily the equal of any of Mozart’s horn concertos . For more information on this work, check out John Ericson’s article at Horn Matters.

The slow movement is the most difficult selection in First Solos for the Horn Player. At first I thought the book was organized chronologically, which would explain the Mozart’s inclusion near the beginning. However, that’s not quite the case, so perhaps it’s included early so that anyone casually thumbing through would see something they recognize in the first few pages.

This one took me a while to work up, and though it’s not perfect by any means, I’m satisfied with this recording with SmartMusic accompaniment. On the technology front, I’ve come to the conclusion that it would be better at this point not to stress over the video/audio syncing issues, and instead to focus on making good recordings and including some public domain images to accompany the audio. The syncing issue was never a problem before I started using a Blue Yeti USB microphone, so I presume it will resolve itself when I go back to using my normal audio interface and XLR microphones. For now, though, my current setup will suffice. For the especially curious, here are the technical fixes I’ve tried (unsuccessfully):

• Set Logic Pro X sample rate to 48 kHz (default is 44.1), and the Blue Yeti specs list its sample rate at 48 kHz.
• Set Q2n-4K audio sample rate to 48 kHz

Neither of the above resolved the problem, although I have noticed upon further inspection that the camera records at 25 frames per second, and Final Cut Pro adjusts it to 23.9 fps. This may be the problem, but it will take me some time to work out a solution. If anyone has other possible fixes, I would be grateful!