Dear Classic FM, My name is Lev Weksler, and I would like to respond to the article written about me, entitled: Professional double bassists can't work out if that Flight of the Bumblebee video is fake By Daniel Ross, 19th January 2016,
11:01 This is not about making excuses, or the need prove anything to anyone, but I just merely feel the need to defend myself against untrue and unjust accusations. I feel that I owe it to those people [my supporters] who listen to, and appreciate my musical performances. and to those whom I have inspired to once again, take their instrument out of the closet, and start playing once again. My musical playing style and techniques are self taught and obviously different than those who have been taught by traditional methods (not that there’s anything wrong with traditional methods), I just developed my own style through years of playing and performing the music that I love. A few years ago, I was introduced to recording on a computer, as I found out, most everyone else did as well. I then realized that I was behind the times. I quickly discovered that it was a more efficient, faster and convenient than recording onto tape. But I am not a keyboard player and do not use any Synthesizers or MIDI to create my music. I do not use auto-tune. I play everything myself, live into a microphone. Some of my songs require two Bass parts, so I record one track at a time. Yes, I do “Punch in” or re-record some parts that need to be fixed. I then shoot the video to the music that I myself have played and recorded, but I am not trying to fool anyone into thinking, that I am playing live during the video shoot. otherwise I would place headphones on my head and a microphone in front of me for more realism. I am simply accompanying myself for the purpose of the video. I am not doing a “Mimmic” act as some have suggested. I am playing together with my own musical recording…besides, If I had such great Mimmic abilities, I would join the circus instead. Sadly, one of my critics, (with the sole purpose of humiliating me) repeatidly insisted that I post a real live performance of myself. So I will grant him his wish. It is also sad to see that other fellow musicians have concentrated on the technical editing rather than the musical performance itself. I can understand how some people don’t believe that its recorded on a Double Bass because of the unconventional bass sound. Even a friend of mine, by the name of Evgeny Shatsky, who is a Double Bass player with the “Tel-Aviv Symphony Orchestra” couldn’t believe that what he heard was done on a double Bass, until he heard me play it personally. In conclusion, I would like to thank all of my supporters and youtube subscribers that follow me and continue to do so with positive encouragement. I would like to especially thank a great Double Bassist, Lauren Pierce who has open mindedly, supported. In my opinion, she is the future of the Double Bass. It would be an honor for me to share with her, some of my technical abilities that I have developed through out the years.
