About
Jamie Tagg, Inventor
GRAMMY-nominated audio engineer, published researcher, and associate professor of audio engineering at the Jacobs School of Music
Welcome! For years I have worked as an audio engineer, acoustical engineer, researcher, and luthier. My career has been full of music since childhood, starting out as a singer and piano player, then classical and jazz saxophonist, then jazz guitar, audio engineer, academic, and researcher. Throughout that time I have loved the sound of the cello and have had many opportunities to work with great cello soloists. The development of Celladore draws from the culmination of many years’ experience and interests in music and is the manifestation of the cross-section of all of these disciplines.
Background story of Celladore:
The development of Celladore has been a labor of love, born out of a need discovered when working with cello soloists and orchestras when recording live performances of concerti. This experience came to a pinnacle during the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra’s 2013/2014 season. The performance venue didn’t have a suitable riser for the soloists, and as an acoustician and instrument builder I was commissioned to construct a cello podium for the orchestra. I Initially searched for a published design but discovered that other than a 1960s sketch by an architect, this area of acoustic research was unexplored. Using this as a springboard and working under a very tight schedule, I constructed a crude design that received rave reviews by soloists, the conductor, and orchestra members, all of whom encouraged me to bring the riser to the commercial market. But I knew that a far better podium could be developed with some time and research.
In 2017 I published a paper investigating the structurally bound vibrations of the cello, performer, and supporting surface, and to determine how I might best harness and enhance the sound of the cello. Over the next five years, I meticulously examined every aspect of the cello-riser system and how it might be optimized. After several prototypes and the years of product development and testing, I am proud to bring to you Celladore, the world’s first modular, acoustically optimized cello podium!
Celladore…what does it do and why should I buy one?
Have you ever shown up to a venue and sat on a ‘cello riser’ only to be disappointed in how muffled, rumbly, and poorly defined your sound is? You’ve spent years practicing your craft, painstakingly developing your voice, your sonic identity as a cellist, only to have to relearn how to perform your rep with this new sound in a new space with a new orchestra. Celladore exists to solve the acoustic problems of typical cello risers. Now you can sit on a platform that not only elevates your performance visually, but also supports your signature sound by working with you as a performer.
Perhaps you’re a venue operations manager or orchestral administrator, and you not only want your space to look great, but sound great as well. Your musicians want an excellent experience, and your patrons deserve to walk out having experienced the best you have to offer. It isn’t enough for you to have a spray-painted plywood box that muffles the sound of your (expensive) soloist—you want them to be able to shine, feel inspired (not hindered) and you want your audience to have the most compelling experience. Celladore offers a gorgeous, functional podium that will elegantly accent your space while ensuring your musicians will be free to express their artistry and your audience will hear every detailed nuance of the performance.
How does it work?
Celladore is a two-part structure. The first is a rigid and sturdy base which solidly supports your chair and feet. It also sports a rail on the back so you can be confident while performing, knowing that you won’t go slipping off the back of the riser in a moment of inspiration and animation. The second part is the key to unlocking your sound as a soloist through an isolated and acoustically optimized resonating panel. Think of it like an extension of the soundboard of your instrument. Typical cello risers require you to plant your endpin on the same surface that supports your chair, body, and your feet, all of which are working to dampen the vibration and sound of your instrument. With Celladore, the vibration that travels down the endpin of your instrument is harnessed in a resonating panel that supports not just the fundamentals, but the upper harmonics of your sound, allowing you to sound clearer (and even a bit louder) than you ever have before, enabling your sound to soar throughout the venue. Even the musicians at the back of the orchestra will hear you better, allowing your performance to be more unified with the conductor and ensemble alike.