Jump to content

VOM1T October 2018

garthman

By garthman
in Acoustic Guitars

Recommended Posts

  • Members
catscurlyear Newbie

catscurlyear

Posted
  • Members
Posted

Hi Howard lovely choice of song and great perfomance from you. here`s my choice this month, it`s my attempt at Mystery Train hope you all like it, thanks

sorry forgot to mention done on my Tanglewood Evolution Koa electro acoustic also tuned down a full tone to D with a set of vintage strings lol (over a year old) and recorded through my noisy tascam us- 2x2 interface, mic (sm58) and direct into cubase 8.5

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Members
MrHarryReems Newbie

MrHarryReems

Posted
  • Members
Posted
Time to hear some music again, folks.

 

It's a while since I posted a Leonard Cohen song so my submission this month is:

 

 

"Famous Blue Raincoat" by Leonard Cohen

 

https://app.box.com/shared/u71ufdh9ab

 

Played on my first guitar - a 1968 BM Espana classical - tuned down two semitones to standard D.

 

 

Very nice, Howard! I've not heard this song before, but I really like the sound of the nylon string on this, and your voice treats this song perfectly.

 

 

 

Here`s my choice this month, it`s my attempt at Mystery Train hope you all like it, thanks

sorry forgot to mention done on my Tanglewood Evolution Koa electro acoustic also tuned down a full tone to D with a set of vintage strings lol (over a year old) and recorded through my noisy tascam us- 2x2 interface, mic (sm58) and direct into cubase 8.5

https://soundcloud.com/user-282584942/mystery-train

 

Nice honkytonk! Very well played. Digging your voice on this one, too. Very enjoyable listen. The high noise floor is coming from your interface?

 

Here's mine' date=' an original Country song titled "Heart to Heart, Hand in Hand": http://kiwi6.com/file/zed5aaiyuj. I've also attached a low-fi version for Etienne. I'll have to listen to everyone else's contributions later.[/quote']

 

This is proving to be a great month for VOM1T.. Great submissions thus far. If I haven't mentioned it before, I really appreciate your original pieces.

 

 

 

 

I was somewhat productive this past month, so I hope everyone is prepared for a wall of text and a few tunes...

 

In chronological order:

 

No huge story behind this one, I've just always liked the song and meant to do it, so here it is. :)

 

Spancil Hill

 

Next is a song that was originally a poem by Rudyard Kipling entitled, 'A Tree Song'. It was put to music by Peter Bellamy in 1970, and has become a widely sung folk classic. What I love about this song is that it shows that regional beliefs and culture still survived despite the attempt by modern religion to eradicate it. The people still held to and practiced their beliefs, suggesting they just don't tell the priest, as surely he'd call it a sin...

 

A Tree Song

 

The next one tells the tale of Mary Queen of Scots imprisonment and subsequent escape from Lochleven Castle. She was captured and forced to abdicate to her infant son. After being held captive for a year by Sir William Douglas, she was assisted in her escape by William's son, Willie Douglas who became infatuated with Mary's beauty. He rowed her across the lake into the hands of 200 waiting horsemen.

 

I have a very good friend that my brother and I used to gig with back on the mainland. He's recently become a part time resident of the island, and my neighbor. He played the banjo and the bass guitar on this one.

 

Queen Mary's Escape

 

 

The last one is one I've been sitting on for a few weeks, as I've been struggling in vain with the mix on this one. It's the product of the political situation in Ireland following the Easter Rising. 210,000 Irishmen joined the British army to fight in WWI. While they supported the British war effort, they also felt that the justification for the war 'Freedom for small nations' should also be applied to Ireland.

When Canon O'Neill wrote the song in 1919, it spoke of the thoughts of Irish nationalists who felt that the Irishmen who fought for Britain should have stayed home and fought for their own independence instead.

 

The Foggy Dew

 

Pretty much everything was recorded with the same gear. Spancil Hill was recorded with a Rode NT1a, but everything else was recorded with my new Avantone CV-12 tube mic.

Guitar: Taylor 814ce

Flute: Muramatsu EX

Bass: Squier Jazz->Carvin BX500->Hartke 410XL-> GLS Audio ES57

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Members
DeepEnd Mentor

DeepEnd

Posted
  • Members
Posted

garthman - Well done. I wasn't familiar with that one but it sounds very much like the YouTube vid of him.

catscurlyear - Hard to go wrong with the King. You did him proud. Good job.

MrHarryReems - Wow. Both quantity and quality. I'm impressed. Seriously, a good job all around.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Members
catscurlyear Newbie

catscurlyear

Posted
  • Members
Posted

just listened to them all ,excellent performances and great quality recording by you ,also enjoyed your neighbours banjo it added another colour to the mix ,The mix on Foggy Dew sounded fine to me i thought i could maybe hear some voices talking in the backgound lol from about halfway to the end just in a couple of places,but can`t be sure . i`ve got a Squier Jazz bass i do like it.Overall lovely recordings and a nice tonal balance ,well done

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Members
catscurlyear Newbie

catscurlyear

Posted
  • Members
Posted
Nice honkytonk! Very well played. Digging your voice on this one' date=' too. Very enjoyable listen. The high noise floor is coming from your interface?[/quote']

Thanks for the nice comments ,yes the hissing is from the miced guitar channel ,i`m only recording about 1 time a month at the moment and forgetting basic stuff plus since moving i have no real privacy so i have to knock em out quick and have had run ins with neighbours over noise issue ,ironic thing is it was me moaning at them fo r playing radio too loud on too many occasions with the bass thumping like water torture through the walls ,i am missing my studio from my previous house.ah well

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Members
Etienne Rambert Newbie

Etienne Rambert

Posted
  • Members
Posted

I have nothing this month - maybe next month one last Jerry Lee Lewis Honky Tonk ballad before I go back to my synth-based composing.

 

So here are my reviews. I listened through my new HD380 headphones. They are good for acoustic guitars

because they are harsh & very unforgiving.

 

So here goes:

 

Garthman: Your classical sounds true through these headphones - congratulations. There is small phase shift

between your voice & your guitar. But it adds to the ambience of this mysterious masterpiece. You do Cohen

well.

 

Catscurlyear: Keep the rockabilly coming. Your playing technique is spot-on. I haven't heard this song played

better on an acoustic. Your voice was good too. I hoped for a little slap back on it though.

 

Now for the bad news: Your playing was great but these headphones really revealed the sound of your pickup --

the piezo quack. Your technique is better than your pick-up. If you could mic this or blend it between pick-up &

mic. But that's a tiny point. I've never heard it played better on an acoustic flat-top. Ignore that quibble. It's

probably just the cans.

 

DeepEnd: I was able for some reason to play your file. I was traveling so maybe it was the different ISP?

You're a good songwriter. I don't think this song is up to the level of the ones I heard in previous months.

But that's just me. I'm a nobody. Others like it. So just ignore me on this.

 

Mr. Harry Reems: Your recordings are always really good. The guitars sound great even through these

unforgiving HD380's .

 

Spancil Hill: The flutes are overwhelming in the mix. Dunno if that is just my headphones. Drums seem loud too.

I don't really like the percussion on this track. There is a lot of it. Everything else is wonderful. Drum ending is

kind of a flop - but you know that already I bet.

 

Tree Song: Flutes overwhelming on intro but not so bad on later parts. Very nice song.

 

Queen Mary's Escape: Seems like a well-mixed recording. I like it that you mixed the drums down. On the first

two songs, the drums were too loud -- at least through these headphones.

 

Foggy Dew: Great intro. Great song. Great recording. This one's a real pleasure. You got everything exactly

right. It's an exciting recording - an exciting song.

 

Remember -- these are very UNFORGIVING headphones.

 

I hope I didn't forget anyone. I'll check back later to see if I did.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Members
MrHarryReems Newbie

MrHarryReems

Posted
  • Members
Posted

Thanks for the kind words! The voices you heard were actually a spot where I had the decay on the vox delay set a little long for that section of the song. I had a real struggle mixing this one. I used delays to thicken the vox a bit, but really should have put a bit of automation on that FX track to tone it back in a few places.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Members
catscurlyear Newbie

catscurlyear

Posted
  • Members
Posted
So here are my reviews. I listened through my new HD380 headphones. They are good for acoustic guitars

because they are harsh & very unforgiving.

 

Catscurlyear: Keep the rockabilly coming. Your playing technique is spot-on. I haven't heard this song played

better on an acoustic. Your voice was good too. I hoped for a little slap back on it though.

 

Now for the bad news: Your playing was great but these headphones really revealed the sound of your pickup --

the piezo quack. Your technique is better than your pick-up. If you could mic this or blend it between pick-up &

mic. But that's a tiny point. I've never heard it played better on an acoustic flat-top. Ignore that quibble. It's

probably just the cans.

Remember -- these are very UNFORGIVING headphones.

thanks for the listen and the kind reveiw and pointers Etienne ,yes sorry about the quaky direct channel i couldn`t get the volume up on the miced channel cause of all the hiss(could you hear it in your headphones ?) and the overall recording wasn`t biting so i wacked up the direct channel. it didn`t sound that bad on my hi fi,but anyway i`m gonna re record this one when i get the chance. thanks

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Members
DeepEnd Mentor

DeepEnd

Posted
  • Members
Posted
. . . DeepEnd: I was able for some reason to play your file. I was traveling so maybe it was the different ISP?

You're a good songwriter. I don't think this song is up to the level of the ones I heard in previous months.

But that's just me. I'm a nobody. Others like it. So just ignore me on this. . . .

You're entitled to your opinion as always. No, it's probably not one of my best efforts. They can't all be. I had mentioned in one of the Off Topic Forums that, while I'm not a big Country fan I seem to have a certain affinity for it. I jokingly posted that I seem to have a "Country heart" and that was the inspiration for the song, which I banged out fairly quickly. Anyway, I'm glad you were able to listen. My only audience for non-Christian stuff is pretty much this Forum so I'll take whatever response I can get.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Members
catscurlyear Newbie

catscurlyear

Posted
  • Members
Posted

Here`s a revised version of Mystery Train ,sound quality is much better on this one i used all the same gear as before .Thank you Mr Harry Reems i did what you said -12 db on the input i also used a proper balanced xlr mic lead ,.when i mixed the track down I also made sure that no more than -18 db came into my output channal (bus) because this is apparently the optimum volume that vst effects work at, so all the final effects on this channel are working as they should.hopefully

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...