Members kwakatak Posted November 15, 2009 Members Share Posted November 15, 2009 In light of an upcoming gig on Friday I've been practicing a lot more. One thing I like to do is record myself so that I can review my playing and how I'm coming across. Listening to recordings of myself in the past has really helped me focus on my playing/singing and now I'm using the video to see how my "game face" is coming across. I've seen pics of me while playing and I don't like the frown, so I've been enlisting my little guy as audience/heckler/distraction so that I can get my head in being a performer. So, the first song I recorded that I'll be doing with my partner on Friday is Extreme's "More Than Words." It was my pick only because I've played it pretty regularly over the last 17 years so I feel like I could play it in my sleep. Another plus is that it allows the two of us to sing harmony, which we're going to do in a lot of our songs together - only I'll be doing the low harmony because it's more in her vocal range. Besides, I'll be handling the guitar playing and feel like learning how to sing harmony might be a good thing for me to grow as a performer. Anyway, here's something like my 3rd take. I know: it's pitchy. Like I said, it's a little above my range even with the Tak tuned down a 1/2 step. (click the thumbnail to watch) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMlmRW36xXw BTW - I think I finally have workable recording levels with the new microphone and mixer. I was getting some bad hiss from the mixer, but chopping back the main mix and boosting the gain on the mic's XLR input line seems to have ironed it out and that mic (Studio Projects B1 large condenser) is really starting to shine - at least for vocals. The guitar tone is secondary here but still nice and clear too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Melodeous Posted November 15, 2009 Members Share Posted November 15, 2009 Thumbnail link is working, Neil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted November 15, 2009 Author Members Share Posted November 15, 2009 Thumbnail link is working, Neil. ...and? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Melodeous Posted November 15, 2009 Members Share Posted November 15, 2009 ...and? Sorry. I left out the n't. I tried linking but the thumbnail isn't working. There. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted November 15, 2009 Author Members Share Posted November 15, 2009 Just tryin' to get your goat, but apparently you have do something else to garner that type of trophy on this forum. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMlmRW36xXw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gitnoob Posted November 15, 2009 Members Share Posted November 15, 2009 Nice! You've got the gitface down pat. Did you record the soundtrack separately? It was slightly out of sync with the video, but that might just be a youtube thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guildfire Posted November 15, 2009 Members Share Posted November 15, 2009 Nice guitar playing and you stage presence is good. Vocals are a little flat in spots. Why don't you try it a step lower, that might help so you don't have to strain to reach those higher notes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted November 15, 2009 Author Members Share Posted November 15, 2009 Nice guitar playing and you stage presence is good. Vocals are a little flat in spots. Why don't you try it a step lower, that might help so you don't have to strain to reach those higher notes. Yeah, it's a bit of a reach for me at times but I'm actually gonna concentrate more on the lower melody for the gig. It's hard singing that way though, but it's fun learning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RKO Posted November 15, 2009 Members Share Posted November 15, 2009 I'd say that's as good as any I've heard on this forum, WAAYY better than I could do.But I did notice one little thing that I do a lot. Listen to the middle part of your song for a few bars, then go back to the beginning and start it over. You start at a nice even tempo and speed up as you go along.Again, I noticed because I do that enough that I have to watch for it. Don't feel bad, John Lee Hooker did that all the time and he had a nice little career... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Melodeous Posted November 15, 2009 Members Share Posted November 15, 2009 Studio Projects B1 captures nicely. Yea, I thought there was a latency and the range a wee up there but it was good and great guitar work. I will say that you pull back playing a bit during some of the vocal work. That always disappears when a song becomes second nature, though. Bring that guitar down another half step? Good presence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members S~R~O Posted November 15, 2009 Members Share Posted November 15, 2009 Yo Bro.! Trim them Dang Strings Will Ya :poke: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted November 15, 2009 Author Members Share Posted November 15, 2009 Yo Bro.! Trim them Dang Strings Will Ya :poke: NEVAH! I noticed Gil hasn't done it with his HD-28V so why should I? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members S~R~O Posted November 15, 2009 Members Share Posted November 15, 2009 NEVAH! I noticed Gil hasn't done it with his HD-28V so why should I? It has nothing to do with the guitar.... and........... Your comparing what to what to get what results Oh~Boy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Melodeous Posted November 16, 2009 Members Share Posted November 16, 2009 Yeah, you'd think after playing this song for 17 years I'd have it down. I guess maybe I have to shake off some rust. 17 years? It isn't the rust, then. It's red light anxiety. I was reading the words off of Fendouglas' post of Lonesome Traveler when I was recording it. You can hear where I got all tang-tongueled. I had run through it a few times before hitting the record button and those went smoothly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted November 16, 2009 Author Members Share Posted November 16, 2009 17 years? It isn't the rust, then. It's red light anxiety. I was reading the words off of Fendouglas' post of Lonesome Traveler when I was recording it. You can hear where I got all tang-tongueled. I had run through it a few times before hitting the record button and those went smoothly. Believe it or not, but the red light anxiety is actually a pretty small part of it. As you can see, my youngest was running about the place in the background. What's not shown is how he's doing everything he can to draw my attention to him. Prior to hitting record he was throwing things, handing me things and going after the knobs on the mixer so I was feeling a little anxious about that. If you've seen my other videos (now pulled, as this one will be soon) then you know how they like to get "involved" in things. I'm hoping the gig goes better. It's going to be a busy week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Melodeous Posted November 16, 2009 Members Share Posted November 16, 2009 Gotta admit my own threshold for multi-tasking when playing is pretty small. I still struggle to carry a conversation with my wife while playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OldGuitarPlayer Posted November 16, 2009 Members Share Posted November 16, 2009 Duuuudeee!!!!! That was AWESOME! Why you don't gig more often is of course apparent due to your family obligations but I'd certainly be a regular at any establishment you play at. Your guitar sounds very good and great recording. Thanks for posting the video. From my perspective I don't think you have anything to worry about for your up and coming gig! Break a leg! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted November 16, 2009 Author Members Share Posted November 16, 2009 Multitasking is not in my lexicon. It took me years to keep from drooling all over my guitars when learning a challenging piece. You discovered one of my trade-offs, though: when singing the voice takes precedence and the guitar is (rightly IMO) reduced to a support role. OTOH though I've also noticed that having a guitar in hand while singing gives you something both to hide behind and draw energy from. Now I see what Elvis was up to, even though he was never known as a strong guitar player. In this song though, the guitar work was originally done by a separate person who also provided intermittent harmony vocals so he was able to concentrate more on the instrumental aspects of the song. As for the vocals, well they're obviously meant for someone closer to the soprano range than I. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted November 16, 2009 Author Members Share Posted November 16, 2009 Duuuudeee!!!!! That was AWESOME! Why you don't gig more often is of course apparent due to your family obligations but I'd certainly be a regular at any establishment you play at. Your guitar sounds very good and great recording. Thanks for posting the video. From my perspective I don't think you have anything to worry about for your up and coming gig! Break a leg! Aw shucks, OGP. Thanks so much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guildfire Posted November 16, 2009 Members Share Posted November 16, 2009 You said you were singing with a female who sing harmony. so I was confused during the song if you were trying to cover both melody and harmony at the same time? Just an observation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted November 16, 2009 Author Members Share Posted November 16, 2009 You said you were singing with a female who sing harmony. so I was confused during the song if you were trying to cover both melody and harmony at the same time? Just an observation. Yeah, she mentioned that at a recent practice session as well. I seem to be "averaging out" between the two. The song was my choice though because I wanted us to be able to sing harmony on it but it's made sense that I stick to the backup person. It's sounded pretty good the two times we've run through it so far and it's actually brought a new appreciation to a song that I was long sick of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guildfire Posted November 16, 2009 Members Share Posted November 16, 2009 I sing with a female singer at times. It's nice to be able to stay in the lower register while she handles the high parts. Usually comes out sounding pretty good. Maybe you can get someone to do a video of your gig? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted November 16, 2009 Author Members Share Posted November 16, 2009 God I hope not. It'd complicate things. I just want to see if I can do this without worrying about the dreaded Red Light Disease. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted November 16, 2009 Members Share Posted November 16, 2009 Very nicely done. That old Tak sounds good and so do your vocals. Love to hear it with a second vocalist and harmony. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted November 17, 2009 Author Members Share Posted November 17, 2009 OK, some folks were asking how the harmony vocals sound. Well, I've been working on it and did another take after the video clip. Actually, it was several takes. I started by playing the acoustic guitar parts alone, then did another pass at the lead vocals so that I could do yet a third track with the harmony vocals. That last track has been tricky because they're easy to screw up and listening to the original I hear Nuno Bettencourt doing so much more. http://vom.infocusreviews.com/index.php?p=play&id=kwakatak/MTW11122009B_LAYERED.mp3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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