VOM 2 -- Virtual Open Mic @ HCAG, Second Sunday, Mar 9, 2008

[daklander]

Really tough acts to follow here gang.

Please forgive the clams and the noise. This was recorded to tape and transfered to the PC for conversion to mp3 though I did take just a tad of the noise out. I'm trying out a modified Jecklin Disk setup and used a pair of cheap CAD dynamic mics about three feet away and this is the first recording venture in what is becoming my music room

The song is a tune that was co-written with a fellow name of Sherin Hartley whom I've since lost contact with. He apparently had a mid-life crisis and disappeared some years ago. His wife, whom I'd never met, wrote me to find out if I knew where he'd gone and I couldn't help.

Anyway, Here's "This Old Guitar".

[simplygoodmusic]

Fantastic stuff people!

[Markuster]

Stack, thanks for "hosting" the VOM again!

 

+1 to what Hud said, everyone sounds great!

 

I still haven't got any recording gear, so here's another low-tech vid from the digital camera. A classic around the campfire, Charlie Daniels' Long Haired Country Boy:

 

http://s185.photobucket.com/albums/x222/Markuster/VOM/?action=view&current=VOMLongHair.flv

 

[guitarist21]

Thanks everyone for the kind words about my song. This is the most enjoyable thing to see/hear everyone playing and I hope we keep doing it for a while.

 

Ellen - lot of passion and nice pick work on the Masterbilt (way to show those dread guys that you can get great tone with a pick and a heavy hand on an OM ).

 

Thanks Hud! The Masterbilt is quite the little cannon. I don't think the little camera on my Mac quite does it justice. Its just so cool because it pretty much does equally well on the little picky line in the beginning as it does when I'm chugging out cowboy chords. It's a very dynamic instrument.

 

Ellen

[guitarist21]

And C70- extra points if you know whose jersey that is.

 

Ellen

[jeffcoop]

Ellen, was that really just the camera on your Mac? Given that, and the Youtube conversion, it's surprisingly good quality.

 

In any event, it's great to see the Masterbilt get a workout like that. It sounds terrific.

[Scodiddly]

Yikes... y'all are so good, I had to play something tricky to fight back. This is my one and only "composition", though really it's something accumulated. So, I call it "Coral".

 

http://www.scotthelmke.com/vom1t-coral.mp3

[kwakatak]

Wow - 30 posts already and I can't get away to record the song I've been meaning to. I have something already recorded from the other day that otherwise falls within the VOM1T guidelines, but the song is one that I've played so much over the years that frankly I'm getting sick of it and it shows when I play it. Still, it's also one that I have 0% chance of totally screwing up, making it a "safe" song to play.

 

I may yet post it, but I'm hoping to get a chance to record another song that I've known parts of even longer but never got around to learning it all the way through. This past week I think I've finally got it and wanted to make a material record of it - not to mention a higher-quality recording as well.

 

The problem that lies therein is that I'm currently in the midst of a potty-training experiment with my 4 year-old and there's a real danger of a containment leak if I lapse in my diligence. Not to mention the fact that he's a loud and destructive little kid who has really been having some bad tantrums this week. With that being said, I'm off to listen to more of you guys' submissions playing in the background while my boy runs amok in his "grundies."

[jeffcoop]

Just post the old one, kwak and save the new one for next month. It's not worth tempting fate, but it's definitely worth participating in this go-round. I'm sympathetic to your plight--with my wife traveling, I have sole care of our 6-year-old and 3-year-old this weekend (the older of whom, btw kwak, is on the spectrum), so there was no way I was going to get anything recorded--that's why I posted the video from last month. But I'm glad I took part--having read posts from the folks here for some time, it's great to hear them playing.

[happy-man]

I didn't get here till about 6:30 tonight. But I set up my coffeehouse on the back patio this time. Last time it was at the kitchen table.

 

 

The grapefruit tree has fruit, but it's not the mango's time. Thought I'd post before it got too late. I haven't listened to everyone else's stuff yet, but I have listened to some.

 

Stack: great start for the VOM. I love the title line.

 

Ellen: Bravo. I'm sure you get this all the time, but you look so young. I mean I know you're less than half my age, but I mean even younger than that. Enjoyed the song.

 

Gil: This may be my favorite of the videos that you've posted that I've seen. I like the way you do the guitar on this. I learned Mellisa after you posted that one a while back.

 

jeffcoop: Good job.

 

mrmoe: putfile hates me. I'll get it to work evenually, but I havent' heard you yet.

 

Branson: nice job.

 

That's all I've heard to far. Here's mine. Used my Taylor 110 with a single free electret mic into the mic input on my laptop. Alice in Chains tune.

 

http://www.pkfamily.com/users/solson/foo/dontfollow_128.mp3

 

Scott O

[bobc]

Here is a little funny song I wrote a while back. I should add some more to it cause it's pretty cool...

 

My Pajamas

 

Hope you all like it.

[brahmz118]

Looks like I'm not going to make this one I'm swamped trying to meet multiple project deadlines for next week.

 

Haven't had a chance to listen yet, though I don't see as many theme-related posts as I thought I would (is Avalon in Ireland?). I personally like the challenge of trying to fit into a theme, and I also like seeing how others meet that challenge. But I do understand that it can be enough of a challenge just getting anything up at all, so I'm fine with any contributions.

 

I was planning to sing and play a bluesy arrangement of My Wild Irish Rose. I wanted to do something with a twist, since I was expecting multiple Danny Boys, U2 / Van Morrison / Cranberries covers, jigs, hornpipes, celtic tunes, etc.

 

I'm looking forward to listening a bit when I get a break.

[32-20-Blues]

Looks like I'm not going to make this one I'm swamped trying to meet multiple project deadlines for next week. Haven't had a chance to listen yet, though I don't see as many theme-related posts as I thought I would (is Avalon in Ireland?). I personally like the challenge of trying to fit into a theme, and I also like seeing how others meet that challenge. But I do understand that it can be enough of a challenge just getting anything up at all, so I'm fine with any contributions. I was planning to sing and play a bluesy arrangement of My Wild Irish Rose. I wanted to do something with a twist, since I was expecting multiple Danny Boys, U2 / Van Morrison / Cranberries covers, jigs, hornpipes, celtic tunes, etc. I'm looking forward to listening a bit when I get a break.

 

Wait, is this an Irish themed open-mic or something? Now this I might just have to enter...

[Ohioarrow]

Guys, this is just outstanding. I have listened to almost every piece, trying to get that putfile service to run for me is a spotty thing. I don't know what it is about quicktime format, but it doesn't seem to play nice with windows Vista.

 

Stack: Man, I have a small crowd behind me here, and your tune had 'em all toe tapping and smiling, you even got a round of applause out of it. Excellent work.

 

Ellen: Impressed me, a lot passion went in there I see, and it looked like you were just having a good time.

 

Gill: As an old lennon fan, I loved it. Nice take on an old tune.

 

Jeff Coop / Mr. Moe / Queequeg - I am trying to listen to your tunes, but quicktime keeps locking up on me. I'll get the laptop out here in a bit, perhaps they'll play there. I think it's an IE7 thing, the Quicktime plugin keeps failing.

 

Branson: Very good, catchy. I'd like to hear that again when you get it to finished status.

 

C70: Good job, Keeping it in the theme this time was a tough one, but you made that sound good.

 

daklander: Kinda tossed me a twist there, I saw "This old guitar" and I clicked before I read your comments. Had my ears prep'd for a John Denver tune was momentarily lost. Very nice original!

 

Markuster: Now there's a tune I haven't heard for a while. Sweet.

 

Scott: That was really cool, I like that a lot. Nice mellow, flowed well. Dang sharp.

 

Happy-man: I wasn't that familiar with Alice in chains, but after that playing - I am sure I do need to hear some more. Very nice, I liked it.

 

Bob: Always look forward to hearing your tunes. Great job as usual. Yea, the Lyrics was a hoot.

 

Big applause for everyone posted so far!

 

You guys make us wannabes sound like, well wannabes. Been trying to come up with something that sounds decent all day. Pulling a big goose egg over here after about 6 miserable attempts at different tunes. Likely culprits are bad recording skills, lack of confidence, and dubious vocal qualities. I am just not a soloist, I am more a play along kinda guy. I hope the off-site storage is a decent contributing trade-off!

 

But me and the crew over here are digging every second of this!

[daklander]

Intro with cheers and applause.....for what I've heard so far....:clap: :clap: :clap:

 

Stack. Well done, and apropo for me at this time.

 

Ellen. :clap: Well done adaptation. That Epi is grand.

 

Jeffcoop. Nice finger work. Did you have to stand on your head to learn that down under tune?

 

mrmoe. Sweet! "Noting Left" to say.

 

bransonb. That's just a start? Can't wait to hear the finished product.

 

Queequeg. Too short.

 

C79man. Goodman, yeah, & a bit of Bromberg in there too. I still can't believe that's a $5.00 computer mic.

 

FussenKuh. :clap: :clap: That gets along nicely.

 

Markuster. I cover that song as well. Just wish I could play it like that.

 

Scodiddly. Only composition? We need more. My fingers won't work that fast.

 

Happyman. Super job. Alice in Chains is not my favorite and you did great rendition of that tune.

 

Bobc. I don't have your pajamas. You might try Kmart, or Walmart, or one of them marts..

[happy-man]

 

Happyman. Super job. Alice in Chains is not my favorite and you did great rendition of that tune.

 

 

Thank you. They're not my favorite either; but they have a few songs that I like and lend themselves to acoustic. Rooster is the only other song of theirs that I know - it has a good story behind it.

 

Scott O

[daklander]

 

I need help! 2 hours of fooling around with Audacity and SoundMax and I couldn't get rid of a constant hissing sound during recording. I ran a Radio Shack mic straight into the soundcard of my laptop. I used to own a Samson USB mic that worked well. I may need to pick up another one if I can't get this mic to work. I made a 1 minute recording hoping that the Audacity experts here could give me some advice on how to get rid of the hiss. Click here to watch High-and-Dry-Test-Clip Here's an older recording using the same laptop and the Samson USB mic I no longer own: Click here to watch 316-74

 

 

Well, I didn't hear anything really obnoxious with the hiss but I have some hearing loss and tinnitis so it may be at the same frequency that I hear. Some days are worse and it's come in pretty loud this evening.

That said, in your Audacity, under effect there is a noise removal tool. You'll need to sample a section of just the noise. You'll see the option when you open the menu. Once you have the sample, select the entire recording and open the noise removal tool again. There will be parameters that are changeable but brought about by the sampled section. I've found that if you use the suggested parameters it will affect the quality of the recording so if what you've used sounds bad, undo it and adjust the numbers. I would guess, as a starting point about 1/3 of what is recommended as the Noise Reduction in dB's, keeping in mind that recommended number.

Also, if you're running windows you should have settings in the recorder control that will allow more input sensitivity, maybe a 10 or 20 dB gain, that will be worth trying.

[Ohioarrow]

Probably not. Alot of their stuff oozes with death and drugs.

Ahh.. Guess that's why I don't know much about them then. Not quite my chosen style.

 

 

 

 

More Kudos:

 

Finally got to hear the Quicktime clips.

 

Jeff: Nice tune, moves right along. Good performance.

 

MrMoe: Cool, I liked that. That didn't sound like a 30 year old recording, which is good.

 

Queequeg: That one was abit before my time so I didn't really recognize it, but it had some nice intricate fretwork in there.

 

FussenKuh: Don't know how I missed your contribution the first time through. I really liked that, and it doesn't sound so simplistic to me. Very well done.

[happy-man]

 

I need help! 2 hours of fooling around with Audacity and SoundMax and I couldn't get rid of a constant hissing sound during recording. I ran a Radio Shack mic straight into the soundcard of my laptop. ...

 

 

I can't hear the putfile clip (putfile is not cooperating with me today). Are you using the line level inputs or the mic input?

 

The mic inputs is usually made for an electret mic. It has three connections: audio, V+, and ground. It use a stereo plug. The audio is on the tip, the V+ is on the ring of the plug. V+ connects to a resistor inside the microphone to power the mic. The mic's output is capacitively coupled to the audio input. I used this homemade one for my recording on my laptop's mic input. There is a resistor and a capacitor soldered between the stereo mic cable and the electret element's wires. Inexpensive PC microphones are made this way. I don't believe a normal dynamic mic will work with the mic input. For that you need to use the line level inputs - and for that you may need a preamp to get the level up.

 

Scott O

[Hudman]

Well, I didn't hear anything really obnoxious with the hiss but I have some hearing loss and tinnitis so it may be at the same frequency that I hear. Some days are worse and it's come in pretty loud this evening. That said, in your Audacity, under effect there is a noise removal tool. You'll need to sample a section of just the noise. You'll see the option when you open the menu. Once you have the sample, select the entire recording and open the noise removal tool again. There will be parameters that are changeable but brought about by the sampled section. I've found that if you use the suggested parameters it will affect the quality of the recording so if what you've used sounds bad, undo it and adjust the numbers. I would guess, as a starting point about 1/3 of what is recommended as the Noise Reduction in dB's, keeping in mind that recommended number. Also, if you're running windows you should have settings in the recorder control that will allow more input sensitivity, maybe a 10 or 20 dB gain, that will be worth trying.

 

I deleted my post from this thread and started a new thread. The hiss sounds like the ocean. Its really noticeable when I play louder. I will try the noise removal tool. Thanks.

[Samilyn]

 

Ahh.. Guess that's why I don't know much about them then. Not quite my chosen style.

 

 

+1

 

Death + drugs = Definitely something I can do without.

[jeffcoop]

I haven't heard everyone yet, and I apologize for that, but here's a few:

 

Scodiddly: write more. Really. That's lovely.

 

Happy-man: your backyard looks a lot more hospitable than mine this time of year. Nice job with the song.

 

Bobc: I don't have your pajamas either. Fun song, well delivered.

 

Edit: mine's now on Youtube. Now if I could just figure out how to embed it here. It's at

.

 

[YOUTUBE]3qJxuFJknow[/YOUTUBE]

 

I think I got it.

[happy-man]

 

+1 Death + drugs = Definitely something I can do without.

 

 

I got a small pile of CDs on eBay for next to nothing just to learn one song (don't remember what it was). One of the CDs was Alice in Chains "Jar of Flies" which is very acoustic (for Alice in Chains). I didn't know anything about the group, but I really liked the song "Don't Follow", which I learned (and just did for the VOM). I had heard the song "Rooster", Googled it, learned the story behind it, and thought I'd like to learn that also. So I bought the CD on eBay containing that song so I could learn it. Surprise! I learn what AIC is really like. My comment on death and drugs really refers to the lyrics on that second CD (which I couldn't tell you the name of). I like the two songs I learned, but don't care to investigate AIC any further.

 

Scott O

[kwakatak]

Well, crap. I was all set to record my rendition of Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready" when things got a little hectic. Both kids screaming over I don't know what (probably each other - that's sibling rivalry for you) and my wife not really liking that I was not helping out not to mention the fact that she was stuck "alone" (with the two kids) in the other room with my mother. Not a good day, I'm afraid.

 

Anyhoo - here's what I put in the can the other day. The recording's crap and down sampling it to a more manageable upload size didn't help the quality much, but here it is anyway courtesy of putfile:

 

http://media.putfile.com/NK-TIH-2008-03-07

 

BTW - for those having trouble with putfile, bear in mind that for videos they convert the media to FLV (Flash video) and not Quicktime. My original was actually in AVI and I converted/down sampled it to WMV format. That doesn't excuse the poor audio quality, but my Canon digital camera isn't really meant for this kind of use.

[pschaafs]

This is fun to hear all your music. Here's mine: