quote:

---

Originally posted by groundhogpeggy

...don't like it. I worked on it for a couple of 3 hour sessions I came across...lol...which was a trick in itself...lesson learned: it you never play and never sing and never make music in any way shape or form...it just sounds awful ...lol. I'm still considering whether when I get more time I try to fix it or scrap the whole dang thing and start over.

---

First, welcome back. I used to make multi-track recordings. Sometimes it's hard to know when to can it and start over, but if you plain don't like it, can it, start over. You know you can do a good one.

Hey thanks, Brian! Good to see you too...I guess I'll either start again or just try something different.

It was Great Big Taters in Sandy Land...those types of tunes that are so close they are almost something else drive me crazy...It's part Sally Ann and part Did you Ever See the Devil, Uncle Joe...lol...at least that's how I hear it. Then I put too much groundhog choir in it too...just kinda ... did NOT work...lol. I think I'll just forget about that one and think up another 'un to try next chance I get.

HOpe you’ll get a chunk of time to make music!

I know when I was doing the multitrack stuff, I hated stopping or being interrupted.
I don’t wanna be bothered with eating, or talking to anyone… until I’m done.

Almost all of The Brigands albums are recorded on multi track at my basement studio, Lower Deck Productions. Occasionally we'll do a song or tune in one recording, but when someone makes a boo boo, there is usually too much bleed from an adjacent track to just go in and re-record that one part. Doing it track by track gives you more control but can lose that 'live' sound unless everyone's sense of time spot on.

Al...I do all the tracks individually, because I'm just a goundhog of one...lol. The amateur, very amateur BG band I was in for a while recorded in a guy's basement and did them individually too...that was so awkward with everybody taking a turn and standing there watching in anticipation as you poked in and out of the silence with your singing, pickin', finddlin' or whatever it was...lol...but they made a few little homespun CDs to sell in very small local places.

NC...I fully agree...I can't stand interruptions and it's the best diet I was ever on...the recording diet...don't bother me with food or hunger...and as a matter of fact, the more I think on this, the more I believe my problem was knowing my time was limited...I had 3 hours on 2 separate days and I think I was so excited but felt "timed," so I think it was pressing on my nerves. By the way, I was interrupted three separate times just doing this short post...lol...which is pretty good considering how it usually goes.

yea, I would start after dinner and at 2am or 3am it felt ‘wrapped’ but it had to be done in one long sprint like that or it was no good. THen I would stagger off to bed. In the morning, go play the track and see if I was deluded last night…
MUsic does not seem to sync well with a regular organized lifestyle!
FIddling I can do in little bursts here and there…
I could never seem to do that with the multi-track stuff.

Exactly how it is with me...lol.

Well Peggy, I still love what you're doing. It still comes across solid. I know you're going for those harmonies. It sounds great.

I haven't turned my multi-track on for months. I've conceded if I can't get it done with the looper, it ain't gonna happen. I tell myself, demo's just need to get the bare idea across. But nobody makes demos of old tunes like I play. I hardly post to the channel unless it's, I dunno? I'm loosing ambition as I'm typing.
But Cheers to you GHP!

Hey Peggy - first reactions to your post...... are you using a PC and, if so, what software are you using ? I have a decent mike and use Audacity software..... doesn't improve my playing, but seems to do a decent job of what I record.

Farmer Jones...great to hear from you. Yes, I want a looper. I always think if I ever get one of those things I might stop the multi track recording and just play with that thing. I do think I would have a problem getting the tempo straight...that's my biggest issue...I have a really hard time playing with a metronome, but I have to use one to set my tempo with a scratch track so my other tracks will hang together somewhat...but setting it is really tough for me...even though I like stuff at a slower pace, I always end up, once I get all my tracks going, feeling like I'm going TOO slow...lol...but unless I have the time to start up the whole thing again, I just keep going with what I started. I figure if I got a looper I might start out faster but not so sure my tempo would be steady and my tracks would hang together as I went along...who knows? Someday I'll have to get me one to find out...lol. But I do love what you do...your YouTubes always make me feel like I need an accordion, chicory in my coffee, and some shrimp in my rice...lol...I've never been to Louisianna, but I feel like I'm there when I hear you play!

Thanks Mark...great to hear from you. I bought a Presonus home recording studio as a retirement gift to myself in 2009...it came with Studio One software and since those days I've gone through a couple of PCs and now I'm using a Macbook I got especially for making recordings and YouTubes. It ain't as easy to use as I'd hoped it would be, but I guess it's easier than the PCs were. I know a lot of people speak highly of Audacity. I've never tried it because I'm a technical dummy and I got comfortable with the Studio One and so it's a no brainer for me, although I know it has bells and whistles I've never learned to use... I'm just happy with the bare bones of one track plus another, etc. Studio One was free with the Presonus back when I bought the thing. I've got mics from my old days when I used my Fender Passport sound system to play...haven't used that for a long while, but I ended up getting some other mics back when I did use that, so I have a choice between Fender, Shur, and another one...can't remember what the other one was and my grandson took it for his own use...lol...so I guess he likes that one. I've got more than I need.

When I was playing with several bands, I used to record lots of stuff on my homestudiocomputer. It had ProTools 10. Great performance and I could do anything I'd liked to.

But when that computer crashed and proved irrepairable, I didn't care for setting up a whole new studio again.

Ever since I used Audacity as a 'musical sketchbook'. Good enough for me.

Good microphones are the single most important issue. My Audix SCR-25A are more than good enough for my needs.

I think this is the level I used to work at and great fun was had making it. Since I suck at double bass, I borrowed my wife's electric one (with a block of soft foam under the strings against the bridge as a sustain killer...). The rest I played one by one, piling all on top of each other...

Turning a rock riff into Bluegrass: www.banjohangout.org/myhangout/media-player/audio_player2.asp?musicid=16008&archived=

Funny this would come up. I didn't think there was a need for a new discussion. I sort of reviewed my new J4T app. and posted it as a blog entry.
fiddlehangout.com/blog/10562

Hey Bruno

I see that you are also a member on Banjo Hangout . In the[ Other Banjo Thread], they are discussing rock songs made into bluegrass.

I think that your rock riff above would be perfect for that thread and that they would like to hear it. I did.

I was with a BG band back in the late 80's- early 90's, Jumbo String Band, who put out an album of rock tunes played bluegrass style. Stuff like Here Comes The Rain Again and 99 Red Balloons. Not my fav music and I left the band soon after. But I like this rendition.

RB - WOW :-D