this is a song I wrote years ago about a ruff time in my life,I just got a different computer its a old xp thats been renovated,And I wanted to see if I could put movie maker on it and do videos like My old computer,So its a ruff draft on the song with a ruff vocals but it was a ruff time in me life so I thought why not,It still took me 3 days to figure out how to get the right drivers on this old computer to run the movie maker its been a mess,But I got it on its a simple video cause the motion footage I tape wouldnt run on it,its been a mess,But the Meth is to ,been clean 8 years from meth :-) and staying that way
---------- "The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires." ~William Arthur Ward
you are getting on the 1 man band thing-keep it up! Walter ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
thanks walter,Im using a suitcase with a bass drum pedal,and a tamberine straped on the suitcase,And i mounted a mic in the suitcase ,I like it but im still needing a hi hat sound (maybe) with my other foot Im thinking about building something like you described with the drum stick.I really like your drum sound with your 1man band and go without saying everything else;-) ---------- Hobostubs
I started out that way because we moved so much carrying real drums was never a reality. I put a big link chain like you use to lock a gate with around the base of the metal base mic stands and tapped that with my foot at one point. Most every one man band I hear is bass drum driven and next sound is the high hat. That is cool but I find it too boomy on the bottom and to unrefined all around and runs its course too quick for my taste. Wilbert Harrison used a bass drum, and high hat with a tamborine on it. I emulated that for quite a few years but as time went on I got away from that set up especially in a recording setting. The snare and ride cymbal int the studio gives the sound of a real kit in a live setting to my ears. I use the bass drum for live gigs but not in the studio. Bass tones will dominate even at low volumes. Food for thought for you! It is all about what floats your boat. I go with what turns me on and am not too concerned with what the masses are hailing as the real deal. I play alot of slow, sparse songs, and most of my songs use an A harp because for me, that is the nicest sounding key with a guitar. By the music rules that most adhere to, this is all wrong. One has to change tempos, beats, keys, to hold peoples attention. I am not concerned with holding anyones attention but my own. My music attracts enough listeners and musicians to keep me more than satified on that end. I have come to this. I use to want the masses to relate to what I do but have learned the masses dig what is deemed correct by the appointed athorities and what I do doesn't do much for that group. I have learned to really take in how special it when someone steps outside the safe zone and compliments my music. Art is a completely subjective thing and if I had my wish all "authorities" would cease to exist and thus would the ever imersion in propaganda as to what is good and not would stop. Then individuals would come to their own conclusions as to what is turning them on and off. We all are experts on what turns us on if we turn off the continuous media bombarbment of what is right and wrong! Walter ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
Hey Walter, you got some smokin' tone, but I rarely get to listen to more than a few seconds of your stuff because that Soundclick site doesn't seem to work well. I travel a lot and I'm often using free wifi (such as at hospitals). I don't know if that's the problem, but I'm on one of those networks right now and on your myspace page the video for your Bushman contest entry plays fine, but the song files from Soundclick keep starting and stopping, and are unlistenable. On the other hand, YouTube videos are playing fine. I wonder if others have seen the same problem.
Epiphany. When I was young and playing a lot of team sports, I got tired of guys hitting a fly ball with one out and a runner on third, that kind of thing...people showing up, egos, politics, etc. Sooo....I went into racquetball and had to depend only upon myself. I see a parallel in the one-man band thing. After all, the world...at least MY part of the world...doesn't seem to be clamoring for old fat bluesmen. I have a modicum of talent, but I don't know if I can pull it off. But meanwhile, if I call a rehearsal, I only have to worry about ME showing up. I think I will buy a high-hat and a vocal mic. Maybe some chicken wire would be a good idea, too.
whats weird is I can get cleaner sounds recording acoustic than I can with this new PA,I dont know what im doing wrong,Its low powered only 60 watts but it should be enough for my jam room,I use the on board stereo mics on my 8 track ,they are some kind of ambient mics they pic up the whole room,But my recordings ive done with the new PA are not comming though as good. ---------- Hobostubs
Sorry the soundclick site is not working right. I have about 3,700 songs on it so to switch at this point is not a very exciting idea. It works fine for me but maybe that many songs on the site are slowing things for some? The streaming link has the most current 200 songs. Walter ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
Thats a good song man,really like your suitcase drum it isn't too overpowering, just right. We all have our battles to fight, glad you got a handle on the meth thing. I have several good friends that it has just ruined their lives. Hang tough and keep growing with the music. ---------- http://www.reverbnation.com/#!/mudflapnicholsandthetwistedspokes
@Hobo Tell us more about your set-up. What's the brand/model of the PA? How do you have it configured? What kind of vocal mic are you using through the PA? Where is the recorder positioned relative to you and your guitar amp, and the PA speakers?
As far as "clean" goes, you may be over-driving the recorder's input. See if it has a sensitivity adjustment and turn it down.
Your voice and un-amplified harp are naturally much lower volume than your electric guitar and the percussion. I'm guessing here, but it sounds like you're using a vocal mic through the PA for your voice and harmonica, and your guitar amp is NOT miked or fed to the PA via a line input. It also sounds like your percussion is being picked up by your vocal mic (intentionally or not).
So if that's the case, and you've got a recorder with built-in microphones listening to everything in the room, then my best guess is that your guitar amp is turned up too loud, and/or it's too close to the mics in your recorder. You may be getting bleed from the guitar amp into your vocal mic as well, making it worse. Same for the percussion.
Here are some things you can try:
- Make sure the recorder is closer to your mouth than any other sound source. You may have to get it up very close to you, but experiment.
- Make sure your guitar amp is farther from the recorder than the PA speakers.
- Turn the guitar amp down if you can.
Maybe you can't turn the guitar down without losing the tone you like. In that case, try isolating it a bit by putting soft stuff in front of it to absorb some of the sound energy (pillows, stuffed animals, packaging foam, carpet). Same for the percussion.
Walter Tore has a video somewhere that tours his home studio. He's got some really inexpensive ways of isolating his instruments to control relative volume. Maybe he'll read this and post it in this thread for you.
Good luck!
Last Edited by on Feb 26, 2012 12:32 PM
well My 1st Goal with the setup is not to,make a good recording, as much as get a good sound live and record it and see where I need to, for instance increase the vocals,Not that I dont want good recordings,but I would change things around,like maybe even recording on seperate tracks or insulate different areas,But what Im trying to do is see how I would sound If you was at a bar and I was playing what areas I might need to fix in order for the sound to be better,For intance Im using just the delay off my PA and amps and not mixing any in after the recording cause Im trying to see how it sounds raw,Im using a habinger 60 watt PA,miced with a SM48 not the 58 but its less exspensive little brother,I know i should of got the bigger amp and the 58 but money ruled and i didnt have alot,Im a firm beliver in working with what you got,I notice that ,learning to play into a mic is different it makes a lot of differnce singing if you just a inch or 2 further away from it(closer is better),of course this might be because of my equipment,but as I practice im learning that it helps to be closer and to project my voice with my lungs as much as depending on a PA to do it all,But that might be because its a small PA,I notice that I had to keep from bumping my harp rack into the mic,I put a pad on it to help do that but I dont want to cut the sound to bad,and with a rack its harder to get up close to the sweet spot as easy as singing without a harp in rack,alot of these problems I think will become better as I learn how to use a PA,the mechanics of performing with one,Im thinking.I will try some of the stuff you mentioned and thanks for the tips
