There are lot of videos of people staring into cameras and playing harp along with pre-recorded music minus one tracks and even playing over other peoples recorded solos. Some of it is amazing...but this stuff puts me off. Karaoke harp bugs me, no matter how good it sounds. Anyone else feel like this?
I'm Guilty. I play for fun and my own enjoyment. You don't have to watch it if it bugs you but it's great for those of us learning to be able to go back to see if we have improved and to get comments and tips from other players.
Why don't you have go? you may enjoy it because once the camera and mic is running the nerves kick in and it helps those of us who do the odd jam to deal with things like that.
Click my username to see one of mine. You know you want to.
Last Edited by on Sep 17, 2012 10:40 AM
If you don't have a band or can't play a lot of instruments it may be your only option, but it also doesn't help you learn how to play with live music, which is a very different thing than playing with musicians who aren't going to do everything exactly the same every time. You also don't get the other musicians adjusting to what you play, which can give the video a zombie/dead music sound.
Still, there are some people out there who do it very well. But like I said, if you don't have a band, what choice do you have? ---------- Nate Facebook Thread Organizer (A list of all sorts of useful threads)
Agreed Nacoran but you can get a sort of playing with a band experience if you don't know the track at all beforehand. You won't get the band/track responding to your playing though.
I expect Rosco to be a band player though otherwise it wouldn't bug him.
Why does it bug you Rosco? You never mentioned why.
I appreciate the way PT and Brendan share performances on YT like this. They have a clear purpose, often teach you something, are well put together, and are used as a spice and not a main dish.
I think there are a lot of good vids that involve teaching. I also enjoy listening to cats like PT Gazell and Brendan- PT plays great variations of the solos to his own arrangements of his own recordings, and also has some FANTASTIC live recordings with bands...to me that's different. Brendan is another world class player who has a very cool thing with the looper. Plus he's just really good. Why does it bug me?? I guess it's because it looks more like practice than music - it doesn't feel real, there is no feeling of spontaneity or interplay-it's just wood-shedding in a sterile environment and probably editing and doing lots of takes till you get it right and then shooting it out into the world.
Playing along with tracks certainly is a good way to learn. It may also be that some of the people doing it aren't mixing the levels very well. It's very easy when playing along for the levels to sound very one-dimensional. The harmonica is coming from one part of the room and everything else is coming from a cheap set of computer speakers on the other side of the room. You can fix that either by using some quality surround sound speakers or using headphones and mixing your harp track in with the original recording in post production.
I suspect also that most of it's done by people who don't have high end recording equipment, (or don't have a way to plug directly into their computer with it). When you see a recording of a band it's usually taken from a point somewhere out in the audience where the sound is mixed better (although it's probably recorded with a camera phone!- That's one of my pet peeves, since it doesn't take much equipment to plug straight into the mixing board. If I was part of a big rich rock band I'd put a claim number on each ticket that you could use to download a discounted copy of the show you just went to straight from the mixing board (you could buy a more expensive copy without the code), but that's part of a bigger idea for how I would let you do a lot of cool stuff that would enhance band revenue and make having been to a specific show a bigger deal. :)
"rosco1 7 posts Sep 17, 2012 10:21 AM There are lot of videos of people staring into cameras and playing harp along with pre-recorded music minus one tracks and even playing over other peoples recorded solos. Some of it is amazing...but this stuff puts me off. Karaoke harp bugs me, no matter how good it sounds. Anyone else feel like this?"
Why not just avoid the videos and not watch them if it bothers you so much? I think that would save you lots of aggrevation!
What is truly sad though if I can get serious for a minute is the dudes that are "sterile" when playing with others "so called live". The sad fact is there are way to many players trying to be Mr. Musician on the bandstand and the product they are offering is often lifeless, cold, passionless and lacks creativity,
Last Edited by on Sep 17, 2012 2:03 PM
IT REALLY PISSED ME OFF WHEN ERIC CLAPTON WENT INTO THE STUDIO AND PLAYED OVER THE PRERECORDED BEATLE TRACKS ON WHILE MY GUITAR GENTLY WEEPS THANK GOD HE WASN'T STARING INTO A CAMERA
Nate, that idea interests me. Our band has way too many videos with terrible sound floating around on you tube. I'm not up with the equipment, but I'm interested in what be the best thing to use for this. ----------
Thank you one eight four seven...the journey for that "sound" we all have in our head keeps me keepin on...
That was a spontaneous improvisation - one take, first song of the day deal...I am certainly influenced by William Clarke's music... especially early on, I listened to him and studied his music a lot!
Lookin forward to hearing some of your music to :)
i posted a couple of tracks under west coast blues jam if you check the archive i especially like track 2 of coarse its live not the canned karaoke variety lol
seriously; one of my favorite things to do is play along with recordings i can sit there for hours on end playing the same song over and over sure beats the tv
I think Rosco1 makes a good point that in some ways was discussed in another post. For me, it’s intent. If the video was put up for friends and family where the just the fact that it’s them is the main point then it is what it is. It wasn’t put up for me so if I don’t have anything nice to say I don’t say anything.
If however, it’s put up as promotion or looking for comments then as far as I’m concerned all points are fair game. If you’d like me to watch your video and comment…please do me the courtesy of putting some shoes over those ratty socks, get all of that clutter out of the background, maybe comb your hair, find a clean shirt, and please show some personality. And most importantly, don’t look at the camera, look through it…look at me and all of the folks you want to connect with.
Dear 1847, Thanks for shouting. I've done lots of overdubs on original recordings. If you think that's what I'm talking about, then I wasn't clear. Sorry. I also wasn't really reffering to the quality of the videos. I guess it IS just me who doesn't get the motivation for many of these vids. Carry on....
smwoerner 116 posts Sep 17, 2012 3:38 PM I think Rosco1 makes a good point that in some ways was discussed in another post. For me, it’s intent. If the video was put up for friends and family where the just the fact that it’s them is the main point then it is what it is. It wasn’t put up for me so if I don’t have anything nice to say I don’t say anything.
If however, it’s put up as promotion or looking for comments then as far as I’m concerned all points are fair game. If you’d like me to watch your video and comment…please do me the courtesy of putting some shoes over those ratty socks, get all of that clutter out of the background, maybe comb your hair, find a clean shirt, and please show some personality. And most importantly, don’t look at the camera, look through it…look at me and all of the folks you want to connect with.
Ahhh, I feel better now…"
This is truly sad! YouTube is what it is. Some of it is crap, some of it is good. I personally use YouTube as a "video journal" for my progress for both harmonica and strength training. I don't solicit people to watch my videos. If they choose to by free will, they may see me in my garage wearing flip flops while deadlifting. If that offends them, well f@&$ off, it's my video log to do as I please. If I choose to post a video of me playing harmonica in my bathing suit, you chose to watch the video, so don't hold me up to some silly standard you may feel is needed. Plain and simple, if you don't like the video, piss off and watch the others videos you may deem more acceptable. Just saying..,,,
Last Edited by on Sep 17, 2012 4:04 PM
sorry rosco i wasn't shouting my boss insist that everything is done in all capital letters. so sometimes things go out in all caps cause it's to much work to retype i've never posted anything on youtube there is one of me on there my sister taped it and put it up i thought it was fairly decent and i did post a link my fifteen minutes of fame
most of my friends and family could probably care less about harmonica so who are we posting this for? hopefully some of the people here who share a common interest may like to see them? i know i do
most of the videos are not that fun to watch but you can always minimize the window and just listen
i prefer soundcloud no video just the audio track
go ahead try it, we not here to beat anyone up peace coop
You nailed half of my point exactly. If you’re putting stuff up for you, or as a journal or any other plethora or reason it’s none of my business or concern if you choose to do so in flip flops and a Speedo. Have fun and enjoy…it ain’t up for me and my opinion doesn’t matter.
However, if you post something, particularly a performance of some type, and are looking for constructive feedback, that is different.
Choosing to watch the first one is my choice. Choosing to watch the second one is also my choice but, as I was invited a certain amount of courtesy from the host is expected. But, this is the internet...
Superbee, it would vary a little from sound system to sound system, but usually it would just be a wire and a recording device. In it's simplest form you could just plug into the headphone jack on a basic system. I'm sure some of the tech heads could give you even better advice, getting unmixed copies so you could fix any problems with the mix if the sound guy screwed up, or just to play with the channels to see how a different mix would sound. I've always thought it would be cool if albums were released that way as the standard.
Another idea I've had (I'll share it with the world since I don't have the wherewithal to get it to market, and my band seems to be having problems anyway) would be to use Cafe Press to print relatively small runs of T-Shirts with QR Codes on them (or maybe RFID chips). The idea would be that you'd print up a batch and each QR code (or RFID chip) would let someone come up to someone wearing the T-Shirt and interact with it to get some free music. (QR codes are those square bar codes that you can take a picture of with your phone that will take you to a website.) You could mix the shirts so you wouldn't know which QR code you were getting when you bought it, and you could share the code with your friends. Make them small enough so that people actually have to go up and talk to each other to snap a picture. Once people catch on people will walk up to people wearing your t-shirt and ask if they can get a picture. You could even occasionally change where the link directed to. Pull that shirt out of the drawer and suddenly find out you can get a new song, or new art or whatever. :)
My other crazy idea, for bigger acts, would be to have some people up on stage taking pictures of the crowd. Even in an arena, with facial recognition software and a vague idea of where you were sitting, you could go to the website and download pictures of yourself in the audience, kind of like those pictures they snap right before you go over the edge on roller-coasters.
People playing harmonica to jam tracks doesn't bother me,a s I frequently listen to them. It's live playing that matters, and some of them are simply stunning in their mastery and ingenuity on diatonic harp. Truthfully,there are dozens of good players I would have missed out on had it not been for backing tracks and You Tube. It is worth mentioning that this board's founder, Adam Gussow, has backing tracks for purchase elsewhere on the Modern Blues Harmonica site, tracks I have purchased . What the tracks provide is a means for someone to get their grooves right , try out new ideas against a solid musical accompaniment, and to get comfortable improvising within the form and remain musical. That is the benefit that I've derived from the practice since posting videos to YouTube. Whatever you may think, my playing has improved; I hear what I am doing wrong and work to improve on my faults. It is also a way to have others see me playing and provide commentaries, yay or nay. ---------- Ted Burke http://youtube.com/watch?v=-VPUDjK-ibQ&feature=relmfu ted-burke.com
You advanced players can watch a video and say, "That Sucked! He should have done this or that better." While beginners and intermediates watch the same video and say,"Cool! I can't wait till I can do that. Man, he's got some guts to put himself out there like that. I don't know if I could ever do that."
Backing tracks and YouTube pretty much democratize the learning process. Not everyone has easy access to live open jam sessions and the internet is a means to allow more players to "get in the game." We always talk highly of "getting it out there" for others to see and listen to. Like it or not, videos of playing against backing tracks is another means of doing so. The quality varies, as it does in everything, but I think it is a legitimate way to expose people to your playing. ---------- Ted Burke http://youtube.com/watch?v=-VPUDjK-ibQ&feature=relmfu ted-burke.com
Hnick...Hahahahaha "good value" there is a blues song in that quote somewhere...
Okay Nick - - Copy and Paste the code below....But add this symbol (>) minus the parenthesis in front of img and add this image here (<) minus the parenthesis after HERE"
Last Edited by on Sep 18, 2012 5:47 AM