IMO, the way Shakey Graves plays his foot percussion really elevates him above a lot of the other OMB sounds out there... He's able to create really interesting rhythms and to change it up a lot throughout the song. It really takes the songs from a jump-down hypnotic groove thing (which is cool) to real progressions that can move you and make you get carried away in a different sense... Great stuff!
He's all over YouTube, so if these tickle your fancy, just do some YT searchin', and spend a happy hour... :) ----------
I should have added to the OP: the main reason for posting him here is that I've identified him as a person to study (especially in terms of foot percussion technique) for my own OMB... ----------
I rarely, if ever perform sitting. This looks like I may revive the idea of adding foot percussion. I'm sure my guitar will appreciate the break from pounding...
Isaac, if you figure out his setup with the suitcase, please let us know...
@Kingo: It seems that he's got a snare drum set into a hole cut into the side of that suitcase. I imagine you'd take the heads of the drum, size the hole in the suitcase to the drum barrel, and the reassemble it all so that the drum is pretty much permanently in there.
In this video, he opens up the suitcase so you can see inside:
The moment you put guitar in there--or piano, for that matter; a big chordal instrument behind the vocals--you've entered a familiar world of OMB playing that doesn't have much to do with the challenges of a harp-driven OMB.
The harp-driven challenge is obvious: when you're singing, there no chordal instrument behind you. There's just your voice and whatever percussion racket you're making.
There are various ways of dealing with this. You can go with live-only, as I do, and let vocal and percussion hold things down. You can play guitar and/or diddly bow behind yourself, as Deak does, and that immediately makes a huge difference in chordal coverage behind the vocals. Or you can be one of thousand guitar-guys who adds percussion, as Shakey Graves does. I like what he does, but there's nothing particularly new about it--EXCEPT, and this is a big except, he carries himself like a pop singer, like a young Sting, and not like a kooky OMB guy.
Another way of dealing with the "chordal gap," as I'll call it, is to loop. That's what Brandon Bailey and Son of Dave do. It's an increasingly common way in which harp players are making things work.
The last way, which I've recently adopted, is to add a guitarist. I really like this solution! Of course you're no longer a OMB. But there's chord coverage, and it's quite a bit more user-friendly than the OMB harp-driven thing.
The most basic element of a good blues rhythm player, in my opinion, is the accent of the 2nd and 4th beat. Without that it's a no go. ---------- Sun, sun, sun Burn, burn, burn Soon, soon, soon Moon, moon, moon
@Adam: All true. My point here is that the WAY in which Shakey plays his percussion lends his song more structure than the way most other OMB types (guitar, harp, whatever) do. He's structuring his songs as pop songs. Borrowing heavily from Blues and Folk, but eschewing the traditional structures of those genres. When you listen to Shakey with no video feed, you don' hear one guy trying desperately to fill in all the parts to make a song seem whole. You don't hear a pared down version of a song. You hear a full, rich, sonic composition that isn't lacking anything. In other words, you wouldn't think it was just one guy playing all those parts.
IMO, that's something very worthy of aspiring to in the OMB arena...
PS. I want to make it clear that I'm NOT knocking the more typical OMB sound. I know very well the challenges of making a full sound. I've tried it all: foot percussion and beatboxing and guitar strumming and looping, and use all of these to various extent in my own OMB songs. There are lot's of ways to skin a cat (or a one man band). This guy has his style of doing it, and he's got it down pat. And that really impresses me. ----------
I appreciate the talent that is needed to perform as a OMB or even just a solo performer. I have enjoyed Deak's, Adam's, and Brandon's live performances as OMBs, and all of them are great in their own way. I like the posted video at top, and find the use of foot drums with the heels while standing interesting. I agree with Adam that he presents as a pop singer.
I understand the advantages of solo performance in finances, transportation arrangements, and scheduling. Especially in today's market for live music. I am amazed by the depth of groove and the huge sound one person can create.
However, part of my enjoyment of live music is the interaction between musicians when they perform together, especially when improvising off each other and not just playing by rote.
I think adding the guitar played by a second musician, making it a duo, increases the entertainment value for me, though there may be a reduced "novelty factor" for some audience members. ----------
The guy at the music store showed me a leg tambourine, for just over $10. (I already had a tambourine though, which, if you put it on a towel, will work fine as a pedal.) Another option is a cajon with a foot pedal, which has the nice benefit of doubling as a stool to sit on so that's one less thing you have to carry around for busking. (I've thought about attaching an extending luggage handle to either an amp or a cajon, and some wheels on the back edge. Make it easier to drag around.)
edit: I haven't played around with it myself, but I know most modern keyboards, even the low end ones, have a feature you can turn on that lets you play chords with one finger. If look at those old synth rock guys, the keyboard players weren't virtuosos, they just played a sustained chord for each change and let everyone else build on top of it. There are chord generating pedals too, which, with a loop, a auto-tune (not used the evil way to correct mistakes, more like a way to play a pitch, then change the pitch for your chord structure while you do something else) and some effects pedals, can give you a whole range of options.
---------- Nate Facebook Thread Organizer (A list of all sorts of useful threads)
Last Edited by nacoran on Sep 18, 2013 1:49 PM
I like this Shakey guy a lot musically, but he has also given me some new ideas to use in the mechanics of OMB--namely, the problem of carrying all that gear around--his suitcase solution for foot percussion is one of the best things I've seen--something that could be done in a home shop and come up with a good sound.
By the time I get set up with a mic stand, stool, a guitar, harp box, a tip bucket, a mixer, a Hog 30 amp, and all the other accoutre ma to a good busking spot, I'm too damn tired to add percussion--but maybe I could figure a way to add one more suitcase--especially if some of the gear could ride inside it. . . ---------- Oldwailer's Web Site
Oldwailer, I've got a couple ideas on that front. I've thought that using latches you could fasten your pedal boards to the side of your amp for travel, mount some wagon wheels to the side and slap an retractable luggage handle on it and just pull it along. (I've got more complicated versions too, but I've had too many other projects going on this summer to get around to it.)
Honestly, I think the real thing separating shakey graves from a lot of other OMB type of setups is that he's a skilled songwriter who fits all of the pieces together, shies away from hackneyed material, and builds himself a sonic context (that guitar tone, for example -- it's been done before, but it aspires to something specific and calculated). He's got an interesting voice that's like a more ragged version of Dan Boeckner's, and approaches his phrasing in a unique way. His approach to the OMB setup is informed by his needs as a songwriter more than his needs as a performer, i feel. Some of those changes in those songs above were very dependent on his vocals and/or his flight of fancy, and that's harder to do in a band setting. It's the same reason that songwriters like the tallest man on earth work best when they're executing their intricate fingerpicked melodies by themselves.
the way i see it, the performance ought to write the song all over again, and therefore ought to be informed by the songwriting. ---------- Check out my music at http://bmeyerson11.bandcamp.com/
Last Edited by tf10music on Sep 23, 2013 4:18 PM
Yeah, Nac, I spent a lot of time a couple of summers ago trying to solve this problem once and for all. I took my Hog 30 amp out of its case and built it into a cabinet on wheels--put a mixer in one drawer and the amp into another--then a drawer for harps and mics and stuff. On the back I had a box mounted so I could stuff my amp stands and stool and such into it like a golf cart--the guitar I still had to carry on my back--but the whole rig could be pulled on down the street. I never did figure out how to also add my old foot percussion stuff though.
The rig was just too big--I had hoped to get it down to where I could take it on the bus and not have to pay all my earnings for parking--but it was too big and clumsy.
Actually, the best I have found so far is one of those collapsible wagons-- you can find them online:
If I pack it carefully, I can get everything in there, even if I take two guitars--then just set up when I get there. My homemade foot percussion doesn't fit very well though, and I can't take it on a bus. . . ---------- Oldwailer's Web Site
@tf10: Yeah, I think that pretty much sums it up. Clearly, Shakey has songwriting as his priority, not street performer kitsch, nor devotion to rote genre-specific memes. He's an innovator, and it shows. I don't have the songwriting chops he does, nor do I have a fraction of the talent, but I certainly would like to try to learn from his example to the degree that I'm able to.
BTW, how is your songwriting journey coming along? I remember liking several of your songs that you had linked some time ago. Any new developments? ----------
Isaac: I did a few grueling days in a studio this summer, and banged out 9 tracks. Obviously there were time constraints so I couldn't make them as perfect as I would have liked, but they're being produced in London right now because I know a guy. Off the top of my head, around 3 of those songs feature a solid amount of harp. I've got some funkier and bluesier stuff that I haven't recorded, but will look to do a session in december in a sound-proofed room. I've got a good condenser mic and a mixer, and I figure I can grab an sm57 for depth/guitar neck/some of the harmonica for cheap. I hope your material is coming along as well -- I remember you doing some interesting things with harmonica and chillstep.
---------- Check out my music at http://bmeyerson11.bandcamp.com/
@tf10: Nice! I'll look forward to listening! I've been slowly building up a small catalogue of songs for a little album or ep... I'm trying to go all acoustic, with only harp and foot stomping. I've put together a small home studio with a couple of small diaphragm condensers, a few dynamic mics, a little 8-track mixer and a digital audio recorder. So far, I've got a few demos recorded and up on my soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/oneharp I need to work a bit on my recording technique, but I'm pretty happy with some of the sounds I'm getting. It's a long term project, as my "day job" as a young professor is taking up most of my time these days... :) ----------
Isaac: checked out your soundcloud -- harp and foot drum (i assume) sound good. I'm not sure what you're singing through, but even if you're recording everything at once it's definitely possible to set it up so that you get more clarity/crispness in there. I'm a fan of the R.L. Burnside cover -- I've actually done a similar thing, though I ornamented the riff a lot more and didn't structure the interplay between harmonica and vocals as well as you did. Cool stuff.
---------- Check out my music at http://bmeyerson11.bandcamp.com/
@tf10: Yeah, the RL Burnside cover I uploaded there is more like a "note" for me so I don't forget to re-record it. I hadn't got all my stuff unpacked after my last move, so I had just recorded it on my MP3 player (a little Sansa clip).
The recording set up that I've been working with is to use the small diaphragm condensers on a stand in an X/Y stereo pattern, about 3 feet from the back of my harp, in a corner of the room, about 4 feet from the wall. I then have another little stand with a dynamic mic pointed at my foot, which is stomping on various things (different things for different tones). That's pretty close-miked.
The condensers go into the mixer, and I roll off the highs a bit, and pan them full left and right. The dynamic mic stays center-panned, and I put a little reverb on it usually. I also adjust the tone on it sometimes too. Typically, I then take it into my DAW (I almost always use Audacity these days, cause I'm too lazy to get a more serious piece of software up and running), and I do a little messing around with various reverbs and such. I don't do much to it, as I'm usually very careful with my initial set up....
Check out this track, which is probably one of the better recordings I've gotten down with the above set up:
I think I do need to add a pop filter in front of the condensers, though.... ----------
Are you padding the corner of the room to absorb sound? If not, that might account for the slightly indistinct qualities of your vocals, regardless of the equipment. It's a lot easier to make harp sound good when you're in a small, echo-y space, because the way the echoes bleed together doesn't necessarily detract too much. For vocals, it's better to get a neutral track and then do things to them digitally. That's why multitracking is becoming so standard now. I like your mic setup, though -- I tend to play up close to a condenser mic with the recording volume set very low. After that, I filter and compress and put on some reverb. I like your vibrato in that dirge for the midwest. good stuff. ---------- Check out my music at http://bmeyerson11.bandcamp.com/
My friend and I played around with my improvised stomp box in a recording setting for the first time today. He loved it. I he's planning on making his own now. Now I've got to work out a harp part for his song.
@tf10: I wasn't padding the corner at all... It was a pretty small and well-carpeted room, so there wasn't too much natural reverb going on. My current apartment is way different (15 foot ceilings and wood floors), so I'll have to figure something out. I might set up in front of the open closet door, and let the clothes muffle the back bounce... Most of my tracks don't have vox (vocals are not my strong suite, and not something I've really worked on), so it's likely not going to be a huge deal for me. I'm actually sort of conciously trying to channel some of the qualities of the early blues recordings (Skip James, in particular), so all sorts of jangliness from the room is something I'm actually looking for! :)
@nacoran: cool! I've been back to brainstorming my perfect foot stomping rig again. I'll probably start actually experimenting again in a few weeks. I'll certainly post results here! :) ----------
I broke down. I didn't get a chance to finish my completely home made one. I ended up buying a little canvas board at a local craft shop. Right now I just have my microphone sitting under it and a tambourine that I can either play separately or rest up against it. I can't find the mic I'm planning on permanently mounting to it. It's around here somewhere.
We are noticing the rig has a tendency to crawl across the floor a bit. Eventually I think I'm going to anchor it to a bigger pedal board. I've got to sit down and figure out the best solution/sequence for wiring everything together. I've got an AB pedal, a pure gain (to toggle vocal and harp levels) and a vocal multi pedal, all going into one amp, in theory. I was looking at 4 track mixers, but I'm thinking maybe 8, so if my friend wants to plug another vocal and his guitar in we can mix them too (I've also got a keyboard with some drum settings). I guess I really need to sit down and diagram things out.
Well, I'm using a mic on the canvas and I've given my box that I had nearly finished to my friend, who finished it right up. Now he's looking at pedals. Didn't Oldwailer have a video pedals? I can't seem to find it (I see some of his other cool projects, but not that one.)
So, my friend finished his up, and he's made a neat little innovation. The box I'd started was a little tall, so it sort of begged for some modification. After he put the top on it, he drilled a hole in the top, took a Fancy Feast can out of the recycling bin, punched a nail through it (faster than finding a metal bit for the screw driver) and partially filled the can with some smallish nails. He put it up underneath, ran a screw through the hole and put a bolt on the bottom to hold it on. Instant tambourine/high hat sound. (We haven't tested it plugged in yet, we didn't have an the amp at the workshop space, but it sounded like it was going to sound good.
Nearly totally unrelated, I've discovered that the bits for drilling out locks and door knobs have a nice musical pitch. I only have a single rusty one, so I couldn't compare pitch, but they make sort of a sound like a triangle, and I'm guessing since a set has several sizes you could create a nice pitched set with a little grinding. Probably worth finding some at a garage sale rather than spending on a new set- they are kind of expensive- but I'm thinking that since they next for easy storage they might, with spacers, fit for a very compact pitched bell set. (Probably worth sanding some of the sharpness off them too!)
Isaac: Big rooms are actually quite solid for recording as it's harder for the echoes to converge around your mic. Or something. But yeah, for what it's worth, I don't record in a corner. You can get a great 'authentic' sound in a room like the one you're describing -- i think the only way you'll master your new setup is by experimenting with positioning, etc. I'm usually too lazy to do that when I move to a new place, but I wouldn't follow my example if I were you. I'm assuming you're playing some guitar -- if so, that's the instrument that needs the most adjustments in mic positioning, in my experience. It can sound gorgeous in a large-ish hardwood room like you're describing, but only if you mic it up right. If you have enough mic stands, I'd consider trying mid-side with a room mic (it sounds like you have enough mics to pull that off -- I don't, alas). ---------- Check out my music at http://bmeyerson11.bandcamp.com/
Yes, I certainly will be needing to experiment... It's finding the time... Now that I think about it, you are right that I do have enough equipment to try mid-side. I've tried a few other stereo techniques before setting on XY, but mid side is supposed to hold a lot of advantages, so I'll certainly give that a try.
With guitar, I don't usually mic, but rather just plug in through an FX rig straight into the mixer. I'm not much of a guitar player, so I'm not at all obsessed with the guitar tone. If I use a guitar on a track, I just want it nasty and raw, and probably overdriven to hell too. :)
@nac: Cool idea with the tin. There's a video somehwere where a guy takes two electrical outlet covers (the kind with no holes meant to cover a now unused outlet), and screws them together, back to back, with a few bb's in them. It makes a really cool sound when you stomp on it. Your solution reminds me of that... ----------
