My CD of my music was recorded with Hobnob String Band in Urbana, IL on January 18, 2020. I scheduled a CD release event near my birthday at the end of March. COVID derailed my plans, and I have not had a CD release event, though a soft release to friends.
The CD is comprised of 9 songs: 8 original songs written and sung by me, and one re-arrangement of a traditional folk song deranged to Dorian mode and sung by me. We recorded live in a home studio, two tracks [edit: CUTS!] for each song. We recorded live, with no punching in, no headphones, but separate mics, though in mixing there may have been some transplanted sections.
I haven't uploaded the final mastered version of the CD for distribution yet, though my son posted the DEMO version that was not fully mastered on his YouTube.
Since we were talking about using low harps on songs I thought of this original song "Slaughter Sink" where I used a Low D harp in 3rd position.
The song is magic realism using actual geographic locations from the Missouri Ozarks and incorporating Ozark folklore in the story.
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Doug S.
Last Edited by dougharps on Nov 09, 2020 9:24 AM
We recorded the 9 songs in six hours. I wanted a recording that showcased the songs and lyrics with harmonica added as seasoning. The band had never played 6 of the 9 songs before the session. I reviewed each song and my desired arrangement before we recorded the two takes of each song.
I never sang that much at any gig, and it challenged my vocal stamina. It was an intense 6 hours, but fun!
I was very pleased that Hobnob String Band was so creative in interpreting these new songs. I picked them for their skill in this style of live acoustic music and their ability to create good grooves from my simple suggestions.
Now if only COVID-19 would back off, I could do an actual in-person CD release event!
I will post when I finally have a site and have uploaded the final mastered tracks. In the meantime, if anyone is interested in hearing the rest of my songs, my son put the not fully mastered "DEMO" CD version up on his YouTube and I have linked the playlist to my YouTube:
Doug, sounds like we are Kindred spirits. When Jo and I go in to record we want the live-est we can get. The second CD, Nothin' but a Party, we had a percussion guy and a bassist in on and we actually laid a new song on them the morning of recording day! Which they rose to the challenge with flying colors. In fact, the day or two before the recording date Jo was working on something and I said, "keep doing that right there", and that groove became a song. Then 2 days later we played it for the guys and they nailed the bottom down for us. Our philosophy is, Raw, Real Right Now. Meaning what you get on a CD from us is as close to what you're hearing live as we can get it. To me that's where synergy lives. ---------- Music and travel destroy prejudice.
