waltertore
1103 posts
Feb 21, 2011
12:58 PM
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I recorded these this afternoon with a slight modification to my rubber beer can cooler amped harp rack rig. I think I have it about as good as I will get it. Walter
I live by my feet
1 wish
scared of life
man of love
checking into jail for the winter
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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
2,600+ of my songs
continuous streaming - 200 most current songs
my videos
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toddlgreene
2619 posts
Feb 21, 2011
1:04 PM
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I can't check the tunes out at the moment(work computer), but in order to save you enough breath for yet another SpontoBeat song, you can call the 'rubber beer can cooler' the common name(at least down here in the South), which is Koozie. ;-)
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Todd
Eudora and Deep Soul
Last Edited by on Feb 21, 2011 1:05 PM
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waltertore
1105 posts
Feb 21, 2011
1:11 PM
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Todd: I can't wrap my head around that word. Maybe I will get famous calling it a rubber beer can cooler :-)
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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
2,600+ of my songs
continuous streaming - 200 most current songs
my videos
|
pistolero
74 posts
Feb 21, 2011
1:12 PM
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"rubber beer can cooler modified harp rack/mic setup" = "Walter's Koozie Rig"
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It's MUSIC, not just complicated noise.
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toddlgreene
2620 posts
Feb 21, 2011
1:16 PM
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As long as you don't mistakenly say 'cootchie' instead...Your wife will get awfully curious when you tell her you are 'experimenting with a cootchie in the studio-do no disturb!'
koozie
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Todd
my moderator username is Admin007
Eudora and Deep Soul
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waltertore
1107 posts
Feb 21, 2011
1:38 PM
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I was worried I would confuse it with Floozie :-)
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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
2,600+ of my songs
continuous streaming - 200 most current songs
my videos
|
toddlgreene
2623 posts
Feb 21, 2011
1:56 PM
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Take it to the next level, Walter...Personalize your Koozie mics, like this:
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Todd
my moderator username is Admin007
Eudora and Deep Soul
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Greg Heumann
1052 posts
Feb 21, 2011
2:16 PM
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Sounds good to me - still very acoustic/bright.
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/Greg
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waltertore
1108 posts
Feb 21, 2011
3:08 PM
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I dig that Todd! I will have to get one without the beer in it :-).
Greg: What you hear on the songs is a blend of the acoustic harp sound coming through the vocal mic and the vocal coming through that beer can cooler mic. The vocal mic is eq'd a bit brighter than I normally do when using it for vocal/harp because the cooler takes some of the highs off the harp and mixing the vocals brighter helps offset the bassiness of what the harp mic does to the vocals . The harp mic is pretty dirty/bassy on its own but the bleeding of the 2 mics is unavoidable because they are so close to each other. It messes the vocals up big time if I turn it up in the mix but the harp sounds more amplified if I do. It is an ongoing compromise in eq'ing when running a harp and vocals in the same mics. I think I am liking the sound so much because it keeps a distinct acoustic touch to the sound. I guess we can call amplifed acoustic harp?
I am still up for any ideas you come up with. One thing I realized today is when I turn up the tie clip mic to what I would at a small gig it feeds back like crazy. It brought back memories of when I bought my first bullet mic in the 70's and plugged it in a twin reverb..... squealllllllllllllll! I was in Mannys music in NYC and the salesman was all smiles. I was making about 500-1k a week playing gigs that a mob affiliated woman got me in the jersey working class bars that held 1-300 people. We were loud, fast, and crazy. The drummer played double bass drums and chained them to his stool so they wouldn't run off the stage. I was going through the PA and heard about the bullet fender amp set up from mark werner. I went with a pile of cash and bought 20 new harps ($5 each) a brand new twin reverb (like $500 I think) and the bullet mic. Mark was playing a tweed bassman and manny only had new fenders so I said sell me the loudest one you got. The sales guy plugged it all in and man did it feedback. Eventually we figured it out. I ended up selling the amp to our guitarist and I got a used tweed bassman. We were loud! I still have some tapes that were made at a live gig. I don't have a cassette deck or I would post a few for laughs. The wildness of youth! Walter
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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
2,600+ of my songs
continuous streaming - 200 most current songs
my videos
Last Edited by on Feb 21, 2011 3:29 PM
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isaacullah
1398 posts
Feb 21, 2011
4:27 PM
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I really dug 'I live by my Feet". The sound is definitely more amped-sounding than with your other setup, but not quite as amped-sounding as Deak has with his setup that he posted in the other thread. As you say, this probably has to do with bleed-over from the vocal harp. I'd be curious to hear the sound on a fully instrumental version (i.e., where you have the extra vocal mic turned off). Either way, I think the sound you had on these cuts was pretty damn good!
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== I S A A C ==
View my videos on YouTube!
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waltertore
1109 posts
Feb 21, 2011
4:40 PM
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hi isaacullah: thanks for checking the tunes out! That song is one chord. Deak has pretty much the other side of the coin to what I do. I prefer the tone I am getting(amped acoustic blend) over that deep amped tone. I also prefer a real guitar and drums/cymbals over the cigar box and stomp board/suitcase bass drum, type of 1 man band. I like to hear that cymbal sizzling, snare cracking, and guitar tones. I have messed with a cigar box guitar but found it not multi dimensional enough to hold my interest. I like my fingers to be on the frets to work the bass strings with my thumb and the chords. lead notes and melodies with my index and second fingers. I have a cool handmade aluminum body resonator guitar that is set up with high action for the lap steel like sound. When I play the keys I like to set the left hand side up with a bass sound and the rest as either a piano or hammond like sound. That adds a fun dimension for me. I am basically wanting to hear a real slick sounding band behind me. Just playing a couple instruments at the same time is a challenge. I find playing all the ones I do a big challenge that keeps me playing. Like I said I want to hear a real band behind me and I am going to go to my grave working to it :-)
I use to listen to a lot of little walter and his sound to my ears was more on the brighter side than most of the newer players of today. The song called "fun on the side" is an instrumental harp song with the piano one man band. I am not sure if I muted the vocal mic on the mixdown. I will do one with just the harp mic for you. One downside to the tie clip mic is it overloads easily when fully cupped from the compression. I had to cut a pretty big vent hole in the beer can cooler to keep it from cutting out and that also takes away from that full amped sound. I just got done trying to run the harp mic into my PA. It was a failure. It is solid state and way too clean. I am going to buy a champ/vibro champ for the harp the next time I see one come up on craigslist. I don't like the sound of the guitar going direct into a preamp. Walter
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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
2,600+ of my songs
continuous streaming - 200 most current songs
my videos
Last Edited by on Feb 21, 2011 4:55 PM
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isaacullah
1399 posts
Feb 21, 2011
5:09 PM
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I'll really look forward to hearing the instrumental. Thanks Walter! I have one of those tie-clip mics too, and I can certainly relate to how easy they are to overdrive when cupped. Thanks for posting all this great info, it's certainly an inspiration for me and for others here on the list!
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== I S A A C ==
View my videos on YouTube!
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joeleebush
211 posts
Feb 22, 2011
3:42 AM
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Walter:
That "scared of life" has an eerie, haunting, sound to it that makes one sit up and take notice.
The vocals reflect the exact mood of the tune.
You did a very good piece of work there.
(watching you do all that stuff by yourself has got to be one of the greatest crowd pleasers around).
If I had that act, I think I could work 300 days a year with no trouble at all...even in this place where they're getting to the point you have to "pay them to play" and you get a percentage of the bar and all the door.
One man or duos can make it. Others wind up with chump change...especially after the bartender does a false count on you with a phoney register tape...then he steals the rest, etc etc...well, you know the deal.
Excellent playing!
Regards,
JoeLee
Last Edited by on Feb 22, 2011 3:47 AM
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waltertore
1110 posts
Feb 22, 2011
7:01 AM
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joelee: Thanks! coming from you I take it as a big compliment! The one man band thing is a blast. I doubt I will ever go back to having a real band behind me. I have totally detached from hustling gigs. It makes me want to puke. No lie. I did it too long. If the phone rings and it sounds good I do it. Otherwise I am ok playing/recording in my studio. If you want to book me I will give you 50%. I remember one bartender I caught on the register scam. We got 10% of the bar. He would leave the drawer open for 3 or more drink orders thus only ringing up one for three. 2 went in his pocket. He was a coke head and spent it immediately on it, would go in the bathroom meet his man and snort it up. I caught him in the bathroom, took my money and beat the hell out him. He cried like a baby. I am glad I don't do things like that anymore. My Newark New Jersey Italian upbringing taught me such things. I have had to unlearn them over the years. Thanks again! Walter
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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
2,600+ of my songs
continuous streaming - 200 most current songs
my videos
Last Edited by on Feb 22, 2011 7:55 AM
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