Getting Some Exercise (Off Topic)

I found an old 3 speed bike on craigslist and cleaned it up for some morning and evening exercise. Below is a video from a recent ride through a local park and bike path. The camera took a lot of shock from the front wheel (what with being firmly mounted on the handlebars). I’ll figure out a way of cushioning the camera on future rides so that the videos appear smoother.
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Encore! Encore!

Nikki and her classmate, Casey performing during Spring Senior Choir Pops Concert. (see ‘Spring Concert’ post, below)
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Spring Concert

Spring has come to Ohio and with it, my niece’s Spring Choir Pops Concert. Held on Saturday evening, the concert was a terrific blend of music, comedy and close harmonies performed by the senior choir, en masse, and individual members as solo, duet and small ensembles. This year, Nikki performed a solo tune, a duet and accompanied a friend with guitar, all, in addition to her contribution as a member of this year’s senior choir.

Here’s Nikki’s solo:
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Here’s a Dusty One

Bruce Channel

Oooooooo! 1962! Here’s a tune that helped spark my interest in pop/ rock & roll. Bruce Channel may have had a one-hit wonder with Hey! Baby (I don’t know of any other of his tunes hitting AM radio back in those days). He did tour internationally and brought along his studio harmonica player, Delbert McClinton. Imagine! A couple of Fort Worth Texans loose in Europe!

Delbert went on to become a preeminent practitioner of Texas blues and roots music as a singer in his own right.

I built this rendition of Hey! Baby with PC Drums (drum machine), some acoustic guitars, an electric guitar, bass and the world reknown ’ahhhh-ahhhh chorale’. You can listen here> hey-baby. Disclosure: The tune’s a vocal stretch for a baritone. I promise to not post any Beach Boys falsetto harmony tunes on these pages! Enjoy.

AKAI Headrush Loop Pedal

AKAI Headrush E2

I was channel surfing early this year and stumbled across an installment of “From The Artist’s Den” on Ovation TV. It’s a one-hour music performance program and this particular episode featured Scottish pop singer songwriter, KT Tunstall. After that hour, I was hooked, bigtime. Such a refreshing talent and performer.

KT (actual name, ‘Kate’) had hung out with Scottish folk musicians and coffee house singers/writers for a full 10 years before hitting it big during a performance on the British TV program, “Later With Jools Holland”. She performed a live version of her soon-to-be hit, Black Horse and The Cherry Tree. Her live performance gear includes a loop/sampler pedal, an AKAI Headrush E2.

The YouTube video, below, is just one of a number of performances of Black Horse and The Cherry Tree on YouTube. I chose it because it best illustrates what the loop pedal does and how it’s operated. Pay close attention and you’ll note that KT loops (and then overdubs) 2, four-beat music measures. You can beat-count along with her as she builds up the backing rhythm: 1 (simultaneously depressing the record button on the count of ‘one’), 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,1 (simultaneously pressing the stop recording button on count of ‘one’).

Some loop snippets to listen to. To my ear, a loop built by real instruments (guitar percussives and muted scratchings, tambourine, triangle, hand claps etc.) and vocal ornaments has a more organic/authentic feel when compared to a rhythm created with a computerized drum machine. Just an opinion.

A Great Old Sound

Rickenbacker 330 12 String

In February of 1964, The Beatles arrived in New York for their 1st appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. Beatlemania was coming to America. Across the country, in Santa Ana, California, F.C. Hall, president of Rickenbacker guitars, was getting on an airplane bound for New York. He had heard reports about The Beatles and was aware that one member of the group, John Lennon, played a Rickenbacker guitar. Mr. Hall, an astute businessman, recognized the potential for enormous additional exposure for his products. He flew to New York with 3 guitars: an updated version of the little black Rickenbacker played by Lennon, a lefthanded Rickenbacker bass guitar intended for Paul McCartney and (drum roll) one of the company’s newest instruments, an electric 12 string guitar intended for George Harrison. Mr. Hall’s trip went very well. He met The Beatles, presented the 3 guitars as gifts and flew back to Southern California.
That Summer, The Beatles first film, A Hard Day’s Night, premiered. From the opening notes of the title song, a lush, chiming tone rang out from George’s new Rickenbacker 12 string and that new and unique sound was very much ‘up front’ on many of the songs performed in the film.
Meanwhile, back in Los Angeles, a transplanted folksinger from New York, Jim (later Roger) McGuinn, was assembling a rock and roll band to capitalize on the music boom created by Beatlemania. He attended a screening of A Hard Day’s Night and was very impressed with the new guitar sound he heard. He recognized the instrument as an electric 12 string.
McGuinn soon located a Rickenbacker 12 string in a Los Angeles music store and traded in his Gibson guitar and his banjo in order to make the purchase. He and his bandmates named their fledgling group, The Byrds, and at the center of their sound– eventually dubbed, ‘folk-rock’– was the Rickenbacker electric 12 string.

What Might a Home Studio Look Like?

It is this simple

Previous posts have described a suitable computer, a good audio software program and a USB audio interface box. Microphone choice is a broad subject area. Everyone seems to have their own preferences for model and brand. For the home studio I’ve been describing, I’m going to give just a personal opinion: a dynamic cardioid-pattern microphone with a XLR connector cable priced from $50.00 to $100.00. I’m familiar with (and can generally recommend) the offerings of: Shure, Electro-Voice and Samson. So, if you’re so inclined, gather together your gear and clear out a corner in your world. Be sure your corner has a wall outlet nearby. Connect it all up and get to it! Here’s a larger image .

Getting Good Sound into the Computer

M-AUDIO

The most cost-effective way I know to get good quality audio signals into the computer (and into the audio recording program) is via a USB recording interface box. The box that has worked well for me is the M-AUDIO Fast Track guitar/microphone recording interface. The front of the box has an adjustable microphone input level (with small signal and peak indicator lights), a mixer control (between recorded sound and new, incoming audio), a 1/8″ headphone jack and a headphone level control. The rear of the interface (left to right) provides for USB connection, RCA stereo outputs, an input gain selector coupled to a 1/4″ phone jack (for guitar or line level source) and, finally, an XLR input for microphone. We’re talkin’ bare-bones, no frills audio interface with this little unit. M-AUDIO and other manufacturers have costlier units with varying numbers of multiple inputs and greater sophistication. As I recall, street price for this Fast Track interface is $50-$75.

How Much Computer is Enough Computer?

COMPAQ EVO

For home recording, how much computer is enough computer? I’ve found this computer to be enough. It’s a COMPAQ EVO D510. Don’t let the sexy photo at the left fool you. This is an old workhorse I found at an end-of-lease liquidator in northern Ohio. It ain’t pretty and the specs below should convince anyone that this is not state-of-the-art gear. But, I paid all of $150.00 with WindowsXP Professional (v. 2002, service pack 2) operating system preinstalled. Here are those specs:

CPU: Intel Pentium 4
Processor Speed: 2 GHz
Memory: 504 MB
Storage: 40 GB Hard Drive
Expansion Slots: None (this a slim, low-profile box)
Audio: Soundmax digital audio on motherboard
3 USB ports
Ethernet
Mouse, keyboard and monitor outputs
CD-R/DVD Drive

Rather stone age, huh? Well, keep in mind that the Sonar LE audio software is not a memory hog and neither is the M-AUDIO Fast Track USB interface box. And, please, be cautioned about the OS. This is not Windows Vista. This is WindowsXP Professional. I’m not a computer expert, but the OS may make all the difference between a setup that lets you make music recordings and one that could drive you to distraction.

Sonar LE Recording Software

Sonar LE by Cakewalk

Back in late 2006, my niece and her dad went shopping at BestBuy for audio recording software to run on the computer she shared at home with her sister. They found a ‘bundled’ package which included a USB audio interface box and recording software. Everything installed fine. She actually recorded a few songs until it became abruptly apparent that the home computer was seriously underpowered. Following some deliberation, her mom and dad decided that it was probably time for the girls to have a new, upgraded computer. What followed was to be a slow and agonizing march through the depths of ’incompatibility hell’. The new machine came preloaded with the Windows Vista operating system. I’m no techie, but, I’ve come to believe that the world of home recording was turned on its head by the introduction of Vista. And not for the better.

There is nothing ‘plug-and-play’ about audio recording in the home. If you don’t experience problems with the software, you’ll experience difficulty with the operating system. If not the OS, them you’ll face challenges in trying to get the audio interface (an add-on card or a freestanding interface box) to perform properly.

Music Creator 4

I’m using Cakewalk’s Sonar LE (version 4.0.1) software running under Windows XP Professional on a modestly-powered Intel machine. And, although I , too, had to wrestle with device settings and other oddities, the system does work. That’s to say, if my recordings are offensive to your ears, it’s not the fault of hardware or software. It’s me! Sonar LE is ‘OEM Software’… a slimmed down version of Cakewalk’s Sonar series of pro/semi-pro audio software that is ‘bundled’ with another manufacturer’s product (a microphone, or an audio mixer, or a USB interface product). Were you to walk into BestBuy, you would be looking for Cakewalk’s consumer program, Music Creator. Feature-for-feature Music Creator ranks right along side Sonar LE. I’m seeing Music Creator 4 selling for $29.00/$39.00.

For the curious, you can click here to see a large view of a Sonar LE screen.