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One of the beauties of iTunes and, lately, my last-on-the-block purchase of an iPod, is that I've been transferring everything in my collection to mp3 or AAC... rediscovering bits of my past...Especially when I put the music on "Shuffle", and the unexpected pops up...
As this did.
This is me learning fingerpicking, lead guitar, and multitrack recording, all in one go... People talk about the Tascam Portastudio 4-track revolution, but before THAT, Tascam made a radical cassette deck that allowed you to record the left and right channels separately... You could then use a "Mix" function to add a third track when you mixed down to another deck...
Well, I bought one. This was the time in my life when I was learning rudimentary fingerpicking. I had also been lovingly advised by my bandmate Phyllis (and our engineer Kristen) that, "if you're going to try to improvise, you might start by learning the melody..."
So here is me, in about 1979 or 1980, doing just that. I figured out a fingerpicking pattern for the song and put that in one channel, and then I noodle and improvise in the other, learning overdubbing as I go... Eventually, having run out of alternatives, I end up by (briefly) actually playing the melody...
This is a hissy and primitive recording, kind of flat, no effects, no compression or reverb... But with other folks dipping into their archives, and also submitting "lo-fi" offerings, for some reason I wanted to put this scrap of my history out there...It's rough, but it's real...
The song is a traditional one, with a beautiful melody. I don't sing on this, but the lyrics are some of the most sophisticated and just plain good, in my opinion, in English folk song...
For much better renditions, check out Joan Baez's version (vocal) and John Renbourn's two versions (instrumental)... I think Pentangle may have done a vocal version as well...
I tried to upload it with an iTunes Equalizer setting...if that doesn't work, try rolling off the highs to get rid of some of the hiss...
As this did.
This is me learning fingerpicking, lead guitar, and multitrack recording, all in one go... People talk about the Tascam Portastudio 4-track revolution, but before THAT, Tascam made a radical cassette deck that allowed you to record the left and right channels separately... You could then use a "Mix" function to add a third track when you mixed down to another deck...
Well, I bought one. This was the time in my life when I was learning rudimentary fingerpicking. I had also been lovingly advised by my bandmate Phyllis (and our engineer Kristen) that, "if you're going to try to improvise, you might start by learning the melody..."
So here is me, in about 1979 or 1980, doing just that. I figured out a fingerpicking pattern for the song and put that in one channel, and then I noodle and improvise in the other, learning overdubbing as I go... Eventually, having run out of alternatives, I end up by (briefly) actually playing the melody...
This is a hissy and primitive recording, kind of flat, no effects, no compression or reverb... But with other folks dipping into their archives, and also submitting "lo-fi" offerings, for some reason I wanted to put this scrap of my history out there...It's rough, but it's real...
The song is a traditional one, with a beautiful melody. I don't sing on this, but the lyrics are some of the most sophisticated and just plain good, in my opinion, in English folk song...
For much better renditions, check out Joan Baez's version (vocal) and John Renbourn's two versions (instrumental)... I think Pentangle may have done a vocal version as well...
I tried to upload it with an iTunes Equalizer setting...if that doesn't work, try rolling off the highs to get rid of some of the hiss...
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Jim Bouchard
a Radio Shack dynamic mic? I had one of those! Just wait until I dig out my old tapes I recorded on my Fostex X-15 and you'll get a sampling of that. That machine is long gone, so I'll have to go with the mixes as they are.
The iTunes equalizer setting is only for playing in iTunes. If you want to apply that to your track, I guess you could copy the setting and use the AU multiband EQ on the master track to duplicate it in Garageband.
Aside from the hiss, this sounds pretty good. Starts out pretty tentative. I know the song but I don't think I can pick out the melody here, as the lead you're playing doesn't seem to to state it very clearly. But we all have to start somewhere!