Busking Neil Young
Whew, glad to hear I'm not bugging you! 
And of course, I hear you about the setup, you did say you had some new toys and I know it takes some experimenting and all.....and if you've actually never sung outside the shower before, then really, you did a gréat job (playing and singingis not particularly easy)!
And do not think you need to turn down a few notches, just the opposite, haha!
Take care Stuart, and see you around!
Ness
(so close to London, where exactly??
)
sws626 wrote:
And of course, I hear you about the setup, you did say you had some new toys and I know it takes some experimenting and all.....and if you've actually never sung outside the shower before, then really, you did a gréat job (playing and singingis not particularly easy)!
And do not think you need to turn down a few notches, just the opposite, haha!
Take care Stuart, and see you around!
Ness
(so close to London, where exactly??
)sws626 wrote:
Hi Vanessa,
Thanks. It's a pleasure to jump in with you all on this thread.
The guitar/vocal balance is something I'm working on and stems from a combination of things. I'm just starting to experiment with different mic techniques and haven't mic'd the vocals separately, which I may do next time. I played this one with my thumb, rather than a pic, to try to keep from overpowering the vocals with the guitar. But I think it mostly boils down to the fact that I've never sung outside of the shower before. My immediate reaction to hearing my recorded voice is to turn it down a few notches. Let me see if I can find a song that forces me to belt something out for you.
I'll think about bringing the camera in closer.
-Stuart
p.s. No, you're not bugging me.
-Stuart
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AcousticAl
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Stuart- that was just great! I actually liked the balance you had between guitar and voice. Singing might have been a bit soft- but so was the strumming from not using a pick. The camera could be moved in a bit to get a bit more intimate. (I know.. we hardly know each other:)
One thing I noticed was the turnaround-- I really liked it, but you seemed to lose the beat each time. Is there a way to keep your hand momentum going through this section so it doesn't stop strumming? Might need to tweak your ups vs. downs- but I think it would help.
Nice to see another vid from you Stuart!
One thing I noticed was the turnaround-- I really liked it, but you seemed to lose the beat each time. Is there a way to keep your hand momentum going through this section so it doesn't stop strumming? Might need to tweak your ups vs. downs- but I think it would help.
Nice to see another vid from you Stuart!
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neverfoundthetime
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Hi Stuart... nice to see you after hearing from you way back when on the Elton project! I really liked the way you did everything in that video. I felt it had a cool style. Love those mics and the sound was good. I also like the way you sang that. Please post more!
AcousticAl wrote:
Thanks for your kind comments. On the turnaround, the pause was intentional, but I'm not sure it's the right thing to do. The riff ends on the second eighth note of a measure. I think you'll see my hand moving silently through the next 3 eighths with the aim of picking up an accented upstroke in the third beat, which seemed about right when I was working on it. But listening to it afterwards, I also felt that the gap that leaves may be too much.
The other place where I struggle a bit is in getting the timing right on the last measure of C before the transition to Bm. The lyrics there don't sit well with the / /^ ^/^ I follow through most of the rest of the song. Margo Timmins (in the Cowboy Junkies version, which adopts a similar rhythm) solves this by completely changing the vocal phrasing in that measure.
-Stuart
Hi Al,One thing I noticed was the turnaround-- I really liked it, but you seemed to lose the beat each time. Is there a way to keep your hand momentum going through this section so it doesn't stop strumming? Might need to tweak your ups vs. downs- but I think it would help.
Thanks for your kind comments. On the turnaround, the pause was intentional, but I'm not sure it's the right thing to do. The riff ends on the second eighth note of a measure. I think you'll see my hand moving silently through the next 3 eighths with the aim of picking up an accented upstroke in the third beat, which seemed about right when I was working on it. But listening to it afterwards, I also felt that the gap that leaves may be too much.
The other place where I struggle a bit is in getting the timing right on the last measure of C before the transition to Bm. The lyrics there don't sit well with the / /^ ^/^ I follow through most of the rest of the song. Margo Timmins (in the Cowboy Junkies version, which adopts a similar rhythm) solves this by completely changing the vocal phrasing in that measure.
-Stuart
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cosmicmechanic
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sws626 wrote:
Oh, "the good stuff the others said", and I enjoyed your mellow, evenly paced playing and singing.
Pierre.
Hi Stuart, I wonder if you've been into playing any Tom Petty songs? Seems to me your voice could be a good fit for some of them that are meant to be belted out B)... Let me see if I can find a song that forces me to belt something out for you. ...
Oh, "the good stuff the others said", and I enjoyed your mellow, evenly paced playing and singing.
Pierre.
Stuart,
I really enjoyed that, really cruisey. I don't know this song. Really my Neil Young knowledge is mostly from TG and Sue. But, your voice seemed to fit the song well.
Your set up is already sounding pretty good too.
Nice video.
Michele
sws626 wrote:
I really enjoyed that, really cruisey. I don't know this song. Really my Neil Young knowledge is mostly from TG and Sue. But, your voice seemed to fit the song well.
Your set up is already sounding pretty good too.
Nice video.
Michele
sws626 wrote:
Hi All,
I've been away from the forum and the guitar for a while and thought I'd ease my way back in with a few campire songs.
Here's my version of Powderfinger. This is without a doubt my favourite Neil Young song. Thanks to MarkM for posting his take on this song a few months back and inspiring me to listen to Neil's acoustic recording.
I'm playing with some new toys here. The audio was recorded using a pair of Rode NT2000 condensor microphones set up for mid-side stereo recording.
-Stuart
PLEASE NOTE: If video was recently uploaded it will not work yet. YouTube will need a little more time to get the video ready. Please check back again soon.
Willem: Thanks. I remember that first NY upload to you as well -- but still haven't gotten around to actually learning to play the song.
The recording setup may look complicated, but it's really pretty simple. I'm using two Rode NT2000 condensor microphones into a Zoom H4n digital recorder. The microphones are configurable for cardoid, omni, and figure 8 polar patterns and I have them set up for mid-side stereo recording, in which one mic, configured with a cardoid pattern, faces the sound source (mid) and another, configured as figure 8, is positioned with its void facing the sound source (side). The Zoom recorder encodes these inputs as mid and side and allows you to monitor this live, but it is also easy enough to post-process in Audacity (or any other DAW software). I'm trying this because I am lazy and want to find a simple way to capture a good stereo image without having to mess around with mixing software -- far too many headaches like that in my day job.
Vanessa: I'll definitely work on cranking it up next time. I'm just north of London, near Stansted Airport -- a great hub for anyone visiting Europe and we love visitors.
Chris: I've only just now had a chance to listen to the final results of the Elton project. It turned out great. You guys did a terrific job in pulling that all together.
Pierre: Tom Petty? I'll have to think about that one. Thanks for listening and for your encouragement.
-Stuart
The recording setup may look complicated, but it's really pretty simple. I'm using two Rode NT2000 condensor microphones into a Zoom H4n digital recorder. The microphones are configurable for cardoid, omni, and figure 8 polar patterns and I have them set up for mid-side stereo recording, in which one mic, configured with a cardoid pattern, faces the sound source (mid) and another, configured as figure 8, is positioned with its void facing the sound source (side). The Zoom recorder encodes these inputs as mid and side and allows you to monitor this live, but it is also easy enough to post-process in Audacity (or any other DAW software). I'm trying this because I am lazy and want to find a simple way to capture a good stereo image without having to mess around with mixing software -- far too many headaches like that in my day job.
Vanessa: I'll definitely work on cranking it up next time. I'm just north of London, near Stansted Airport -- a great hub for anyone visiting Europe and we love visitors.
Chris: I've only just now had a chance to listen to the final results of the Elton project. It turned out great. You guys did a terrific job in pulling that all together.
Pierre: Tom Petty? I'll have to think about that one. Thanks for listening and for your encouragement.
-Stuart