Folk Music

Originally posted by sonhouse
They are my compositions, thank you! The only one not mine is the dulcimer piece features two tunes, one is a Breton tune, ancient one actually, called Andro and my reply to it. My tune begins first then goes into Andro. I learned that from a very talented musician, Yves Chandon, who played in our little band in Scottsdale Arizona, Sugarloaf mountain string y, even though if I tried I could be a folkie millionaire, hehe, like that would ever happen🙂

yes ok, very good, i sent the link to my friends so that they can enjoy them as well. I love the Fx on some of the tunes, it makes it sound almost mystical, like having a resonance almost reminiscent of some traditional sitar music that i had heard, not in style but in the ambient harmonics - wish you well and if i ever get round to finishing my loft i may well record some tunes, not only myself but others also. - regards robbie.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
yes ok, very good, i sent the link to my friends so that they can enjoy them as well. I love the Fx on some of the tunes, it makes it sound almost mystical, like having a resonance almost reminiscent of some traditional sitar music that i had heard, not in style but in the ambient harmonics - wish you well and if i ever get round to finishing my loft i may well record some tunes, not only myself but others also. - regards robbie.

I only used two Fx, plus wavelab for fadeins/outs, a bit of reverb and BBC Maximizer that adds a bit of presence. I did most of the recordings in a motel in Toledo Ohio where I had a job requiring me to go there maybe ten times. Got a quiet room and used PC first then ported to laptop, very compact recording system with full set of software like Sonar, Wavelab, Sonic foundry, CD creator, and the like, make a finished CD right on the laptop. If the Fx you refer to was on The River, that sound was from my fingers, not electronics.
BTW, if you go to my friends list, there are some outstanding musicians there, like Xavier Rudd, an Aussie one man band who also play didgeridoo, or Vienna Teng, or almost any of the others in that list, that was one big thing that attracted me to myspace, the incredible musicians from all over the world I would never ever have had the honor to have heard if it were not for myspace.

Originally posted by sonhouse
I only used two Fx, plus wavelab for fadeins/outs, a bit of reverb and BBC Maximizer that adds a bit of presence. I did most of the recordings in a motel in Toledo Ohio where I had a job requiring me to go there maybe ten times. Got a quiet room and used PC first then ported to laptop, very compact recording system with full set of software like Sonar, Wave ...[text shortened]... aptop. If the Fx you refer to was on The River, that sound was from my fingers, not electronics.

right ok, yes i have adobe audition 1.5, its ok for single recordings but i do not think that it supports full ASIO, whereas the latest version does, so that its possible to record multiple tracks at once, also a EMU 1616M sound card which can sample up to 192 KH/Z a second like anyone can hear the difference, has High Z input for guitar (although i am not convinced that miking an amp is infinitely better) and two M-Audio BX8as as monitors, i can only partially turn them up otherwise id blow the house down. the only Microphone i have at present is Rode NT1-a, but its good enough for my purposes, although when i start to record others, i will definitely need some others. recently was given a mixing desk but i am not convinced by the pre amps, although if anyone knows anything about it, it would be helpful, its a Mynah 8-2-1, regards robbie.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
right ok, yes i have adobe audition 1.5, its ok for single recordings but i do not think that it supports full ASIO, whereas the latest version does, so that its possible to record multiple tracks at once, also a EMU 1616M sound card which can sample up to 192 KH/Z a second like anyone can hear the difference, has High Z input for guitar (although i ...[text shortened]... hough if anyone knows anything about it, it would be helpful, its a Mynah 8-2-1, regards robbie.

I have two sets of recorders, one on the lap is the firewire 410, 2 decent mic preamps built in, so no mixer needed, and 4 inputs max, so if you need 4 mics, you are back to mixer time. The other is on the PC, an RME Hammerfall Multiface I/O box, it features 8 audio ins and outs and Midi in and out, but no preamps. If you have a box like that, you need to look for a mixer with direct outs, that is to say where each channel of say, an 8 channel mixer, has a direct out not routed to the stereo or four track bus. That way you have basically 8 independent preamps so you don't need to use a bunch of 8X2's (4 of those) or an 8X4X2 which is what my Mackie has, would need two of those to get all 8 inputs separate preamps. There is a Euro company, Soundcraft, that makes an 8 channel mixer with direct outs, maybe 400 bucks something like that.
And it is supposed to be more quiet than the Mackie. I though my Mack was pretty quiet but the engineer types seem to think its a bit on the noisy side. Sounded heads and shoulders quieter than my first mixer, an Alesis, which was a bitch to route, very unintuitive routing system AND it cost me 1100 bucks about 15 years ago before the mixer revolution. I also have that Rode NT1, I think it's a great mic, Aussies did a fine job with that one. You might take a look at the nearest rival, IMO, the Project Studio C3, very good also, about the same price, big sucker though! I did some studio work for a couple of guys doing a cartoon where they needed short sound bites, maybe 30 of them for voice overs and we used the C3, it was well-nigh perfect, used Sonar, put in some verb and lined them up and gave them a CD, they were happy as pigs in poop! I don't think the cartoon project went anywhere but they paid me so I did my part! One thing you might consider, is cop one of those huge overhead mike stands, the ones the big boys use? I got one at the local guitar center for about a bill and a half, it holds that big C3 or the Rode from halfway across the room and you put it up at standing vocal height or down low but the nice thing about that giant is it doesn't get in the way of the musician like those regular stands, you know where you have two mikes on a stick and its all tubes and cables and stuff in the musician's face. The big guy hangs out in midair away from all that. So back to your 8X2X1, you can only get two independent mikes out of that, sure you can mix the vocals down in other channels and such but you are stuck between a rock and a hard place if, after you have recorded stuff, you find, oh crap, the frigging drums are too loud. Oops, too late! its on the same bus as the vocal.
That's why you want an 8X4X2 with direct outs, then you get the best of both worlds, if you want to mix down three or four tracks, you can still use 4 directs so you can have six feeds that way, 4 tracks mixed to stereo, and 4 directs, and of course you know in advance the 4 you mix have to be right or you get to record it again! So having direct outs means you record once, if one is too loud, hit the software mixer, it's fixed. I don't have one of those Soundcrafts yet, got a couple of Euro's, they are ok for a cheap mixer and I can do 8 tracks if I have to, with three mixers. The best solution is to get one of those 8 track mic preamp boxes, they are automatically direct outs, they don't mix at all, you do that in Sonar or whatever. M-Audio makes one, Roland makes one, there are bunches of them on the market, they are a lot smaller than hauling around a mixer or two. Now with all the Fx in software, having stuff like reverb on the mixer like my little mackie, is passe' and, having had access to all the neat fx that comes with Sonar, I never even look at those reverb settings if I have to use the Mackie anyway. I have used Sonar for about 15 years now, starting with a freebie my daughter gave me when she was at Berklee, they got the first ones, and there were extra's so I got one and then went from the old Cakewalk series to the Sonar series and now the upgrades are under 200 bucks, I am up to Sonar 7, 8 has just come out but don't think its all that much better than 7 so usually stick with it and wait a couple of upgrades so I wait till Sonar 9 comes out before I jump. A lot of people like Protools and there is a Protools LE that comes bundled if you get some M-Audio products but it has that stupid dongle you have to stick in a usb port to use it. I do on the laptop, go between Protools LE and Sonar, there were features on each that I liked. Anyway I could ramble on for days, so I better shut up before it starts running into a second page!

Originally posted by sonhouse
I have two sets of recorders, one on the lap is the firewire 410, 2 decent mic preamps built in, so no mixer needed, and 4 inputs max, so if you need 4 mics, you are back to mixer time. The other is on the PC, an RME Hammerfall Multiface I/O box, it features 8 audio ins and outs and Midi in and out, but no preamps. If you have a box like that, you need to l mble on for days, so I better shut up before it starts running into a second page!

yes Mackie has great reputation, pre amps on mixers are meant to be awesome, also it was a toss up for me between 1616M and the M-audio firewire 410. with the EMU 1616M you get a virtual mixing desk where you can route the audio signal anywhere, both physically and virtually, plus you can stack virtual Fxs in the signal path, just as one would if it was hardware. it came bundled with a lot of software (sonar etc etc) which to be honest was quite cumbersome when compared to Adobe Audition, for it has everything you could imagine in the one interface, plus it handles video as well. I hope you don't mind, but i ran one or two of your tracks taken from myspace through my system and found that the levels were just a little low, somewhere between -36 and minus -18db , also that there were a couple of transient peaks which needed sorting, but apart from that they were awesome.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
yes Mackie has great reputation, pre amps on mixers are meant to be awesome, also it was a toss up for me between 1616M and the M-audio firewire 410. with the EMU 1616M you get a virtual mixing desk where you can route the audio signal anywhere, both physically and virtually, plus you can stack virtual Fxs in the signal path, just as one would if it ...[text shortened]... e were a couple of transient peaks which needed sorting, but apart from that they were awesome.

Sounds great. The RME Hammerfall multiface I use also has a nice routing routine, but Sonar has so many effects, it also has routing, at least Sonar 7. Sonar 8.3 is out now, maybe even better. I put the tracks through a leveler, tends to make the tracks the same level, they looked the same, but you say some of the ones on Myspace are -18dbm? Sounds awful low volume, it might have been an artifact of the MP3 converter, the CD has fairly equal levels, at least within 6 db or so. I know there were some peaks but I got most of them out before I put it on the CD, but I do see some ceiling hits there, couple times. On our family CD, our family music over the last 25 years, I saw one cut that had a bunch of 60 Hz, heavy layer. So I used one of the graphic equalizers in Sonar to cut out everything below 100 Hz, the problem was the hum had harmonics that went almost to the vocal band, but I managed to get the equalizer inbetween and cut out the hum ok but that left a big hole in the bass side, so I recorded another guitar track with a nice bass sound and mixed that in and you can't even tell there was ever hum there or the guitar wasn't played at the same time as the original recording. I felt good about that restoration. I think the original is on a 10 inch reel to reel and all my analog machines are down now, so it will be a separate project to find a working 10 inch 15 IPS 1/4 inch 4 track machine to go over all my old stuff. My archived stuff has some nice recordings in it if I can get a decent machine, I did see a Tascam for 200 bucks but hope it is still around when I get the bucks for it. Supposedly in working order. So do you have a piece or two on Myspace? I am going to see my daughter's premier performance of her music at the end of March in Albuquerque, that will be nice. She has an MA in music.

Originally posted by sonhouse
Sounds great. The RME Hammerfall multiface I use also has a nice routing routine, but Sonar has so many effects, it also has routing, at least Sonar 7. Sonar 8.3 is out now, maybe even better. I put the tracks through a leveler, tends to make the tracks the same level, they looked the same, but you say some of the ones on Myspace are -18dbm? Sounds awful lo e of her music at the end of March in Albuquerque, that will be nice. She has an MA in music.

Actually sonhouse my friend, it was my mistake. when i max out the volume on myspace the tracks are coming in with a reading between -18db and -6db, which is perfectly normal for soft music (over zero and things start to distort so this is fine!). when i initially sampled them, i had the setting from myspace at three quarters of the way, although there is still one transient that i noticed, but its not very severe.

the process of cutting space (frequencies) is great way to instill clarity. does Sonar have a parametric equalizer? like the graphic equalizer not only can you change a small band of frequencies, but also the range of frequencies around that frequency or do a complete shelf equalization. its often a good idea to roll off around 200-250 hertz to reduce bass rumble. i understand that acoustic guitars do well with a little cut below 80hz and again with a little cut around 800Hz to 1 Hz, and if one wants a warmer tone a little boost around 150Hz to 250 Hz, or if one wants to add a little 'punch', a few dBs around 3 to 5 Hz and a few dBs around 7Hz can add brightness etc etc, although these are very general guidelines and experimentation is the order of the day!

No i have only visited myspace about twice, both times to listen to your music! If i find the time i may do something. Actually I do have some stuff, one is a spoof track that me and my friend did because of these CCTV operators that were at a convention we were at, security gone mad! It will give you a laugh but is not to be taken seriously and the other is mixed without EQ and i cannot find the individual tracks because i formatted my computer. it is essentially a riff and reminded me of a Marvel superheroes theme tune, both are electric guitar and not the sort of thing a folkie would appreciate!

it would be amazing if you could find the 'bucks', to resurrect your family music

I wish you and your daughter well, you must be very happy - kind regards Robbie.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
Actually sonhouse my friend, it was my mistake. when i max out the volume on myspace the tracks are coming in with a reading between -18db and -6db, which is perfectly normal for soft music (over zero and things start to distort so this is fine!). when i initially sampled them, i had the setting from myspace at three quarters of the way, although t ...[text shortened]... ly music

I wish you and your daughter well, you must be very happy - kind regards Robbie.

Well that's good, I didn't think I had made that bad an error! I get a good readout of the db levels with Sonar, and yes they have several parametrics, I have a list of fx that takes awhile to even go through much less use, like Lexicon Pantheon, a 3d reverb effect you can set up with a mouse, very impressive performance and lots of others. You mentioned your recording software, did you say Audigy? How much did it cost? Oh, forgot you get special deals🙂
Yeah, it's great to be seeing Heather again, she has some nice recording stuff with her and I am wearing my fingers off practicing, she wants to record my latest stuff, so am practicing piano, mandolin, dulcimer and guitar. My guitar case has a big pouch that I will be able to fit the mandolin inside like a kangaroo, marsupial-like, that will no doubt tick off the airlines not being able to charge for two cases! I will be spending a week in Albuquerque New Mexico, haven't been there for 20 years or so and if they are still there, some other friends also, Yigal Zan, an archeologist from Israel but an incredible player of Irish music, especially on the 4 string tenor banjo, a real virtuoso and a frigging encyclopedia of knowledge about Irish music. I wish I had been one tenth as good when we were buddies in Venice beach back in the 70's, I would have loved to have had him in my band, Southwind. But 20 years is a long time and I would not be surprised if he went back to his home country. I'll have to anywho.com him, see if he is in the area still. I would love to have him at my recording studio for about oh, two months🙂 maybe I could get one tenth of the stuff he really knows in that time🙂

Originally posted by sonhouse
Well that's good, I didn't think I had made that bad an error! I get a good readout of the db levels with Sonar, and yes they have several parametrics, I have a list of fx that takes awhile to even go through much less use, like Lexicon Pantheon, a 3d reverb effect you can set up with a mouse, very impressive performance and lots of others. You mentioned y ...[text shortened]... t oh, two months🙂 maybe I could get one tenth of the stuff he really knows in that time🙂

No, unfortunately adobe audition did not come bundled, its cost about £200.00 or there about. My friend purchased it then i purchased it from him. what I got bundled was cubase, sonar, some fx and E-Mu own audio software. the great thing about the new version of Adobe audition is that it supports VST plugins, so you can build up an almost limitless library of effects, many of which are completely free but also completely useless! the thing i noticed when using cubase was that there were two almost separate interfaces, one was the wave lab, where you could work on section of wave and the other was the virtual mixing desk, in adobe you can automatically switch between these two effortlessly and also apply the effects in real time, it also allows for duel monitors should you wish to view the wave and the virtual mixer on separate screens.

wow, what a life you have! jetting here and there, living from your music. hopefully you will have great time and make some awesome music, Israeli chap seems quite intriguing, perhaps he may frequent the Irish bar in Tel Aviv, my friend says there was one when he visited, even had Murphys and export Guinness on tap! enjoy yourself anyhow, regards Robbie.