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Hi you all A lot of years back I made some recordings, playing country blues : Robert Johnson, Skip James, Son House and my own stuff and others in a more folk vein. Apart from family and a few friends, nobody ever heard these recordings. There are a few guitarists here. So I was thinking maybe to get a wider range of opinions. Also from the people who don't play guitar ! Nothing is done with BIAB. That's why I posted here. I don't use BIAB to make songs, just to make jazz play alongs. It's just me and my guitar.I didn't put everything but still, there's a lot of songs, take all the time you need. One more thing. Sorry but this NOT CD quality. The originals were recorded on tape. I still have them. It's audible. I tried once to improve the quality, but it's time consuming ! And I probably didn't have the right software. All I could do was lower the hissing and put a bit of reverb on certain songs. So all you audio engineers out there, take a pill or an herbal tea, to calm your nerves...  blues that are not mine http://soundcloud.com/pierre-julien/sets/blues-not-my-own/s-jEqIF my own stuff http://soundcloud.com/pierre-julien/sets/blues-folk-my-own/s-nNa4CPS : very nervous posting this. Be gentle... Thanks
Last edited by Pierre Julien; 02/14/11 02:56 PM.
Best of all and hope your day is a nice one
Pierre
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Quote:
One more thing. Sorry but this NOT CD quality. The originals were recorded on tape. I still have them. It's audible. I tried once to improve the quality, but it's time consuming ! And I probably didn't have the right software. All I could do was lower the hissing and put a bit of reverb on certain songs. So all you audio engineers out there, take a pill or an herbal tea, to calm your nerves...
PS : very nervous posting this. Be gentle...
Thanks
Well I listened to two and an audio spike at the very start of each made me jump out of my skin and rach to turn down my speaker (you should really remove those spikes - audacity is free and will do the job). From what I could hear (The train) you are a talented guy, but the sound and recording quality sound like Robert Johnson himself set up in a motel room. Do youself a favor and re-record the tunes. Even the most modest of studios would greatly enhance the listening experience. 
Hope I was gentle.
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I had a listen to "Terraplane Blues", very good playing and vocal performance in my opinion, that is a very difficult style to play. I also listened to "Rambling on my mind", again a good vocal but it sounded like your guitar was out of tune??
Also had a listen to "Dirt Road", very good!
I agree, you should re-record them. Easy these days to have almost studio quality results in the comfort of your own home, and not very expensive to setup either.
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Nice performance, Pierre.
While others are recommending total re-recording, which is one path, I would also say that these soundfiles could be cleaned up a LOT using the PC and softwares readily available today. The free Audacity.exe program would help a lot here.
You could do some Audio Editing, as in cropping out those clicks at the beginnings, you could also do a bit of Mastering by way of EQ and Compression to level them out.
The performance is strong enough that a bit of such work would likely allow you to post these soundfiles without having to put apologies in parentheses.
Besides that, from having to transcribe them off of those awful worn records so many years ago, I'm of the decided "audiophile" opinion that Robert Johnson's stuff *SHOULD* be recorded with a bit of audio distortion dirt! It is authentic, in a way. So don't go out and buy a ready-made stainless steel or porcelain slide with a brand name on it, use the back of a jacknife, like the boss did.
Good playin'
--Mac
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Dan, Dave & Mac
Thank you very much for your listening, suggestions and nice remarks. Very encouraging.
Yes, I thought that the quality sound would be a main issue. I hadn't listened to these songs for a long time and when I had finished downloading them, said to myself, "ah go ahead you'll see". But that being said, I agree and you are all three right in your assumptions. I already downloaded audacity and I'll see what I can do with it.
I'll try to improve the recordings as much as I can and try to make the right decisions. I guess, I'll try a mixture of all your suggestions, anyway, it won't come out hyper polished 'cause I'm really not an audio engineer. But I'll try... I can't record any of them anymore, it's been too long and I don't remember how to play a single one !!
Dave, the guitar didn't strike me as being that out of tune. Maybe when I slide upward, it does sound a bit out of tune, but nothing that really grabs my ear.
And Mac,right on. I remember that I made my bottleneck from a glass bottle. It hasn't played for a while but I still have it.
Thanks again.
Last edited by Pierre Julien; 02/15/11 11:12 AM.
Best of all and hope your day is a nice one
Pierre
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Quote:
Dave, the guitar didn't strike me as being that out of tune. Maybe when I slide upward, it does sound a bit out of tune, but nothing that really grabs my ear.
The slides sounds ok, there is a little riff you play that sounds a bit off to me, you can hear it between .03 and .05, and you repeat it throughout the tune, but might be my ears. But great technique on the slide, wish I could play slide half as good as you!
And great technique with the fingerpicking style of playing too! I used to do a little of the blues fingerpicking style, not as good as you mind you, but haven't been able to in years due to arthritis in my right hand. Can only play with a pick now. I haven't found any upside to getting older yet, but still hoping :P
But yeah, great playing overall and good original material too!
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Thanks again Dave for your nice comments. Heard the lick your talking about. It doesn't strike me. Instead of being your ears, maybe it's just mine that can't hear well enough !! I really like playing slide guitar. I think Robert Johnson and Fred McDowell took bottleneck playing to a high level. I also like Son House and Bukka White, but their style is less "sophisticated" (whatever that means), and is more "gut" playing. I never played with a pick, so I'd be unable to follow you my friend...
I do have one question though. The "spike" that comes out at the beginning of the sound files which Dan was talking about, doesn't show when I listen to it in audacity... Must say that I'm really lost in all those possible sound remedies... But I'll take my time...
Last edited by Pierre Julien; 02/15/11 12:14 PM.
Best of all and hope your day is a nice one
Pierre
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I haven't found any upside to getting older yet, but still hoping
Discount on coffee at McDonalds for Sr. Citizens. 
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Pierre,
You are one fine guitar player friend !! Nothing to worry about with those songs, very nicely done. Get your set-up in Biab set correctly with your guitar and inputs etc . . . and you will be making CD quality stuff. I bet you could even sale some songs on a website like CD Baby etc . . .
Biab was made for you and your skills. Put it altogether and you will have some fantastic songs and backing tracks to accompany your music with.
I enjoyed listening and would encourage you to learn the ins and outs of recording in Biab. I think you would do very well with your original music and think people would support you.
Trax
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Hey Trax
Thank you very much for your enthusiasm. As with the others, it's communicative and much appreciated. Your also right concerning BIAB. What some people can do with BIAB around here is downright astonishing ! So, I'd like to try and discover a bit more about BIAB. I just have to take the time and learn about recording myself in the proper way, with the right equipment. About selling my stuff I don't know, but I definitely want to learn how to make songs with BIAB. First, I'll try and "clean" the songs I have on line.
Last edited by Pierre Julien; 02/15/11 02:48 PM.
Best of all and hope your day is a nice one
Pierre
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Quote:
Well I listened to two and an audio spike at the very start of each made me jump out of my skin and rach to turn down my speaker (you should really remove those spikes - audacity is free and will do the job). From what I could hear (The train) you are a talented guy, but the sound and recording quality sound like Robert Johnson himself set up in a motel room. Do youself a favor and re-record the tunes. Even the most modest of studios would greatly enhance the listening experience.
Hope I was gentle.
Well Dan, I finally removed the big spikes as you called them, at the start of each song. True, they also made me jump. Now for the rest...
Best of all and hope your day is a nice one
Pierre
IMac OSX 10.6.5 / latest BIAB
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Well Dan, I finally removed the big spikes as you called them, at the start of each song. True, they also made me jump. Now for the rest...
Hey there , just for me? thank you very much. I will log back in and listen to more
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Glad I caught this post before it slipped away. I play a some of these tunes myself and I thought
you did a good job on them. My favorites were Terraplane and That's No Way to Get Along. I thought the guitar
on Terraplane was good and I loved your vocal. Your playing and singing sounds very accomplished. There were some places on the originals where I think you probably hadn't worked the melody out. But in general there was some very nice music with kind of a Jack Johnson type feel. You have a lot of talent, I'd suggest you try playing out more, if that's what you'd like. You should be well received.
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Hi Pete
Just wanted to thank you for the listening and your nice comments. Mitty appreciated. True that some of the blues are probably not 100% accurate compared to the originals. But in some way, without being too far from the originals, I wanted to "appropriate" them as if they were my own. Don't know if I could play out more, like you said. These days I'm more into classical and jazz music. But each time I pick up my steel string guitar, it's like riding a bike...
Listened to some of your stuff. Blues feeling all the way. Great guitar playing and technique. I never can get that metallic sound out of my guitar since I play with my nails. You mention Stefan Grossman. That's exactly were I started to learn the blues, with his books. I must say that I'm more oriented toward your playing the country blues, than country, but that's just a question of personal taste.
Thanks again.
Best of all and hope your day is a nice one
Pierre
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