Tornado!

It’s no secret to many forum members that Janice and I played in several bluegrass bands over many years before moving to our mostly blues and Americana format. And many folks also know about our love of mountain biking. This video includes a BiaB RT bluegrass composition and photos of the two of us from the mid 90’s to the present. We attempted to combine two things we love into this production

During our bluegrass years we had the privilege of playing and recording with some world class musicians. As the rhythm section (bass and guitar) we heard a LOT of great picking.

I was a bit reluctant to try and put together an instrumental bluegrass tune because, although not a lead picker, I am aware of the subtleties in bluegrass instrumentals from my long time association with it and I was not sure that I could get a cohesive sound from the solo instruments. With BiaB they’re gonna play great riffs, be in tune and timed correctly but so much of bluegrass is one player working off another, etc. All meaning that I had to comp a good bit to get the solos to at the least “seem” to work together and especially to get the segues from one instrument to the next to sound, hopefully, fluid and natural. Also it was necessary to comp in the bluegrass “G run” at the appropriate spots. I tried something like this several years ago and wasn’t happy with the results so decided to give it another go.

Thanks to floyd jane for the title and to Janice for listening to a zillion permutations And as always a big shout out to the "PG Pickers!"

So hang on for a short fast ride! Your comments are always welcome.

Bud

PS Pardon the ramble…it was an interesting experiment - whether successful or not.

RT 427 Bass, acoustic. rhythm
RT 431 Guitar, acoustic, rhythm
RT 427 Banjo, rhythm
RT 426 Banjo, solo
RT 429 fiddle, rhythm
RT 430 fiddle, solo
RT 432 mandolin, rhythm
RT 436 mandolin, solo

Multiple generations of each rhythm and solo tracks were comped to create a single track for each instrument.

All tracks were processed with Neutron and an EMT 140 Reverb simulation.

Mixed in Logic Pro X and Mastered via Ozone 7 advanced

Tornado!

Man!!!! You knocked my socks off with this, freakin' awesome! Loved it!

Hi Guys,
Super Pics and music ,love both.What is the bpm?and is that typical of bluegrass?
Looks like you biked in some amazing places.I have sore hamstrings and calf muscles just looking at the video.Well done
Hugh

BRILLIANT music, really enjoyed this one

I'm blown away

your attention to detail and care shows well on this

it sounds so authentic as does the progression

great job and fantastic video, you guys are what, about 30 years old?

"well blow me down" Popeye

enjoyed the listen very much

Kenny

Thanks for the back story on this.
Glad you never hesitated any longer, Magic.
Thumbs for the video as well.
Rob

WOW WOW WOW Bloody brilliant ,got that ricky skaggs Opry feel .THANK YOU so much for this its way beyond the call of duty
Cheers Brsd

Bud,
This rips by like the title says and sounds great to me.
Love the muddied gnarly pics and mountain scenery... there`s no extra padding here on music or riders!

Robert

Hey Janice & Bud! Great take on this! Really fond of the mastering job too. Well done!

Wow! Great job. Sounds very natural and fluid. I love the stops under the fiddle solo.

Janice & Bud

I got sore leg muscles just from watching! The song sounds joyous and wonderfully compliments the video.
Cleverly done and a great sounding production. I'll defer to you on the bluegrass authenticity and the G run' and just say it sounds perfect to me.

Peter

What a cool tune to go along with a very cool video. When we chatted in the summer you mentioned you liked to mountain bike. I thought nice relaxing cruise down a green space bike path. Wowser that was all out in the dirt racing. Very cool and kudos to you and Janet for being so passionate about cycling. I was tired and sore after watching the video :-)

Thanks Dave - hope you recovered the socks!

J&B



Hugh, the tempo is 150 and the bluegrass RT's have a range of 130-165. However the bluegrass community because they consider Bluegrass to be in 2/4 would say the song is 300bpm and put it in a very fast BG category. Flatt & Scrugg's Foggy Mt Breakdown is typically done from 250-300bpm. I mention it because many folks are familiar with it. So, yes, it is typical of very fast bluegrass instrumentals and there are many of them.

Glad you liked it!

J&B

Wow. Great fun, great production and very skillful use of BIAB.

Thank you! Bluegrass is assuredly not for everyone so your listen is appreciated.

J&B

Hey this sounds great to me Bud!

Wow, what a tune guys! I love the way this one flows - it's hard not to move to it The guitar/banjo work on this is superb! Very fine job here.

Thanks so much for sharing!

Oh man do I wish for 30 or 40 or 50 or, hell, I'd take 60.

Your word "authentic" made my day.

Thanks!

Bud

Really enjoyed Tornado. A real upbeat fun track and it certainly lives up to the name.
The attention to detail and production is excellent throughout.
I'm amazed that an authentic-sounding recording such as this can be put together using BIAB.
Nice video too ! Very well done.

Thanks for mentioning the video. Glad you liked it!

J&B

J&B, I don't think you can get it sounding any better than that! The editing is amazing and the mix is even and clear as a bell. It's great that you can share one of your other passions with us via the video. I could almost hear those shifters going click,click,click. A wonderful contribution to the forum, Tom

This sounds so authentic, but really! It also sounds like a real bluegrass band. This is top-notch work with BIAB.
It's also great to see you guys involved in such a great and healthy hobby too ;-)

Rob

Thanks! We've listened to Ricky since the 70's. He helped keep BG alive through some hard times. Great guy.

J&B

Thanks Robert. Love your description!

J&B

Thanks Joe. I appreciate you mentioning the mastering also.

Bud




Thanks. Natural and fluid was we had hoped for.

Bud

Hey Guys!

I was gonna drop in for a listen last night, well - early this morning a 2:00 but my Internet was out just got it back half an hour ago. Si I'm here as Di is in bed resting, trying to recuperate from too much time at the hospital and doctor's office yesterday.

This is cool ... and a little bit more! I know it;'s been said several times before but this really does sound like the real thing. It was like standing on the ground, watching a damned good BG band on stage at the county fair. The attention to detail shouts out in this arrangement and mix.

You were true to the craft6 and the genre. Without knowing otherwise, it would be nearly impossible to think this was all done electronically. As you know, I think, I write novels. As such, I turn reality into fiction. You turn fiction (sorta) into reality.

You guys deserve so much credit for this marvelous offering. And on top of that, I'll give a shoutout to Dr. Gammons and the fine folks at PG music. Ther made a marvelous tool for us. But that tool, like that of a master mechanic's, is only as good as the craftsman.

You guys are at the pinnacle of your craft. There are folks who aspire to meet the highest standard. And there are those very few capable of setting the standard. I think you know which group you are in, even if you won't say so yourself.

Thanks for the smile on my ears!

Alan

I just love it! The video and music are so lively and full of energy!

Wow, what fun you must have had! Beautiful!

Hi, guys !:))

That was quite a tornado
to me !!!!! Wow!!!!!
I´m no expert on bluegrass
but there´s nuthin´beatin´
that speed of pickin´!!!!
Love it !

Cheers
Dani

VERY authentic-sounding bluegrass tune, so hats off for that! But you may have undermined the song a little for this audience because if anyone else here is like me, they spent the first two or three listens basically looking at the pictures!

At the 1:12 marker, I'd kind of like to know the relative ages of the people on the podium... looks like y'all are whuppin' @$$ on the young 'uns!

I basically know you through your music, but I know enough about each of you to realize that you both run far deeper that what we know from this forum. Thanks for helping us to know you a little better through this music video!

Hello, Janice & Bud

The feeling of rapidly running is amazing!
Both in the sounds and Video.
Great fun!
The choices of each solo instrument are very splendid.
I feel your accurate intention there and it is succeeded really well.
Enjoyed my listen a lot.

Best regards.

Shigeki Adachi

Thanks Peter. The Lester Flatt G Run is heard in virtually every BG tune recorded since he started it in the 40's. It's called that the irrespective of key. Capos are essential to the sound. Hope your legs are better!

J&B



Thanks Scott. We've about retired from racing but a local mountain bike series created a Ultra Grandmasters 70+ class this year where Bud wouldn't have the age excuse not to join in.

J&B

Thanks!

J&B




Thanks David!

J&B



Thank you Deryk. Glad you liked the flow...that's, to us, what music and mountain biking are all about.

J&B



Thanks a bunch. Yep, BiaB is a heckuva product.

J&B

HaHaHa...sometimes we hear those clicks in out dreams!

Thanks for the listen and getting a good mix report from you means a LOT given your consistent high bar productions. Productions that we greatly admire.

We are appreciative.

J&B

It just doesn't get better than this.






Best BIAB bluegrass ever.





Great tools in the right hands - Masterful.

Thanks guys...we do our best to have fun!



Al, that is most kind. We love your fiction to reality analogy. And ditto to the PG Music shoutout....a marvelous tool indeed. One that more folks should be exploiting.

Thanks again for the wonderful comments. We are very appreciative.

J&B

Thanks and, hey, we are still having that fun!

J&B




Thanks Pat and glad you like the photos. The photo of me was about my biggest moment in racing. It was a nationally sanctioned race and I won...but it was a 60+ class. Now Janice is the amazing one. She's third on the podium but she had to race in a 19+ class as the promoters only had two classes for women. Both the other's could have been her daughters and then some. She ended up winning the state champion one year in that same age group (at age 53). Thanks for listening/watching and, as always, for making such thoughtful comments.

J&B

Thank you Shigeki. That is exactly how we wanted listeners to feel.
We appreciate it!

J&B



Thanks mr jane and thanks for the title!

J&B

Fun to listen, and FUN to watch!! What a cool video!! You guys are impressive riders! Thanks for sharing! Take care. Greg

Bud,

This is outstanding and then some! I'm sitting here right now tapping my feet, nodding my head, tapping my fingers... you name it, if it's tappable it's up and running!

floyd said "Best BIAB bluegrass ever." I'd like to endorse that comment.

You've done an incredible job with the RT surgery and production. To my ears, everything flowed seamlessly and flawlessly.

I really enjoyed it.

All the best,
Noel