Open Mic

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Darren1664

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« Reply #105 on: April 06, 2017, 07:41:05 PM »
Hey Delboy!

Just thought I'd pop my head in and say that I've been listening to some of your music and it's superb....and your guitaring is killer!! Nice work....and fair play on the live performances. Wish I had the balls :P

Thanks
Darren

Edit: I do have a question. How do you manage to record guitar and vocal simultaneously and so clearly? My recording always end up boomy and horrible. Thanks.
« Last Edit: April 06, 2017, 09:54:44 PM by Darren1664 »

pompeyjazz

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« Reply #106 on: April 06, 2017, 09:45:04 PM »
Glad to hear from you again Del. Great stuff - Keep up that live stuff man  :)

delb0y

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« Reply #107 on: April 07, 2017, 07:54:49 AM »
Hi Darren

Thanks for the kind words and for listening to my stuff. The answer to your question is... no idea.  :-\  I'm afraid to say when it comes to recording I have little knowledge, even less finesse, and a minimum of gear I plug a Samson USB mic into the laptop, open up my DAW (very old free cut-down copy of Sonar Cakewalk), and hit record. I usually do a test to makes sure the guitar and vocals are in balance and that's it. I have found that my big dreadnaught can sound boomy, it's definitely louder than the Martin and/or Tanglewood, so I adjust the microphone position accordingly. But that really is the sum of my knowledge.

Cheers
Derek
West Country Country Boy

rightly

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« Reply #108 on: April 16, 2017, 06:50:43 PM »
I've really enjoyed
reading through this thread.
I'll come back to this when I've more time.

Many thanks for keeping this up, it's been very entertaining so far!!
It's either this or that, then again it might be the other. 

I can promise you a future of slow decline.

Don't eat the yellow snow

And there you have it. 

https://soundcloud.com/2rightly

https://soundcloud.com/rightly

Darren1664

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« Reply #109 on: April 16, 2017, 10:05:58 PM »
Hi Darren

Thanks for the kind words and for listening to my stuff. The answer to your question is... no idea.  :-\  I'm afraid to say when it comes to recording I have little knowledge, even less finesse, and a minimum of gear I plug a Samson USB mic into the laptop, open up my DAW (very old free cut-down copy of Sonar Cakewalk), and hit record. I usually do a test to makes sure the guitar and vocals are in balance and that's it. I have found that my big dreadnaught can sound boomy, it's definitely louder than the Martin and/or Tanglewood, so I adjust the microphone position accordingly. But that really is the sum of my knowledge.

Cheers
Derek

Hey! Thanks Derek for passing on your pearls of wisdom....I think it's great that you can just sit down and record like that and get such great results. Your tracks are so listenable (?? is that even a word) but yeah - I feel like anything I record is grating and hard on the ear. Maybe that's just the inner critic, who knows :P

One day my dream is to have the confidence to perform open mic ;) one day!

Thanks
Darren

ScottLevi

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« Reply #110 on: April 28, 2017, 08:05:31 AM »
Hey Derek,

Just popping by to say hi :). I bought a mini cajon few days ago - had a friend over last night and was checking out your "I Like a Drink" to see how it's done, such a cool instrument and this mini one sits nicely in your lap but still produces some good sound.

Be sure to give Dave a thanks from me on the inspiration and please share any pro tips if they're up for grabs!

Also we had a listen to your cover of Canonnball Rag whilst on the channel and my mate was just as impressed as me :)

All the best,
Scott

delb0y

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« Reply #111 on: April 28, 2017, 05:29:13 PM »
Hi Scott

Those cajons are indeed fine things! I did an Open Mic not long ago and a fellow brought one along and was sitting in with anyone who gave him the nod. I'm always up for guests on stage to take the heat off me so up he came. His, unlike Dave's (who's really Chris...), wasn't even plugged in but it still filled the room with a nice snap. Dave / Chris does an incredible version of Hey Joe on his - if you recall what Mitch Mitchell does on the drums during the riff section... we often end our set with it and it goes down a storm, although apparently it hurts the hands.  ;D

Thanks for the compliment on Cannonball. It's fun to play and mostly a lot easier than it looks!

It's been quiet recently but I do have two gigs this coming Sunday - both at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival. I've been roped in to play some lead guitar for a local song-writer - Gordon Wood. In the early afternoon we're doing some "official busking" on the main site itself (weather permitting - if it rains we still get paid but don't have to play! That's my sort of deal  ;D ) and then in the evening we have a gig in town. I'm really looking forward to it - the songs are great, we have an excellent rhythm section, a harp and a sax, and lead guitar, plus Gordon on the main vocals.

Alas, haven't been writing any songs - hence my lack of posts here. But I do have a couple of nice lyric ideas that are just waiting for melodic / chordal inspiration...

Cheers
Derek
West Country Country Boy

delb0y

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« Reply #112 on: May 30, 2017, 01:18:03 PM »
So...

...Apparently (it was on Five Live a few weeks ago) there's a whole lot of people who don't like other people starting sentences with "So,". Heh.

Anyway, it's been a very quiet May. No gigs. Not even an OM. But we're out with the band on Saturday :-)  and there's a few gigs in various ensembles, including solo, in July and August already. I've also been enjoying getting my rhythm guitar chops up to speed. Well, up to a fairly mediocre speed, that is. But I'm quite enjoying learning some new chords and voicings. I reckon I could quite happily be a rhythm guitar player in a swing band. And today I learn that the latest Western has been accepted for publication. Nowt to do with song-writing, of course, but it is to do with writing and story-telling, which tends to be where my songs are at anyway. It's a crying shame it's not 60 years ago when there was a living to be made writing pulp fiction (which is what my work is).

That's all the news for now.
D
West Country Country Boy

CaliaMoko

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« Reply #113 on: May 30, 2017, 02:56:26 PM »
Derek, I would be deliriously happy to get my guitar chops up to your mediocre level!

And, congratulations on the book!

Vicki

delb0y

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« Reply #114 on: July 14, 2017, 02:43:06 PM »
Been a while so here's the latest in a very infrequent series.

May and June were very quiet and there was me thinking I'd retired from the live music business, so I signed up for a 100k bike ride on a Saturday when I had nothing in the evening except the opportunity to put my feet up and rest, with an equally lazy Sunday to follow. Blow me down with a custom kazoo, no sooner had I paid my money than my cajon bashing buddy called me and said we had a gig come in for the Saturday evening. Thinks I, we both sit down in the duo so I should be okay, despite the long bike ride. Then a day later he calls back this time with a gig for the rock'n'roll band on the Sunday afternoon. Standing up and rocking for three hours...

As it happened, it all went really well. The bike ride was a joy, both gigs were awesome with some very good feedback - excellent feedback actually - and even when I broke the chair half way through our acoustic version of Hey Joe I still didn't actually fall down.

On the back of that more gigs started to roll in. Got a couple at the Gloucester blues festival at the end of this month, and a half dozen for August - two different duos, a trio, and a couple with the band.

Not being much of a radio listener the question often comes up, usually when I'm talking to myself, how do you get to hear new music? Well here's a feller I stumbled across when perusing non-music stuff on You Tube. Luckily I wasn't the only one moved by the music in the video and a quick scan of the comments revealed numerous people asking "Who's the singer?" Well, it turned out to be Willy Tea Taylor. And to say he's right up my street would be akin to saying I'm sat here right now with a wee cup of tea (spookily), feet up, typing on this here computer. In other words, it's the gospel truth, bothers and sisters.

So here we have the greatest new artist I've discovered this year:

http://willyteataylor.com/music/

Hey ho. Back to work.

Derek



« Last Edit: July 14, 2017, 02:45:02 PM by delb0y »
West Country Country Boy

The S

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« Reply #115 on: July 22, 2017, 09:25:38 AM »
Good on ya Derek, I absolutely love Willy Tea!

Here's what I do when it comes to finding new music. I use Spotify as my only resource I might add. With Spotify open and lets say you've chosen to listen to Willy Tea Taylor, Spotify will suggest artists similar to Willy Tea that you also may like and that's a huge way to find new and similar artist that you may come to love.

That's one way, the other I use is to just pick a song or artist I like on Spotify, then choose radio based on that song or artist and let Spotify do the work.

I've done this the last 4 years and I can only say it's been a long time since I was this updated on great music, I'm not necessarily talking about "new" music since that's not really my thing, more newly discovered music, but I have to admit it has gotten me back to really appreciate listening to music and finding new artists again. Like in the good old days!  :D

I highly recommend it.

All the best,

Peter

Edit: Oh, and if you don't want to go through all the hassle let me know and I'll gladly make a Spotify playlist and post it here with songs and artist you truly must listen to.
« Last Edit: July 22, 2017, 09:31:17 AM by The S »

delb0y

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« Reply #116 on: July 25, 2017, 09:34:38 PM »
Cheers Skub. Great to find another Willie Tea fan and thanks for the Spotify tips. I will go a-searching!

Meanwhile, here's something of very limited interest. This song caused quite a rumpus when I posted it here a year or so back - but nonetheless I like it. Last night I was doing a bit of playing at the Gloucester Blues Festival and it seemed like a good moment to pull out an old (new) blues:

https://youtu.be/w1Bzrx7Acf4
West Country Country Boy

Boydie

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« Reply #117 on: July 27, 2017, 08:00:24 AM »
Nice solid pickin' in the vid

Those days in the shed have paid off  ;D
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Skub

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« Reply #118 on: July 27, 2017, 12:44:41 PM »
Schmokin' Del.  8)

delb0y

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« Reply #119 on: July 28, 2017, 02:03:24 PM »
Cheers guys!

I was lucky enough to get two gigs in a week. Following the one mentioned above I was in action with the super talented Damon T on Wednesday. Was quite an experience trying to fit in with his low down Delta blues, lots of drones, and strange tunings on guitar, banjo, and reso'. But the reaction during and comments afterwards were very encouraging.

West Country Country Boy