I finally have a recorder after all these years. Julie bought me
a Fostex MR8
and some microphones. I am still learning how to use it, but here
I share my progress. There is still some distraction with little Gail
reaching her hands out to twist some knobs - so you'll hear the volume cutting
in and out on some of the parts.
I have one big complaint about the unit. The USB interface is proprietary,
and requires a Windoze driver. Fortunately, you can simply put the CF card
into a reader and transfer files to/from a big computer. The MR-8 records
16-bit digital samples. It can record 2 channels while playing and mixing 6.
Because it is only 16-bits, you have to get the scaling just right when
recording to avoid audible quantization on soft parts.
The nice thing is, it is small, portable, and can even run on batteries (6 AA)
- so I expect to use it even when I'm rich and have a full 24-bit setup with
hard disk.
All samples in 128 bit MP3 format. Music by Stuart D. Gathman, copyright Stuart D. Gathman, and
licensed under a
Creative Commons License.
I wondered how quickly I could record something - say before going to work.
It took a total of 30 minutes to record, encode, and upload
Padre Nuestro.
Jan 16, 2010
The three older kids are out tonight, so I did another liturgical.
Here is me singing and playing Aleluya!.
Jan 3, 2010
I've been to busy to record, but I've been playing at the Spanish
Church that meets at Truro, and Carlos asked me to record some of the
liturgical music. Here is Julie and I singing Santo es el Señor.
Dec 22, 2005
Had many demands throughout the day, and a sore throat when I finally
got to sing. But I've found that it pays to strike while the inspiration
is hot. So I hope you enjoy this rendition of We Three Kings.
Dec 18, 2005
Recorded Mishi Noyes singing And Can it Be? with an acapella quartet for her grandmother.
Dec 04, 2005
I still haven't had a chance to sing with an acapella group, but it occured
to me that with my multitrack recorder, I can start practicing. So, tonight I
recorded 3 verses of Are you washed in the blood?. The rules are, no
instruments to provide pitch. The pitch is set by the first part I record. I
snap my fingers to start in sync.
It turned out a little better than
previous attempts. My voice was getting tired by the time I did the melody,
and so it gets flat in places. Maybe I'll do it again later.
Oct 06, 2005
Recorded Rock of Ages in the children's
chapel. Truro has started locking up the old chapel. There are
no mike stands in the children's chapel, so I laid the mike on some bubble
wrap inside. Unfortunately, the pedal vibrations are transmitted
through the bubble wrap and mar the piano recording. I also have a cold,
but that doesn't hurt it too much.
Aug 10, 2005
Redo of Psalm 42 because the harmonies in the
1999 version are off key. So the solo voice is sharp at the beginning of this one. Sigh. I think I ought to start doing
warm-ups before voice recordings. I fixed some voice mistakes with punch-in,
punch-out, but ran out of time before getting to the annoyingly sharp "My
tears".
Jul 30, 2005
Took Elissa to church and had time for just one take. I've discovered
that the voice sync problem is just good old fashioned rushing on the piano
part. When I sing while playing, the voice acts as a natural
regulator on the tempo. This time I tried mouthing the words
while recording the piano part. It's ok for just one take:
Blessed Assurance.
May 22, 2005
Recorded Leaning on the Everlasting Arms at
the chapel. I tried punching in "Safe and secure from all alarms" on
the second to last chorus, but I was no longer at the chapel. The
ambience is totally different, so I see that any punch-ins have to take place
in the same environment. I wish I had a studio I could use regularly.
Oh well, it is pretty good listening.
Recorded Psalm 86. Used a dynamic mic pointing inside
the top of a real upright piano (Truro Chapel). Recorded voice afterward.
Still have problem of voice not quite in sync with piano when recording
separately. I'm not sure what the problem is.
Feb 05, 2005
Dear Lord and Father of Mankind I learned
how dramatically microphone placement affects the sound. For my voice,
the mic is best pointing down toward my mouth instead of up toward my
nose - it picks up less nasal
sound that way. This time I also did not use the piano - pitch is
much better without an electronic approximation confusing the issue.
I am having problems with the speakers rattling when I try to optimize
the mix - so I don't know whether the noise is from clipping or the speakers
not hacking the harmonies. The speaker rattling version is
here. It sounds great on the full size
speakers that came with our old stereo - but still has just a tad
of rattle on a few of the deep notes. This is why all the recording pros say
to spend money on good monitors first. So far, I have $10 computer speakers
and a Radio Shack boom box. Another item for the wish list.
He Set Me Free This is an upbeat number
from the Assembly of God hymnbook, but set to a forbidden time signature
signature. I've included clapping for those who need help. I wish
I had a percussionist to help me - I am no good at percussion . I also
need a way to keep the bass on a separate track. I would like to turn it
up on this number.
Feb 7 - Beth said the vocals didn't sound in sync with the piano. I think
part of the problem is that the piano bass doesn't come through well - lousy
electronic piano, and the downbeats are bass notes. I tried running the mix
through compression and equalization to boost the bass. This helps, but
the compression gets confused in a few spots causing the volume to wobble
noticably. I think the only way to fix this is a separate bass track.
Se tu m'ami, se sospiri Elissa sings an
Italian love song. Again, I can't tell whether the rattles are clipping
or crudy speakers. Sigh.
Dear Lord and Father of Mankind (MP3 replaced with better
version below.) Another
hymn. I learned how to punch-in to redo one verse without redoing the
whole track. Still doesn't sound professional. Off pitch in places,
breathing at different times. Sigh.
Ballad of Sam Lord Ukulele and Bongos - recording
acoustic instruments with a dynamic mic is hard. A condenser mic with
preamp or mixer and phantom power is on my wish list. I am not sure how
old this song is - it is a folk song (I think) on an old record from Barbados
by the
Merrymen. It is "Sam Lord" or "Legend of Sam Lord". The Merrymen version
has more exotic percussion.
Jan 21, 2005
My Immortal Elissa sings and plays the guitar: she says DO NOT listen to this, it is sooo bad!
With the exception of Psalm 139 and 149, the following Scripture set to
music takes the words verbatim from various translations, including
King James Version, American Standard Version, and New Internation Version.
All samples in 128 bit MP3 format. Music by Stuart D. Gathman, copyright Stuart D. Gathman, and
licensed under a
Creative Commons License.
comic strip.
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