Bluegrass anyone?

Whoa, no flange reverb fuzz doubling feedback echo? How is it possible to make music without those?....I really enjoyed both the tunes at yer site..the playing was excellent and the recording was clean.....I'm not very knowledgable about the bluegrass style (and not a fan of Ricky Skaggs, glad you didn't mention him in your influences...) but it's a genuine feel good sound......gibs
 
Interesting that you should mention Skaggs. I am not a great fan either, but he is one of the few who have recorded a good CD using only guitar and mandolin the way we do. It is an unusual approach, but I think it results in a certain clarity, which is desirable in acoustic music.

Thank you for the nice words!

George www.mp3.com/lostandlonesome
 
Took your tunes over to a friend of mine with no net access (but a CDRW-5000) and he dug it bigtime.
I could tell by the smile on his mug!
I'm working on converting some more of his stuff to .mp3 format.
 
O.K. guys, sorry I can't comment on the recording, but I'm playing everything on lo-fi and have only small desktop speakers to listen on, but it sounded pretty clean. Good to see you guys doing your own thing, with the bluegrass and all, Brother Billy is a pretty nice song. Its nice to be able to pour out what you're feeling in a song. I don't listen to a whole lot of bluegrass, but I played some blues at a festival in northern Arkansas once and saw a Bluegrass band there and stayed for the whole show. Its a nice change of pace for me, keep up the good work.
 
At last, music I can understand!

I love the sparse sound, and it sounds like the slightly lo-fi sound (not much hige end) is more the fault of MP3 quality rather than the source recording.

Usually mandolins sound much more piercing and biting - did you record it more 'mellow' on purpose, or is that the MP3 encoder taking out the high end? Tasty playing, no matter how it was recorded.

I like the guitar sound, and the vocal sound too.

Musically, you sound closer to Ian and Sylvia (Ian Tyson) records from the early 60's. They were pretty sparse too, and I find the sound of those records immediate and arresting.

How did you record?
 
Thank you for taking time to comment about our music. Yes, the "mello" sound of the mandolin was intentional on these recordings. We hoped to compliment the lyrical content of the songs. We have other songs with more of a bite.

The recording technique was just as straight forward and simple as the music. We just set up a couple of condenser mics in the 3rd bedroom and sat 6 feet away from one another, with the mics pointed at the instruments. This provided adequate separation and still allowed us to play together. Then we replayed that track and just sang the lyrics. A little mixing to make sure the vocal was just barely on top and .... Done!

Thanks again for your interest.

George www.mp3.com/lostandlonesome
 
Thanks Tapehead!
I do play the upright bass. I agree that it would make the recording sound finer. I also plan to add banjo and fiddle. This particular mp3 was for submission to a songwriter showcase entry. They prefer very sparse instrumentation. In fact, using the mandolin was kinda' pushing it. I expect to have the complete CD finished in a few months. You will be able to hear it in the complete musical form then. Thanks again for your input!
George Ireton www.mp3.com/lostandlonesome
 
Very enjoyable...esp. the guitar comes through very well. Not a lot of stereo separation that I could tell but I have to confess I'm a width freak when it comes to recording. Maybe X-Y or crossed mics technique would have increased the spread, but I can't be sure--maybe worth experimenting.

The vocals seemed a little dry--a bit more verb or room could help--that's of course a subjective thing. Now do you have a friend with a double bass--that would really rock it! But regardless, good use of the guitar bass line. By the way I like the eq on the mandolin. They can get very harsh and peaky but you've got it right here I'd say.
 
I've listened to quite a lot of Bluegrass and Country when I was younger.

"Really Teddie???"

No really. My dad, (the one in Thunder on the Mountain http://chooser.mp3.com/cgi-bin/play/play.cgi/AAICQo7tCADABG5vcm1QBAAAAFIbkQEAUQIAAABDf6xaOQPvkUlaDJKHzo.Ct5rTc.o-/thunder_on_the_mountain.m3u) he used to listen to Country before he discovered Led Zep... I swear to god. When he was listening to Country, I was listening to Soul and Funk, then when he switched to Rock, we kinda both switched. (Why do I tell these life stories.. sorry).

Anyway, I listened to both songs and thought they were both great. The only thing I can think of to comment on was the picking in the beginning of Brother Billy. I felt it was too far back, low level... could come up a tad in the mix.

I'm actually pretty impressed by the pickin' and fiddlin' action that goes on in Bluegrass music. Some of that pickin' and fiddlin' is really lightning fast but really clean...
 
I love bluegrass, but I'm no expert. I would love to hear upright, fiddle, banjo... and some of those purty 3 part harmonies with everyone huddled around one mic. The only recording comment is the 'P' pops in "By The Creek".

I'm friends with Katie Laur (a bit of a regional legend), and I think she'd love "By the Creek" (hell, she'd love the name "Lost and Lonesome" just on it's own ;)). I'll have to pass it on.

[This message has been edited by pglewis (edited 07-01-2000).]
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top