Amidst countless polls and OT topics. We’ve shared how old we are, how long we’ve been playing, pictures of cats, flute porn, and … And on and on. And I was thinking about it in the car the other day, there are thousands of people signed up to the forum and I’ve actually only heard a handful of them play. So why not start a thread and share some clips of our music. Clips of anything Irish related would be nice, any instrument. And clips of other genre’s would be nice too as I know many of you are involved in numerous types of music. So lets here something. I don’t want excuses either cause all it takes is that horrible mic that comes with your computer and a simple recording program to make a clip. And there are many people around here that will host a clip if you don’t have space yourself. The benefits are countless, recording is good practise and listening to others is even better practise. Lets share our Music!
So with that in mind, I’ll get things started with a clip I recorded just the other day. It will keep the bar low. It’s a tune called the Saw Jig that I learned from our very own Conal O’Grada.
Oh, that’s on a sindt D BTW becaues I sat on and broke my old oak D that I used to like to record with. Anyways, this could be fun and I hope some people will get the ball rolling.
Hah! I wish it were that simple! The “horrible mic” that came with my computer never worked at all. The one that came with my daughter’s computer produces so much back ground noise that the clips are unusable (I managed to get one usable clip out of it, which Ridseard was able to clean up for me and kindly hosted, but since then I’ve not been able to get anything that was clean-up-able). I bought a new, supposedly “low noise” mic from Radio Shack, but it has the same problem…doesn’t work on my machine, too much hissing on my daughter’s. I’ve tried baffling the mic on her machine, turning off everything electronic in the house except for her computer, playing in different positions relative to the mic, etc., but no luck.
If anyone can help me figure out what my mic problems are, I’d love to post more clips, but so far no one…either here at home or on-line…has any idea what’s wrong or how to fix it.
Was just thinking about this section and it would be good for the group if when you post an mp3 you post an ABC with it so people who can read music can learn the tune by both reading and listening at the same time.
Just a bonehead question from the peanut gallery: is it safe to assume that my Dell laptop has a built-in microphone? I thought I had to buy one separately.
When I am fully recovered from this damn virus, I will post a lovely little Taiwanese folk song, damned if I know what the name of it is, can’t read Chinese worth squat!
I use one of those electret mics from Radio Shack, about $25. Be sure to get windscreens for it (the little ones that go on a microphone, for those of you across the Pond). I use a rubber band to attach it to the whistle about halfway between the windway and the top hole. If you put it too close to the windway, it will sound like you recorded during a thunderstorm. I also drop the mic into the soundhole of my guitar to record it.
If you play other instruments and want to accompany yourself, invest in a sound editing program with a studio feature. I use Cool Edit 2000 with the Studio Plug-in, about $100. This will also allow you to take advantage of effects such as that rotating Leslie speaker effect, which sounds great on a whistle (try not to overuse it, though).
If you go to the following address you will get sound files for COI III. (You’ll also get some other Tripod junk). That’s the third installment of Citterns on Ice. This is one of those things where members of a mailing list send in their stuff and someone makes a CD of it. Someone in this case was the redoubtable Anthony de Wall. There are two selections by myself and someone else. The someone else was doing all the hard work in both cases while I was providing bouzouki backup. There’s also a tune by Micheal Eskin who sometimes hangs around here. The very last piece on the page is quite nice. It was done by Mary Tulin.
Yes, that would be nice but there is a danger in that. Most of us are amateurs and don´t play very well so learning something off somebody like me has it´s set backs. You might not be getting the proper version and you might be picking up one of my many or their many bad habits. Its better to learn something off a master or a really good player, not somebody who just started playing this thing a year ago like me. If you are interested in the ABC´s though just email me.
I got a $10 generic mike from Target, and it works fine on my laptop. One of the things I was wondering is whether you need to tweak the recording/volume settings on your computer…I have found that monkeying with the mic, gain, speaker, etc. settings on my volume control panel of the computer affects how a file will sound (but don’t ask me which ones or how, I’m really pretty bad at anything that looks like an equalizer). So, try going to the control panel and see what you can do there…
Now that I’ve let the cat out of the bag, I guess I’ll have to record something. You all will have to excuse the screaming parrot (who has accompanied everything I’ve tried to record so far with metronome-like precision, making it unsuitable for clips and snips IMHO). My only problem is hosting it, but maybe hubby can help me in that area.
If recording into the computer doesn’t work, record into a tape recorder or whatever and transfer that recording to the computer via the line-in plug to your sound card. Sound cards come with software for recording. (That’s why they have a line-in receptacle.) Mp3.com has free software for converting the wave file you make into an mp3, which is way smaller in bytes. Don’t post a 2megabyte wave, it will take forever to download for anyone with a modem.
Tony
I have BIG problems with sound on my computer - it just doesn’t work. It’ll play cds, and through my midi keyboard when using programmes such as cubasis, but other than that, nothing. Another problem is it can’t deal with downloading large amount of info (it crashes if I try to look at Yahoo! if I don’t press stop before it’s all showing). It’s a ver old computer - I’m still using Windows 95. So, if anyone has any suggestions, they will be greatfully received!
Jo.
I’d actually love to record something and post it for review, except I have no mic (working, that is), and my compy is such an old Dino it’d probably have a severe heart-attack if I tried to do anything with it other than what I use it for.
It’s a tune called the Saw Jig that I learned from our very own Conal O’Grada.
Anyways, this could be fun and I hope some people will get the ball rolling.
