Here is the Golden Eagle hornpipe, played on my M&E 6-key. I am deliberately playing in a new style for me, dirty and gritty and almost nasty:
http://www.flutesite.com/samples/fead_6keymne.mp3
Best wishes,
–James
http://www.flutesite.com
Nice job James. Always enjoy your contributions.
Now for the question. Not about the playing though.
Can you describe in sequence for non computer wizards like me just how you make, prepare and post a sound clip.
I’ve looked at archives, clips and snips but haven’t really seen a step by step tutorial.
Any software better than others.? Regards.
Well, the hardware side of it is an Audigy sound card sitting in a homemade Pentium 3 system, with a plain-jane cheapo sound card mike.
I use the Creative Recorder from the Audigy packge to do the initial recording. I use the Wavestudio from the same package to cut leading and trailing space and adjust volume if necessary. I don’t do anything else, like adding echo or reverb, because I have found it distorts the sound.
I use SoundStream from the Roxio EZ CD Creator Platinum package to convert the WAV files to MP3.
That’s it. It produces decent results for a very small initial investment.
As for recording environment, I’m lucky: my apartment has cinderblock walls and concrete floor (under the carpet, of course). Acoustically, it’s live, so I put the mike by one wall in a bookshelf, and stand or sit in the middle of the room facing diagonally away from the mic and toward an open walk-in closet. Produces pretty decent recordings, as long as the neighbors aren’t slamming each other into the walls or playing “elephant stomp” upstairs.
Best,
–James
http://www.flutesite.com
James,
I just got a great pro condenser mic at a rediculously low price from a company in Scotland, it’s the Red5 Audio RV10. Check them out here-
The company can keep the costs down by only trading on the internet and they have a sort of franchise deal with a Chinese company (maybe why they’re called RED5?) …
.
The RV10 Condenser I got off them is superb and rediculously cheap for the ambient warmth and tone it picks up off the flute on recordings. I’m recording onto hard disk as well, through a MOTU firewire interface, and getting results as good as (and better than) any studio I’ve played into.
Regards, Harry.
James -
I just want to let you know how impressed I am by your improvement. I know I was pretty rough on you early on, but you’ve worked hard and it shows.
Harry -
That’s great about the mic and the recording system. I think I might pick one of those up for myself when I have some money.
Now does this mean that you might put some spontaneous, wonderful, middle of the night and just having fun, totally relaxed tracks recorded at home, on your next album? Or maybe you could post some tunes you’ve recorded on your new system, just to make your fans/friends happy?
I love studio albums, but by far the best thing are albums recorded live in an intimate setting… there’s nothing better than feeling like you’re really there!
Best,
Chris
Chris, I thank you kindly for the kind comments.
As for you being rough on me, I guess either I missed it or it failed to catch my attention at the time.
Maybe there’s something we can all take home from that: the newbie I’m hard on today might not be as much of a newbie as I think, and he just might outplay me a year from now.
Best wishes to all,
–James
http://www.flutesite.com
James,
LOL 
Harry,
Just spotted the price on that Motu unit! Doh!
Best,
Chris
Chris,
The MOTU 828 is the one I’ve got (about 600 quid stirling I think). There is a more elaborate dearer one.
It’s a nice bit of cash alright, but if you are in the buisness of recording bits and peices a good, adaptable home recording unit will always save you in the long run…I’m told (it bloody well better!).
I would post a demo but I don’t know how to go about it. I can convert the audio file to MP3 or Realtime or whatever but I don’t know how to put it on my website. I should really learn that.
Regards, Harry.
James wrote-
Maybe there’s something we can all take home from that: the newbie I’m hard on today might not be as much of a newbie as I think, and he just might outplay me a year from now. <
“Outplay me” hmmmm…I think if we concerned ourselves with ‘outplaying people’ or being ‘outplayed’ too much the whole thing could deteriorate into one big elitist ,Ceolthas competition style pi**ing match.
I would hope the ‘newbie’ would find his/her own vistas on expression and concern him/herself with them.
Regards, Harry.
[ This Message was edited by: Loren on 2002-11-07 21:44 ]
On 2002-11-07 11:41, Harry wrote:
James wrote-Maybe there’s something we can all take home from that: the newbie I’m hard on today might not be as much of a newbie as I think, and he just might outplay me a year from now. <
“Outplay me” hmmmm…I think if we concerned ourselves with ‘outplaying people’ or being ‘outplayed’ too much the whole thing could deteriorate into one big elitist ,Ceolthas competition style pi**ing match.
I would hope the ‘newbie’ would find his/her own vistas on expression and concern him/herself with them.
Regards, Harry.
Well, that’s my point, but I think maybe I didn’t word it well the first time around.
If I’m a newbie, why would you be “hard on” me, or anybody? (Unless you are my teacher or a person whose opinion I’ve asked) Why not respect someone for having the courage to put their music out under the public eye, rather or not you personally find anything in it to enjoy?
Again and again I see beginners criticized so sternly that I wonder why they don’t just think “well, there’s no point to trying this anymore, is there?” and lay it down forever. I’m not talking about these boards specifically here, but about a tendancy of almost all musicians to be a “breed that eats their own young.”
But I digress; perhaps I should have worded it more like “the newbie you are hard on today might just have more to say with his music than you think he does.”
By the way, this isn’t meant as a jab at anybody. Chris has always been nice enough to me, and Harry is a person whose music I have a deep and abiding respect for.
Best wishes to all,
–James
http://www.flutesite.com
Sorry for the accidental duplicate post!
–James
[ This Message was edited by: peeplj on 2002-11-07 12:58 ]
Good man James… all too true.
Best,
Chris
This is an interesting thread and one of great relevance to ITM at the moment.
James Wrote-
Why not respect someone for having the courage to put their music out under the public eye, wether or not you personally find anything in it to enjoy?<
You could respect someone for that and not have an iota of respect for their music of course. I personally respect people musically for the quality of their music (and by that I don’t mean hard and fast stylistic prerequisits for my own approval, but rather if it contains ‘that’ quality that sets it apart as unique, special, fluent, or fluently imperfect (!) ,conversive etc.)I also take into consideration WHY they are playing the way they are- is it because they want to, because they think they have to, because they have to, because they were trained to do it that way, or merely because it 's popular to do it that way or whatever.
It is quite possible that someone could make a mess of it through the recording process, but then the sort of thing I’d be listening for tends to glimmer through.
It is quite common for fairly bland or bad but well meaning material to be released. That’s grand, fair play- I’d probably listen to it once and not go back to it, no respect lost and the only harm done is my money spent 
On the other hand WHY should I respect a musician who releases a CD solely for commercial gain? Or to lampoon or criticise (ignorantly) the tradition among other totally self-serving things? (as was the case recently with a certain Miss O’Connor).
At the end of the day when you put stuff into the public domain I think you have to expect criticism, accept that you are not above it and that people may be approaching it from an entirely different perspective than you.
The popular reviewing of ITM/Celtic (and by this I mean everything that seems to fall under that category these days- from Afrocelts to Denis Murphy) is in a quagmire of ego massage and hat tipping to ‘the lads’ who are ‘only trying to make a few bob with them fusty old tunes’, and hey, we’re all Irish…we can’t do any wrong!
Personally I would rather read a well reasoned and well written ‘bad’’ review of one of my releases than a shallow and uninformed ‘good’ one.
BTW James, the Hornpipe is great. Not as much swing as I’d prefer (damn those variable perspectives!)… but energetic and respectful of it’s genre- which (I hope) will always be commendable.
Regards, Harry.
[ This Message was edited by: Harry on 2002-11-07 18:16 ]
Chris and Harry, just wanted to let you both know you just made my day, albeit in different ways.
Chris, thanks for understanding that none of my venting was a jab at you. And I do appreciate the kind things you’ve said about my playing lately! 
Harry, I think you make valid points all the way around. I’m glad you enjoyed the hornpipe, and I think you are right about it needing more swing. I’m still working on that–for some reason playing with a swing, especially at tempo, is difficult for me. The tunes feel more natural to me played straight, probably a remnant of studying classical music (that’s what I’m gonna blame it on today, anyway).
A big thank you to everyone who has taken time to read or post to this thread.
Best,
–James
http://www.flutesite.com
Can a “newbie” jump in here and ask a question? Could someone please define “swing”? I, too, have a tendency to play the music straight, although I’m really working on adding feeling. But at a session recently someone gently whispered to me, “Add some swing.” I don’t know that I really understand what that means. Maybe I’m not a natural-born musician or I’d have it.
Thanks for input.
Susan
Susan,
Here are two explanations, one for if you read music, one for if you don’t:
If you read music, a swing to the rhythm is very similar to changing a group of eighth notes each to a dotted-eighth-plus-sixteenth pattern.
The actual swing used by most Irish trad players is in reality less rigid and more subtle than this; it is part of the music it is pretty much impossible to notate on paper.
If you don’t read music, then think of words. Playing straight-eighths is like saying “Bilbo Baggins Bilbo Baggins,” while playing a swing pattern instead is like saying “HUMP-ty DUMP-ty HUMP-ty DUMP-ty”.
Well, if you were confused before, I guess you’re bound to be by now. 
Anyway, playing with swing gives a nice bounce and drive to a tune. It’s something I’m still working on, and the lack of it is one of the weaknesses of my playing.
Best,
–James
http://www.flutesite.com
If you want to hear some (IMHO) good swing I would suggest you listen to Kevin Burke on the fiddle. I have L.E. McCullough’s 121 Irish Session tunes and he plays the whistle with lots of swing especially hornpipes.
I’m kind of at a lost when it comes to someone in particular who plays flute with lots of swing..any suggestions?
Conal O’Grada uses swing, but done with finesse…and it’s a very subtle swing, as he doesn’t slap you in the face with it.
Best,
–James
http://www.flutesite.com