August 26, 2009
Here's my next installment of Jam with Ric - this time on an
Old Time tune called Swallowtail Jig. I do these things in
one take with warts and all, but I think they are improving
a little the longer I play. I've only be seriously playing this
instrument for about three years - I've owned a mandolin
for about eight years, but it took me five years to get
totally hooked on it.
August 12, 2009
Here's another little jam-along video I posted on You Tube.
This time I used the Cheeziest Camera and Effects possible.
Feel free to copy and enhance with your own parts.
June 4 - 2009
This is a little experimental video I posted on You Tube to see if anyone might be interested in starting a virtual jam with me on a really old Public Domain tune called 'Wayfaring Stranger.' I have heard many different versions of this song. The key I've recorded my part in is Cm - a key that's especially good for playing blues on the mandolin. Please feel free add a part or two and repost - and please send me the link if you do.
April 18, 2009 - YPOM Digital is currently producing CD's containing rough mixes of all original material written by Bobby Don Bloodworth's 7th and 8th grade song writing students at the Fannin County Middle School is beautiful Blue Ridge, Georgia. These rough mixes are being delivered to the students so they can learn the final arrangements to perform at the end of year concert. This is the third year Bobby Don has volunteered his time to offer a unique opportunity for the middle school students in Fannin County. This year's concert includes nine original songs crafted by this year's 7th and 8th grade students. The video below shows the production steps we used in producing Fannin Middle School Student Hunter Darrington's original song, 'Rockstar.' The first verse shows Bobby Don playing and singing the basic track. Following that is me adding a bass part (I did not think to check the camera angle when I decided to sit down so you can't see the guitar, but I promise you, it's there. Next is a cut of me laying down the rock mandolin part where the track morphs into the rough mix we provided to the school for the remainder of the video edits. Pay no attention to the instrument flubs on the rough mix. I'll get all that fixed in the final mix before I master the tunes for the finished mixes we plan on giving to the school and the students. There could be a CD of all original material from FCMS students in the not too distant future... Stay tuned for more on that later!
March 20 - here are a couple of videos from some sessions Your Place or Mine Digital recorded for award winning song writer Tedi May on location in Chief Doublehead's/Wib Kendall's historic chestnut log cabin buit up the hill from the Toccoa River in it's natural state - before it gets dammed in Blue Ridge. The location is beautiful to say the least! This first short video shows me placing microphones as we discuss how to approach the production. Just a little something for those of you that want to know more about what goes on behind the scenes when recording on location. The cleanest tracks are obtained overdubbing all the tracks one at a time, but I do have the capacity to record up to sixteen tracks at 48K/24bits when needed. From acoustic string bands to electronic bands with drums Your Place or Mine has you covered.
Scatch tracks are a method used in location recording to create the foundation from which all other production values will be added. For Tedi's scratch track we recorded her on Bass and John on Acoustic Guitar. I got good enough isolation with my ST44A directional tube mikes to use John's guitar track with very little bass bleed - no more than can be covered with a little smoke and mirror work. This allowed Tedi to go in and fine tune her bass tracks at a later session and put down a good female lead vocal part. As production continues we will add a male vocal part to her part - Tedi wrote this one to be sung as a duet. We plan to add the male part and harmony parts soon. We will also be adding a fiddle part and maybe a little mandolin. The jury's still out on the tuba part - we may skip that one. Once we get all the components together we will do a mixdown where we automate mutes, levels, sends, returns, everything... Modern technology allows us to carry what required a brick and morter facility to produce in years past in the back of a midsize SUV. It's a whole new world out here. The real trick to a finished professional product is mastering. Mastering is only as good as the mastering engineers reference monitors and mastering software. Wave Lab 6 is an industry standard and when coupled with JBL Room Mode Correction speakers that tune themselves to just about any space constant monitoring can be achieved on the road.
March 3, 2009 - I was digging around my hard drive when I rediscovered some video clips I had stashed away from the last sessions we did when I operated the My Place part of the operation from my home on California Avenue in Nashville. This video was actually shot on September 4, 2008.
Slim working out then punching in a harmony part. The overdub booth is my old living room when I lived on California Avenue in Nashville. You can see some of my portable foam setup in the back ground.
Here's another part being overdubbed in the living room.
And here's a snippit of me from behind my mobile console setup doing critical cow bell overdubs. I think we got it on the first take!
January 17, 2009 Here are some snippits edited from concert footage of THE SHADES OF GRAY band out of Gwinnett County Georgia (Metro Atlanta) shot by Your Place or Mine Digital at Cooter Brown Emporium in Blairsville, GA. Cooter Brown Emporium is a unique venue being developed by Keith Murphy and his wife Marimar. He has two separate buildings built inside another larger building. One is a 50' style juke joint called Laze Daze at the moment, and the other is an old time Country Store and Museum. This venue offers a unique location to say the least. As you come through the main entrance on your right you see the stage. Behind the stage is a private room available to the entertainers during the gig. To the left of the stage is Cooter's General Store - this store is filled with artifacts from history past collected by Keith and Marimar over the years - lots of things to explore. Farther to the left is The Laze Daze built to replicate a 50's era juke joint complete with juke box, booth, card table and a very nice bar. Laze Daze has screened windows where the occupants can see the concert hall and the stage from inside the structure. Guests have plenty to explore at Cooter Brown Emporium and places right inside the facility for more private and intimate conversations away from the main concert hall area. Keith and Marimar are going to be working on planned improvements to Cooter's during February and will be back on a once monthly home concert schedule till summer when they hope to start doing two events per month. There are lots of nice cabins available in the area for those visiting from out of town. Cooter's is also available to rent for private parties and events. For more information go to http://cooterbrownmusic.com.
January 3 and 4 tracking sessions for Bobby Don's tune titled 'The Dam.' Bobby Don wrote this song some years ago when American leaders broke yet another promise to Native Americans. After promising to stop desecrating sacred Indian burial grounds American leaders reneged on that promise by flooding some of Native America's most sacred sites in the name of advancing American civilization by constructing the Tellico Dam.
YPOM Digital is proud to play a part in this song's production and release and thanks Bobby Don and Gopher Broke for allowing us to record, mix and master this poignant tune. 'The Dam' will be included with Bobby Don and Gopher Broke's upcoming New Mountain Americana CD release - SOME SUNDAY. All work will be done right here at Bobby Don's farm in the scenic Blue Ridge Mountains of North Georgia. Bobby Don's property is right on the un-dammed portion of the scenic Toccoa River still running wild as it winds out of the Chattahoochee National Forest.
This video starts out with some photos from different angles around the equipment inside the cabin. It shows some of the steps we follow to do professional quality recording in such a space. The scratch track technique is what we choose to use here for a couple of reasons. One - by doing a non-keeper reference track we plan on eventually scrapping we lay the foundation for all the individual parts to follow. In our sessions last weekend we laid a guitar/vocal scratch track. In the cue mix being sent to Bobby Don playing and singing as we record the scratch track we sent a click track count-off that cannot be heard in the video but can be heard in the headphones. We started this tune at 80-BPM (Beats Per Minute). With the click count at the beginning of the recording everyone who overdubs additional parts will have a solid count to kick off with and a tempo to follow.
Another big reason we choose the scratch track method is to maximize individual track isolation. Since we are in a 200+ year old cabin we do not have the luxury of isolated sound proof rooms as you might find in a well-designed brick and mortar recording studio. The easiest way to circumvent this dilemma is to record each part by itself - perfect isolation achieved in a single room. On top of the scratch track we overdubbed Paul's bass guitar part which happened to be the main part we needed to get since Paul and Tami drove up here to the mountains from Atlanta and were only here for the weekend. We spent the rest of the weekend laying down a guitar/vocal of another song for Tami to learn for the next tune and their next trip to the mountains.
Now we have a good bass part to build from. Next we'll go in and record the remaining instrumentation; banjo acoustic guitar, mandolin, electric guitar, etc. We also still must ad the vocal parts - lead and harmonies. The beauty of overdubs is we can now go in at any time the musicians are available to add the subsequent parts. By doing one part at a time when we get to the mixdown process we have maximum control over each track - no bleed from other instruments is a beautiful thing when it comes to mixdown. The real trick is teaching live musicians how to use studio techniques. Pro quality recording can be achieved just about anywhere using the scratch track technique - I highly recommend it!
December 14, 2008 - Bobby Don Bloodworth and The Gopher Broke Band were featured entertainers along with DJ Contagious and Little Five Points own Feed & Seed Marching Abominables at the 39th Annual Special Citizens of Atlanta Christmas Party. This year was the 19th year in a row that Bobby Don and the band were invited to the event, and they have already been invited for next years celebration. This is a fantastic event held every year for some very appreciative and deserving people.
November 22, 2008 - Bobby Don Bloodworth and Gopher Broke Band at Copperhead Lodge in Blairsville, Georgia.
November 15 appearance at the Grand Openings of the Cohutta Seed and Feed Country Store and the Bordertown Roadhouse in Blue Ridge Georgia. This turned into a very unusual stage set up. Rain moved into the area and forced some creative staging to keep the musicians and equipment dry. Check out the video to see what we mean...
This is a little pieced together video blog from last weekend - November 8 & 9, 2008. It contains snippits of video from the Cherry Log Christian Church BBQ, a little bit of the trip back home that night, and a little bit of the vocal and bass overdub sessions we did in the Old Indian Cabin at Bobby Don's farm.
Today is November 12, 2008. The two videos below are from a couple of weeks ago when I was making the transition from Nashville to Blue Ridge.
Video from my last trip to Nashville.
And a tour of the cabin upon my return to Blue Ridge.