That’s right.    Coming right up.

!!

Been getting more into micing.  (I wish there was some way to spell the word that actually looks right).   Trying to capture and recreate the experience of being ‘in the audience’ or ‘in the ensemble’,  aurally.   Or even of being ‘at the instrument’.

The art (science?) is perplexing.   A spectre is haunting the issue.  The spectre of phasing.    Phasing affects hall micing and close micing in unique ways.   Experimenting more should help clear up a frustrating problem I’ve been having:  with guitar, if you record multiple takes and pan them L/R, you usually get a bigger sound.   Doing the same thing with cello has been leading to some bizarre cancellation effects, and an overall thinner sound.

Veerd.

It’s time for a second bow.   I have to balance the pair of celli I’ve been using.  I keep leaving mine in the case of the cello I didn’t bring.   Superlame.

Carbon Fiber what what!?   I can’t wait to try some out.  It seems like such a no-brainer I’m surprised I don’t have one already.  A product designed to last forever?  Duh.

I was gifted a copy of the new Mark O’ Connor Method Cello Book 1, “A New American School Of  String Playing”, and am going through it bit by bit, exploring some of the tunes with my cello students.   This latest is probably the 6th book of fiddle tunes I’ve acquired.    I’m not an obsessive collector.   Usually.  The reason for my continued acquisition is that I have yet to be impressed with a fiddle book for cello.

Before continuing to review the O’Connor Method for Cello,  I have to make a distinction.   There are method books, and there are collections of  tunes.   Although the O’Connor Method seeks to combine these two categories, I’ll evaluate each component on its own merit.

As a method book, so far I’m finding the O’Connor solid but unexceptional.   The Eight Principles don’t say much that Suzuki’s “Nurtured By Love” and an ECC Suzuki intro also don’t.   The “Feeling The Cello” section is a bit rambly, and feels geared toward an adult student attempting self-study.  Since I can’t even begin to imaging attempting to learn the cello without a teacher, the point of this section is lost on me.

There’s a great glossary and then two really cool pages of graphics — one showing the notes on the fingerboard and the other a series of pitch visualizations.  It’s hard to describe the ‘pitch’ page in words, but it’s pretty cool.

As a collection of thoughtfully selected, appropriately sequenced fiddle tunes for a beginning cellist, the book is amazing.  Every tune has chord symbols (perfect!), there a several duets, and there are recurring variations on Bile ’em Cabbage Down of ever-increasing difficulty (brilliant) throughout the book.   What’s more, the collection succeeds where I think others fall short:  the selected tunes are simple,  and timeless.

Been workin on my fiddle-stlye chops.   Zack kinda introduced me to the technique on fiddle last year.  Then Ira came to a soapbox string session and amazed me with his cello chopping skills, and re-affirmed my faith that it could be done on an instrument with semi-vertical as opposed to horizontal strings.  Here’s a couple violinists (Darol Anger,  some other dude and then Casey Driessen killin it) doing the chop on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Lud1IMpJm4&

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv01qxPXBaw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLc-PT9H1nE&

Tried out my bro’s Bugera 22watt tube guitar amp.  It’s basically a copy of the Fender Deluxe Reverb I’ve been considering.   Guitar tone is sick, but I found it to be underpowered as bandmate/amp maven Jesse said it would be.  It would be fine through a PA, but probably couldn’t hold its own against one of The Paver’s bass cabs.  

Still, I need to try it with the yamaha cello, which probably sends out a hotter signal than an electric guitar.

http://soundcloud.com/listenbeforeyoubuy/trophy-wife-microlite

I’m trying to focus on two things:  Audiomulch and Ableton.  My approach in general with synthesis has been to haphazardly turn knobs and hope something good happens.   Of course there’s a place for experimentation, and oscillators on their own are fairly intuitive BUT….  When you start adding a bunch of filters and messing with the envelopes it quickly gets less intuitive, and I find myself wanting to be a little more scientific re cause and effect.   In other words, I get frustrated easily if I can’t make the sound I want, so I need to improve my understanding of the tools.  Luckily for me, the Audiomulch documentation is simple and to-the-point, so yay.  (Thanks Ross!)    And Ableton Live, well yeah.

I bought this sweet little digital voice recorder off amazon for $49.  The Sony px-820.  Very happy. Just figured out how to set the recording level to low– def necessary for the next The Paver rehearsal.   Awesome features include  2 GB flash, easy USB transfer, built-in mic or external, and awesome “divide” button that can be touched during recording to split up long sessions.

I’ve been sitting in with two groups recently, having  a lot of fun.  One is AJP.   Alexander makes simple, solid rock songs.  The tunes are fun to play, and harmony vocals + cello make take them to the next level, I do believe.   At my first show with them last week we covered “Sound of Silence”.   Cello like candy.

The other band is The Paver.  They’re awesome.  The music is loud, crunchy and a little complicated.  4/4 is few and far between.  It’s great for me, since my default cello mode is not “rhythm-oriented” per se.    Bass/Vocal, Violin/Keys/Vocal,  Drums, Cello.    Stay tuned for a show in January.