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socks
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"Gear Acquisition Syndrome" via Ebay has struck me once again (see pic below)...had to have it...I've had a song going through my mind for the past 3-4 years that requires the distinctive "chord" sounds these things make. I used to have a smaller, plastic version years ago. At least this one has 6 additional chord buttons, and a few extra keys. Hope the damn thing works, though it looks like it could use some refinishing work.

Danny

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At my age, encouragement is dangerous! Thanks Chatty, I've never had a great voice, no secret there to anyone who's endured it, but I guess it's about the same as ever. But thanks. :) Someone with better pipes could something with it, I'm sure.

If someone didn't enjoy you it would be their loss I assure you my friend. :)

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Help! I've lost my 70s "concept" band ...to the enchantment of the "Magical Cultic Wonderland"

:biglaugh:

Instrument: "Springfield" electric-classical guitar ($200, made in Korea)

Recorded: circ.2001, on Soundforge/CoolEdit.

2 tracks.

Post-mix: Some weird phase-shifter plug-in (I forget which one now).

It's sloppy but kind of interesting.

Danny

Magical_Cultic_Wonderland.mp3

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Reminds my of Classical Gas....

I like how it progresses and the tempo picks up, then goes into a decrescendo (sp) -- you should develop it more. It has a 12-string feel to it - perhaps that's the phaser I'm hearing - almost chorus pedal, like.

Anyhow... good one! Me likes! :)

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Nice!!!

Can I call it *space-grass*??

It has that *texture* to it. :)

(lol) Yes you may - that's a better title me thinks.

All my tunes tend to turn out kind of weird and "spacey".

Must be that mid-70s ELP influence. And a few other things from that era as well...

Chas, now that I think of it, I could have used a "chorus" plug-in...I ought to start taking notes

as I mix some of these things (lol).

Actually the song was previously more developed toward the end, but in a bad way - I "faded out" before I got that part (lol).

Danny

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I had stayed away from this thread. I play guitar and sing but I don't really know that much about guitars and brand names and technical stuff. But this thread just refuses to leave the front page, so I had to check out at least the last page.

quote: Your voice doesn't sound like you've aged a day Socks.

Amen! That was cool.

On Pentecost weekend I went to a fellowship in Tennessee. Had a great time. One of the other participants was none other than Joe Fair. He played 2 songs at a Sat. night campfire thing and 1 song before a Sun. teaching. Yes, he too has aged. He almost looks like Ted Kennedy without the glasses (God, please don't let him see or hear of that) but just hearing that voice live...it about made me cry. The human voice has power that no other instrument has, IMO.

Socks, once upon a time I heard that for the PFAL '77 recording, each member of Joyful Noise was assigned to write a song for it. Was yours the one that went...."no need to fret and worry, no need to rush and hurry, God will do his part for you to receive"??? That's the song I thought of after hearing I Saw the Light from the above post. I also know that it was you who wrote the song Claudettee sang called One Day which was on Royale Tapestry as well as the "God's Team" recording. I'm on to you, so don't be so modest; you have a great voice.

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I've always thought this would be (maybe it was) a theme song. You can hear the alley if that is possible.

I thought of the theme Sock's is working on and thought I'd ask this question in general. Would you have taken the ending further before closing the song? Or is it that element that leaves you with question and adds to the depth?

Just thinking out loud and thought I'd offer this to listen to. It is excellent IMHO. enjoy please

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HI Chatty, that's a nice piece. :eusa_clap: Mark Knopfler. Dunno, that's a good ending. The music has such a melancholy sound, it seems to lend itself to a fadeout like that. The lyric gives an impression of what's going on, can be taken at face value, and then filled in as much as the listener wants. It's sparse, bare. Planty of room to let the story tell itself to each person hearing it.

The bass pulse is nice, adds tension and keeps pace. I might - (here's why MK makes the big bucks and I don't I"m sure) - have done a little more with that in the last half, expanded it to a moving figure that would imply action starting. Against the lyric it sort of paints that Phillip Marlow/guy in a bar in the corner watching the world/kind of feel. The lyrics imply a lot is about to happen, stuff going on under the controlled surface of the music and offbeat vocal. So I might have been tempted to take it there, and ended the song with more movement. But - that's probably another song. :)

Cool tune. Thanks!

Edited by socks
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johniam, please feel free to jump in, anytime. Welcome!

Joe's got a great voice, doesn't he? As for that tune, whoa! That's a way's back. I remember that one, been quite awhile. You know what they say, a man's got to know his own limitations. :biglaugh: Now, One Day was a fun tune, I'm glad Claudette sings it. Thanks!

That's a very cool tune, I-Dan! Love it and the effect is well applied. It has a very 'complete' sound, sounds familiar, but new. "Accessible" is the word I'm looking for. Actually, it sounds like a pretty clean performance of it. Was that miked, or direct, or both...?

Also, the new gear - what is that puppy? It looks like it has handles...? Are you thinking of adding it to that song?

Edited by socks
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Hey thanks Socks. It may be an original arrangement, though I could be wrong (lol) - perhaps more a reflection of every concept band song I've had rattling in my head since the 70s or something.

Via a mixer (of an old 4 track recorder) I plugged the guitar directly into my PC soundcard when I recorded it. Which was one reason I wanted a classical-electric at the time, for the convenience of quickly recording ideas and not waking the neighborhood in the process.

The keyboard I just picked up is...a Magnus organ (lol). I have a different song in mind for its use, primarily for the warm, chord button sounds these things make, in accompaniment with a guitar.

My very first instrument was a plastic, tabletop Magnus organ (15 keys, 6 chord buttons), which died many eons ago; I sure had a lot of fun with it, with its sound still preserved on 30 year old cassette tapes (in what I call "The Ancient Cry of Hell!" sessions, where I had a beer-drinking friend reciting bad, spontaneous poetry, while the instruments carried on aimlessly in the background) but this thing, besides having a wooden cabinet and almost twice as many keys, in addition to a total of 12 chord buttons, is a real beauty I couldn't resist (lol). Wait until my wife finds out about this...perhaps if I sneak the package into the garage when the UPS guy comes, I can get away with blending it in with the other artifacts in the garage...nah, she's gonna find out...

Danny

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Dan that cannot be seen,

I apologize to you that somehow I missed your post link until now.

That was "wow" first then "beautiful".

Mark Knopfler did a similar thing to your song but he used other instruments to produce it whereas yours was pure guitar and a simpler version of it.

And nothing can compete with pure guitar. No matter the grand instruments playing. And you play as if you feel it inside and can't help but return it. Beautiful!!!

Thank you.

Socks,

You described quite a bit of what I was thinking it could have done. And I would pace up the bass as it moved towards the close. You'd know that it wasn't over when it ended. So, um...don't you have a theme you are working on? :) Do you have it all planned out? :)

Your thoughts on that song displayed your thinking on themes. There have been some strong songs used in movie scores. I've bought soundtracks to movies never seen because I liked the music.

You can't go wrong with a string instrument. :wub:

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Hey thanks Socks. It may be an original arrangement, though I could be wrong (lol) - perhaps more a reflection of every concept band song I've had rattling in my head since the 70s or something.

Via a mixer (of an old 4 track recorder) I plugged the guitar directly into my PC soundcard when I recorded it. Which was one reason I wanted a classical-electric at the time, for the convenience of quickly recording ideas and not waking the neighborhood in the process.

The keyboard I just picked up is...a Magnus organ (lol). I have a different song in mind for its use, primarily for the warm, chord button sounds these things make, in accompaniment with a guitar.

My very first instrument was a plastic, tabletop Magnus organ (15 keys, 6 chord buttons), which died many eons ago; I sure had a lot of fun with it, with its sound still preserved on 30 year old cassette tapes (in what I call "The Ancient Cry of Hell!" sessions, where I had a beer-drinking friend reciting bad, spontaneous poetry, while the instruments carried on aimlessly in the background) but this thing, besides having a wooden cabinet and almost twice as many keys, in addition to a total of 12 chord buttons, is a real beauty I couldn't resist (lol). Wait until my wife finds out about this...perhaps if I sneak the package into the garage when the UPS guy comes, I can get away with blending it in with the other artifacts in the garage...nah, she's gonna find out...

Danny

I'm praying that Hubby doesn't see your post, my friend.

I caught him calculating the postage on this GUITAR tonight... then I hid all of the credit cards.

I think I just heard him say, "MEWANNNNTTTTSSSSSS IT! PRECIOUS!" from the first floor.... yikes....

(NO! NO! NO!) :asdf:

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Chas, in the words of UPS, "buy it and it will come!"

Well, I strung my Tak(amine) up with the .010 flat wounds ("ribbon") and it plays very nicely. Haven't had flats on it for many a year and it seems to like them. It accomodates more of that sound anyway, and although it's not as "fat" as the .011's, it's very playable with the lighter gauge .010 set but still has a wound 3rd string. That really seems to maintain a better sound than an unwound 3rd, although for rock and blues and what-not, the unwound 3rd is what ya need to get the bends.

Invisible Dan, what key is that in? Sounds played like A, but it seems to be in G. Or an open tuning? Again, nice sound. Everything's there, it's very complete.

Chatty, I do love movie scores, "long form", where there's a theme followed. Most of what I write these days starts as an image, and goes from there. One of my long time favorite composers is Lalo Schifrin, who's written many films scores over the years. AWEsome stuff.

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OMG, his credits take up half of cyberspace.

His music has touched us all in some way I suspect.

I've heard when someone was in the groove before things I wished were being recorded. You ever do that and wished you'd been recording?

I must leave this place for now as my work begins again only in a few hours and I must take a nap. :wave:

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Chatty, I often get little riffs and lyrics going in my head in the car, and if I can I'll try to keep them going till I'm home. Often they drift off, sometimes not. Priobably the same for most people. A lot of times the 'sound' will come out first time out, then get lost with refinement, so I have to go back and recapture what I had in the original. I'm a pack rat, save every version till I'm way past needing it. Just did some backups of old tunes and deleted off my deck - FINally. :biglaugh:

Wanted to add - you'll like this. Schifrin did the soundtrack to "Dirty Harry" which was when I first heard him. There's a CD out of the soundtrack, remixed, stereo, pristine audio by all acounts. THIS LINK has some samples of the tracks.

Just listen to "Harry's Hot Dog" and then "Scorpio's View"....classic Lalo. :dance:

Edited by socks
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Wow. I could give up the "Doctrinal" for this thread. This has been a lot of fun, doing "shoptalk" and drawing and exchanging encouragement from kindred artists and music lovers.

Thank you so much for your kind words Cha-thy. I would have never expected to hear the song described beyond "spacey" as "beautiful". The feedback is so interesting.

Chas- hide those credit cards! That guitar is fantastic. I don't think I've ever actually seen an electric- semi-hollow body version of a Fender. I wonder how much that sounds like a cross between a Strat and a Les Paul.

I may need to hide my cards as well.

Socks - my personal preference gravitates toward a lower tuning - retaining and transposing the standard tuning (E,A,D..) a bit lower, to about "D" - feels most natural to me - and I think just as much so to the resonance or acoustic "sweetspot" of the guitars (at least the ones I've had). Which wood bodies produce such gorgeous, rich basses - but which are out of range if adhering to the key of the standard E tuning. I love the dramatic possibilities having those extra basses brings.

I love soundtracks too. Just last week I picked up the soundtrack to the original 1951 version of "The Thing"

composed by Dmitri Tiomkin (and featuring a theremin), who was also quite prolific ("it's a Wonderful Life", "the Almao", etc.) - what an intense and complex style this composer had. I've noticed my daughter has taken after the "old man" - she's been collecting soundtracks to her favorite animes.

Danny

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Ooooh. shudder. "The Thing" - isn't that the one in the North Pole, or South Pole? Where the alien is some kind of vegetable matter-man thing and he comes lumbering down the hall in the end and gets electro-burned up??!!!

Awesome flick. There's that journalist in it too, the character actor, great actor, can't place the name. GREAT flick!!!! Theremin too!!!! Yow!!!!! That move kept me up at night when I was a wee one, more so than any of the modern "slasher" flicks, which are usually just gross-outs of things I can do without seeing so I never go. But in their day - The Thing, The Day the Earth Stood Still - they RULED!!!!

I hear ya on the drop tuning. That's a great topic, and I gotta hit the sack but I know what you mean. And some musicians tune down, usually to an Eb or D, and just transpose or use a capo. Again, great sound out of that Springfield.

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Chatty, I often get little riffs and lyrics going in my head in the car, and if I can I'll try to keep them going till I'm home. Often they drift off, sometimes not. Priobably the same for most people. A lot of times the 'sound' will come out first time out, then get lost with refinement, so I have to go back and recapture what I had in the original. I'm a pack rat, save every version till I'm way past needing it. Just did some backups of old tunes and deleted off my deck - FINally. :biglaugh:

I'm challenged to remember lyrics when putting together a song. I think to myself oh I'll remember those lines long enough to jot them down.....NOT and that was before I was getting old. :biglaugh:

Wow. I could give up the "Doctrinal" for this thread. This has been a lot of fun, doing "shoptalk" and drawing and exchanging encouragement from kindred artists and music lovers.

Thank you so much for your kind words Cha-thy. I would have never expected to hear the song described beyond "spacey" as "beautiful". The feedback is so interesting.

I was glued to every word of this thread but my life has been pulling of late and I've missed some things, like your link for example, but this is one of the greatest threads there ever was. So I agree with your sentiments.

As to your music being "spacey"......so that's a good thing ain't it! :unsure: I hear confidence in your strumming and that makes the whole ride enjoyable for me. So much can be said by extension of us via those strings.

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I hear ya on the drop tuning. That's a great topic, and I gotta hit the sack but I know what you mean. And some musicians tune down, usually to an Eb or D, and just transpose or use a capo. Again, great sound out of that Springfield.

Stevie Ray Vaughn was a master of tuning down to an Eb. As well he could make you understand pickup positions by sound alone. Gosh what a loss to us at his young age.

I didn't see The Thing completely but wasn't there this hand and some cool music combined somewhere?

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well... since I can only read and glean regarding the guitar... the only two movies that I can remember effecting me that much in a scary way were "Invaders from Mars" and "Them"... (Danny, did they use the Theramin to make the ant noises?)... and then there was this one Vincent Price movie where the guy puts the binoculars up to his eyes and.... !

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