General Music Chat

Nice job Paul, I think I'd like the Wurly better without the vibrato on this one though. Makes me wish I had a place to set mine up and tinker on it some. Great harmonies, cool guitar solo.

Thanks Pete! Which Wurly do you have? 200A?

I'm not sure if it's the 200 but I think so. Looks the same as the one I see onstage used by Tom Petty's keyboard player (Benmont Tench) and Cheryl Crow's keyboard player among others. Black Tolex, 4 leg stand, 2 knobs on the left, Volume and Tremolo.

OK did some poking around, according to this site it's the 200 A

http://soundandcircuit.webs.com/wurlitz ... pianos.htm

It's the one at bottom, black cover.

My father gave it to me years ago, I forgot to load it up when I left, (or I would have had it 20 years ago), finally got physical possession of it when I moved to north Louisiana to take care of him. Wouldn't work so I had to replace a couple of capacitors, then it worked great. Legs are messed up so I use a standard X keyboard stand, plays and sounds great now. Need to get a couple of pictures of it, never have done that. Screws on a leg broke so he and his cousin tried to weld it, problem is it's too thin if you're not really good and have a TIG outfit...should have been brazed. Foot pedal was not there, I'd like to get one sometime. Hooked up to my Peavey MX it plays and sounds great.

Has no speakers, has speaker grill holes but no mounts on the front plate of the cover so I can only play it through an amp. I've been intending to open it up and check for markings and get the numbers on the pots so I can maybe date it, been too busy getting settled in here though. Nothing marked outside, just Wurlitzer Electronic Piano on front plate. Not sure if it's 200 or 200 A, have to do some research on that one.

Anyway I've had it around 10 - 15 years, got it working not long after I got it, my father had it stored in a shed for about 20 years. I found out after I got it he had stored it (and gave it to me) because it didn't work any more...fried capacitors. That's not hard to fix...

Great work as always, Paul. I know you are videoing live as you record - do you ever do multiple takes (before mix down), or do you get them perfect first time every time? (bastard!)

I'm not sure if it's the 200 but I think so. Looks the same as the one I see onstage used by Tom Petty's keyboard player (Benmont Tench) and Cheryl Crow's keyboard player among others. Black Tolex, 4 leg stand, 2 knobs on the left, Volume and Tremolo.

OK did some poking around, according to this site it's the 200 A

http://soundandcircuit.webs.com/wurlitz ... pianos.htm

It's the one at bottom, black cover.

My father gave it to me years ago, I forgot to load it up when I left, (or I would have had it 20 years ago), finally got physical possession of it when I moved to north Louisiana to take care of him. Wouldn't work so I had to replace a couple of capacitors, then it worked great. Legs are messed up so I use a standard X keyboard stand, plays and sounds great now. Need to get a couple of pictures of it, never have done that. Screws on a leg broke so he and his cousin tried to weld it, problem is it's too thin if you're not really good and have a TIG outfit...should have been brazed. Foot pedal was not there, I'd like to get one sometime. Hooked up to my Peavey MX it plays and sounds great.

Has no speakers, has speaker grill holes but no mounts on the front plate of the cover so I can only play it through an amp. I've been intending to open it up and check for markings and get the numbers on the pots so I can maybe date it, been too busy getting settled in here though. Nothing marked outside, just Wurlitzer Electronic Piano on front plate. Not sure if it's 200 or 200 A, have to do some research on that one.

Anyway I've had it around 10 - 15 years, got it working not long after I got it, my father had it stored in a shed for about 20 years. I found out after I got it he had stored it (and gave it to me) because it didn't work any more...fried capacitors. That's not hard to fix...

What a treasure! I have no musical ancestors to speak of in my family. My Butterfly is about 1980-82 and my 200 is about 1980. My peavey T-40 bass and T-60 guitar are the same vintage too. That's cool to me.

Great work as always, Paul.

Thanks Mike!

I know you are videoing live as you record

Yep, I'm actually videoing and even editing the video on my iphone 4s. The camera shoots in full HD - 1080p. Then the $5 app, iMovie, edits and exports in 1080p as well! On the video link you can actually select better video quality. Default on youtube for my video is 360 But you can click it on up to 1080 if you have a good connection.

- do you ever do multiple takes (before mix down), or do you get them perfect first time every time? (bastard!)

lol!! Thanks man. Sometimes I get parts in one take. I am a perfectionist though. What I do is if I have one small livable mistake I keep going. If I have a second small livable mistake I start over. If I have a bad mistake I start over. On this particular song I've been playing it for over a year off and on on just piano and vocal. So It was just a couple or three takes. The bass and first harmony were easy even though I'd never played the bass on this song. So again 2 or 3 takes. The guitar has a lot of negative space and chords on the up beat. The 2nd harmony I sang while playing it had a lot of negative space too. As a singer I tend to want to sing a harmony the whole time. This song does not call for that at all. So I had to work a while on the rhythm and 2nd harmony a while before I actually hit record. I practiced it 2 different times for maybe 20 minutes. Then tracking it took probably 5 tries. Of course if I were in a live band situation I could nail down any of those jobs.

Having said that, on this video I challenged myself again to do more. I usually just play the instruments one at a time and sing after the fact. If I'm doing that I usually get parts in 1-2 takes. Occasionally 3-4 depending on Whether I'm writing them on the spot or if I've been living with them for a while.

It's been getting easier and easier over the years. I now can even get drums down in 1-2 takes. That was a big hurdle for me.

If I'm tracking just vocals then yes I can often get them in one take. BUT sometimes I obsess even when I know they are really good and see if I can do them better than really good.

BUT singing is what I was born to do. I was singing well as a little kid. The instruments however I taught myself very slowly and slaved over them. It took forever to get anywhere.

I'm happy with my work. But I want to be better. WAY better.

One thing I've discovered lately, and I feel like a buffoon for just now getting this, is cranking the vocal mic volume. I use to get it hot enough to sing normally from an inch or 2. Now I can stay back even 10 inches. What this allows me to do is 1. not have to use a pop filter, 2. It gives me more volume dynamics, and 3. It looks better to see a face without a mic blocking it. I also turn up the treble on the vocal tracks and I really feel like my plain jane workhorse gigging mics sound like better quality studio mics. I just figured this out. In this video I'm not close to the mic. I like my new discovery.

[One thing I've discovered lately, and I feel like a buffoon for just now getting this, is cranking the vocal mic volume. I use to get it hot enough to sing normally from an inch or 2. Now I can stay back even 10 inches. What this allows me to do is 1. not have to use a pop filter, 2. It gives me more volume dynamics, and 3. It looks better to see a face without a mic blocking it. I also turn up the treble on the vocal tracks and I really feel like my plain jane workhorse gigging mics sound like better quality studio mics. I just figured this out. In this video I'm not close to the mic. I like my new discovery.

I noticed that on the video, which almost made it seem you were lip-synching, as it doesnt' look like you are recording in a well-treated (acoustically) room. I tend to stay close (with pop filter) so I don't get any of the room reflections mucking up the sound.

That all makes sense however I am very pleased with the end result of what I'm doing. I will be back in the man cave soon. It has carpeted walls and floors and ceiling.

finally snuck in some youtube time, great job NP!

Excellent as usual!

Thanks Keith and Jahva!

You sound like you do it a lot like I do. The only youtube I have right now is Southern Cross, done last year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKnqSKQCIs4

I did guitars, lead vocals, harmony vocals and both parts in the lead vocals that are two part harmonies. Shane did rhythm 12 string, harmony vocals and the video. Alan did harmony vocals and bass. Drums from a keyboard drum machine on this one.

We did two tracks on the harmony parts with all 3 of us to make it fuller, I Had to do the main lead vocal part 3 times I think because of mistakes, in one case minor, in one case a major screw up. Ditto for guitar parts, my rhythm part went ok 1st time but leads both took a couple of tries.

If I hear a small glitch I might let it slide, maybe. Two and it's a retake. One major screw up and I'm starting over. I think Alan did the bass part on one take. (He's also a fabulous keyboard player and when we were playing onstage years ago it was highly unusual to hear him make a mistake) Vocals took us a couple of tries, which sucked because my voice was giving me trouble, in a couple of places you can see I'm working for it and if you listen close you can hear a couple of rough spots. I think it was either me or Shane hitting the one sour note in the first chorus, we never did figure out who but otherwise it was the best sounding one yet so we kept it. (I got outvoted, by that time we had been at it 6 hours and everyone was tired...) But I still cringe every time I hear it...I also hear a couple of places where my timing is a bit off.

Overall not bad, but I can hear things I would like to redo. I'm hoping the next one will be better, and that might not be long, Shane and I just talked a couple of days ago, we're planning to get together in the next week or so and try to record something.

I have no idea what yet, probably won't know till we get there...I'm thinking bring the Wurly, might come in handy...also just realized I need to get some pictures of it, I've had it around 15 years and not one picture yet...and I'm a damn photographer...go figure...

Cool Pete! Did you post a thread about this here on bandmix? I agree with your critique of your song. Sounds like we do have the same process.

Cool Pete! Did you post a thread about this here on bandmix?

A thread about the video? I think so, then again I've slept since then...it's been a year or so I think. Maybe a bit more...but I think I did.

Anyway thanks, I was pretty sure you would hear what I noted about it, you have a good ear. One or two things are obvious, others are not. But that's the best way to go as far as I'm concerned.

A minor glitch I can live with, it shows I'm not perfect. A major screw up has to go...

By the way I've been showing musician friends a couple of your videos, at least the past 2 years, everybody so far has been pretty impressed. The guys I did Southern Cross with liked them. I can't remember which ones we watched, but I'm sure "I Gots to Know" was one of them. I've always really liked that one so it's usually the first one I look for when the subject comes up.

So far I have no idea what we'll work on next, talked to Shane a few nights ago and he wants me to try the vocals on "Life in the Fast Lane", which we recorded about 6 months ago. He's not happy with his vocals, wants me to give it a whirl. I'm worried about it, I'm not sure my voice can handle it...other than that we've been kicking around ideas for several others including a couple of Doobie Brothers tunes. We started on "South City Midnight Lady" a while back and I screwed it up royally, might start over on that one. (It was horrible, I blew it big time...made the mistake of not using a click track...) Years ago that was not a problem, we had played with a drum machine long enough we had great timing. Now it's been several years since I played with one, my timing is not great any more...

Otherwise who knows...when I left town around 10 years ago we were playing gigs on a regular basis, and working on some pretty tough songs..."Renegade" (Styx), Fat Bottom Girls (Queen), and had just put together "Life in the Fast Lane", "Running Down A Dream", and several others you don't see many local bar bands try. Should be interesting...

The advantage of using a full-featured DAW (I use Reaper) for recording, is the ability to comp pieces of different takes together for your final mix.
When I'm tracking, if I mess up bad I'll stop the recording, roll it back and start a new take before the mess up, then do a fade out/in between takes.
If I notice a bad note during mixing in an otherwise good track, I'll look for a good note at the same time during an alternate take I wasn't going to use. If it's a part/note that is repeated elsewhere in the song, I can just copy that section and paste it into the track.
Remember "tape splicing"? Those engineers in the 60s earned their money!