Will Fly

Rod - my solution, if you seriously want to start recording yourself, would be to purchase or borrow a Zoom H2 Handy Recorder or equivalent. Zoom H2 The machine has two mics - one in the front and one at the back. It comes with a screw-in table foot and a screw-in handle for mic stand use. It can also be screwed on to a standard camera tripod. The front mic records at an angle of 90 deg - and the back one at 120 deg. The back mic is therefore good for picking up both sides of the concertina. The audio is recorded on to an SD card, and the machine can be connected to a PC/Mac with a USB cable. When connected, the SD card appears as an icon on the desktop and can be copied from the Zoom to the computer very quickly. Once the audio is on the computer, you can use free software such as Audacity to edit it (as a ".wav" file). Once edited, a collection of .wav files can be burnt to a CD.

Very nice tune, Al - got a name for it? How long was your day, by the way - and I don't mean your name...?

If you want to play it dotted - which is the actual rhythm set by Al - here 'tis: X:1 T:March of the Concertinas C:Alan Day Q:1/4=110 M:2/4 L:1/16 K:G =C =D =E ^F =G =A =B z3 B A3B |G4 D4 |E3B A3B |G4 D4 |E4 D3C | B,3D G3A |B4 A3G |A4 (3:2:1A2(3:2:1A2(3:2:1A2 |A3B A3B |G4 D4 | E3B A3B |G4 B4 |c4 B3A |d4 G4 |B3A G3F | G4 (3:2:1G2(3:2:1G2(3:2:1G2 |G4 F3G |A4 A4 |B4 B4 |c4 A4 | F4 D4 |A4 (3:2:1A2(3:2:1A2(3:2:1A2 |B4 G4 |(d8 |d3)B A3B | G4 D4 |E3B A3B |G4 B4 |c4 B3A |d4 G4 | B3A G3F |G8 |]

Kautilya - If you email the mp3 files to me, I'll put them together with the mix from the Spindizzy site (mix 6, I think), and add some bass at the same time - then I'll repost here. Cheers, Will will.fly@mjra.net

Fancy a spot of acoustic bass on it? Don't want to hog the mix...

Very nice tune, Al, though I have to say that as soon as I heard the very first line I was reaching for my pipe and trilby... Do you remember the "Maigret" theme from the old b&w TV series starring Rupert Davies? The first line of that is very similar to yours, though the two tunes are quite different from then on. Anyway, you can buy me a cognac and a packet of Disque Bleu when we next meet up. (I'll get me beret...)

I've added another link in my previous post as well as the "media" one. The page should display and can be saved as an mp3 file - or at least it can on my Mac!

OK - at Al's request I've added some mandolin (left) and guitar (right)... http://www.mjra.net/WillFly/March3.mp3 The file size is now just over 2Mb - so I've added this as a link rather than an attachment. Here's an alternative link: March v.3 Will

Well, Al - this is what happens when you go to Charlwood without me. You pick up these frivolous young players and then get upset when they do the dirty on you. Stick to the Old Dutch in future, mate... Seriously, as someone who does a lot of session work and as an accompanist (I'm the guitarist on the "Snowflakes/Marienne" duet), there is an art to picking up a tune that you've never heard before, and your ear has to anticipate and work overtime. With a strange tune, I usually let one chorus play through before I ruin it join in, unless the tune is so simplistic that the chords shout themselves out. I also concentrate on bass lines which add a counterpoint to the main melody - particularly when accompanying concertina. I think if you're doubtful of the ability of other players to join in musically, then it's entirely appropriate to say that you'd prefer to do a solo on the tune - particularly if it's a singaround and not a session as such. It was at a singaround not long ago that I was playing an acoustic guitar version of "A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square" - and was joined by a local character who did bird calls of various sorts with the kit hanging from his washboard! I could hardly play for laughing...

The reason for using twin Zoom H2s was - as you say - to be able to mix the two instruments for EQ, pan and volume. So, Al's was set to mid-volume for recording (that Jefferies is a noisy little devil) and mine was set to fairly high as I was playing fingerstyle. I fed both signals into separate channels in "Garageband" on my Mac Book Pro and separated them to match the video - me on the left and Al on the right. Then adjusted the volume to get a reasonable balance, and then synched the audio with the video (kocking out the crude audio from the camcorder at the same time).

You can see that diamond squeezer Alan Day playing these two waltzes (with yours truly on guitar) at: "Snowflakes..." is a new composition by Alan. Cheers, Will

I have to report that the Old Boy played at Charlwood last night - with the same lockable box as before - and opened it up first time! His playing was rubbish but his box-opening technique was superb...

Well you'd better get it right on Friday, Al - I shan't be best pleased if you lock up your boxes on our guest night! Typical! The other nice posters on this thread and on Concertina.net in general don't know how much I have to put with from Al - the zimmer frame at gigs, the incontinence trousers, the mumbling, the incoherence. And that's just me!

Ah - the Alan Day collection!

You could try doing a test upload to Vimeo (you'll have to register, but it's free) - and see what the result is like. If it screws up on Vimeo then there's a problem with the video compression/export on your computer. If it's OK on Vimeo, then it's a YouTube glitch. I've had some problems with YouTube from time to time. Make sure that all previous failed/problematial uploads of this video have been deleted from your video list, by the way, before re-uploading again.