A little Vivaldi

[Karl Garrett]

Hi Everyone,

This is the 2nd movement Largo from the Vivaldi Guitar Concerto in D major (\"http://www.mydocsonline.com/MDFL/403A59182B3A403A597a2E22c7/Vivaldi%20Concerto%20for%20Guitar%20in%20D,%20Larg o.mp3\").

Just wanted to share it with you. The GPO instruments are: 1st. Violin, Guan Solo; 2nd Violin , Gigli Solo; Harpsichord, Cello 1 Solo. The guitarist is myself on an Oribe 10-string classical guitar.

Hope you like it.

[kensuguro]

? can\'t access. It says my session has expired.

[Karl Garrett]

Oops! Have not used this service before. Here is the correct link for the Vivaldi, I think.

Vivaldi Guitar Concerto (http://www.mydocsonline.com/pub/larkg/Vivaldi%20Concerto%20for%20Guitar%20in%20D,%20Larg o.mp3
)

Sorry for the mix-up.

[Karl Garrett]

Vivaldi (\"http://www.mydocsonline.com/pub/larkg/Vivaldi%20Concerto%20for%20Guitar%20in%20D,%20Larg o.mp3\")

One of these days I\'ll liarn how to use these domb computers. images/icons/tongue.gif

[Karl Garrett]

One of these I\'ll learn how to type!

[music man]

Very nice work. I would like to hear more.I\'m just curious on the microphone and set up you used to record your guitar it sounds great! Thanks Joe

[Hardy Heern]

Very well done Karl. Your playing and GPO...great combination. A nice change.

Frank

[mschiff]

That\'s really nice, Karl.

This is something new. I\'ve heard of 6 string and 12 string guitars, and even 7 string basses, but never a 10 string. I went to the Oribe website, and it was not in their line, but I did see a picture of one of the players with something that looked like a 10 string. Are the other 4 strings drone strings, or do you need to grow new fingers to play it? images/icons/wink.gif

-- Martin

[Joseph Burrell]

Finally, a song so everyone can hear how great GPO\'s harpsichord is. Great work again Karl. Beautiful work on the guitar too.

[guybrush threepwood]

nice pulsation and performance images/icons/grin.gif
i miss a little brightness in the guitar, it remains too dark compared to the rest of instruments.
maybe we can expect the 3rd movement? images/icons/wink.gif

[Nhick Ramiro Pacis]

Karl,

Very nice! GPO really worked on this one, not to mention your expressive guitar playing!

[Karl Garrett]

Thanks folks for the nice remarks.

For Joe and anyone else who is interested in details, here are a few things about this piece and my guitar. I hope this doesn’t get to long. Any more suggestions, gentle criticisms or comments are more than welcome.

THE PROCESS:
I first recorded the midi GPO parts. I’m not a great keyboard player, so I recorded to a click. Then recorded the guitar track and went back and rerecorded the violins and cello, tweaked everything a little and it was done. It couldn’t have been easier.

At first I was concerned about syncing my guitar with these GPO guys, who are unrelenting when it comes to playing in perfect time. But I like Baroque music with a fairly strict meter, and these guys were more than happy to oblige with just some retards at the end of sections. After playing the guitar part, I asked the violinists to stay and play their parts again, so they would play off the guitar a little better. They moaned, groaned and bitched about union scale and overtime, but after I assured them that they would appear on the NS forum, they were thrilled and played their little virtual hearts out. images/icons/smile.gif

TOYS USED:
Pair of Neumann KM184 mics, DBX 386 preamp, MOTU 1224, Digital Performer 4.12, Mac with Panther v10.3x, a little TC EQ on the guitar and Altiverb on everything with a little drier sound on the guitar to give it a little more presence without having to mix it at a higher level than the other instruments. I’m not sure that this was the right path to take. I have a lot to learn about the recording process.

THE GUITAR:
This is an Oribe 10-string (nylon strings) classical guitar. It was made for me back in 1971, and although it is now physically beat up, but then so am I, I do love its unique lush sound. Strings 1 through are identical to those on a normal 6-string guitar. Most of the time I keep the lower 4 strings tuned to a “C” below the 6th string “E”, sometimes tuning it down even lower to an “A”. It is somewhat comfortable to bar across to this 7th string even though I have pretty small hands, and that “A” tuning opens up a lot of possibilities for great bass lines. If the truth be known, I haven’t explored anywhere near its possibilities in this regard. The 8th string is tuned down to “Bb”, a half step above the 6th string. The 9th is tuned a whole step lower to an “Ab” and finely the 10th down a whole step to an “F”.

One of the problems we have when recording a classical guitar, is that the lower strings tend to sustain sympathetically while playing the higher ones. For instance, if we play the 1st “E” open string, the 5th string “A” (also open) will be set in motion also at it’s 2nd harmonic. If the next note you play is an “F”, you get an unexpected minor 2nd interval. We try and keep these little problems down to a minimum by dampening the lower strings when the harmonies change like that. On the 10-string guitar we have an extra 4 lower strings that can unexpectedly jump out and bite you when you least expect them to. This little anomaly drives recording engineers berserk. In live performance however, these things become less of a problem.

I have found that if I want to record a piece written for the 6-string guitar, but am going to play it on my 10-string, that dampening the lower (in pitch) 4 strings by wedging a small piece of foam between the strings and the fingerboard, cuts down on the above problem without destroying its tone.

WHAT I LEARNED:
Yes, guybrush, you’re probably right about bringing out the highs in the guitar. I have a tendency to overcompensate for my aging ears, thinking that I don’t hear so well, and figuring that the highs are there, but I just can’t hear them. I actually have a little better hearing than I think. I have to learn to trust it more.

I learned that in order to breathe some realism into the strings, I have to really work that mod wheel hard. That’s the main reason I went back and recorded the violins again. I’m still not totally happy with the way I recorded them. Those long sustained notes really expose them, so a little more work on that mod wheel is probably needed. I can’t wait for GOS2. I’ll probably fuss with this Largo more someday.

I learned that if you tell people that you used a computer to play the instruments, that the value of what you did is diminished by about 1,000 percent. But if you say how do you like this guitar concerto, they think it’s great. After all everyone knows that computers can do everything, and that it doesn’t take a real musician to do what we do. I have a student who has more money than brains and certainly talent, who after hearing what can be done with GPO is, as I write this, out buying about $10,000 worth of gear. This should be interesting. images/icons/smile.gif

Most of all I learned I need to practice and practice and practice and………

I have played this little concerto for years, so I do plan to record the rest of it. But for now I have to put it aside. Besides my teaching and playing with GPO, I own a small greenhouse business, and we’re cranking up for our busy spring season. Anyone want to buy some Pansies? images/icons/smile.gif