Instruments

I have been meaning to post some pics of instruments I have been fortunate enough to be steward of.  Yesterday, I took some pics for my Facebook page, and I thought I’d add them here, too, for the masses to view.  Actually, I do not believe any person has ever viewed my blog, which is understandable, considering I have never told anyone about it. 

I will dig around and find pictures of some of the other instruments soon.  I am still researching strings for the upright bass.  There are a few good forums out there devoted to basses.  The Bluegrass Bass Place looks good, but they have yet to activate my account, so I cannot post to it yet. 

Yesterday, my longer (25′) microphone cable arrived.  I bought it to reach the music room, specifically so that I could record the piano.  My oldest two are quite accomplished players, and I wanted to make sure to get some recordings of them playing.  I’ve never recorded a piano, and, having only one microphone, I knew it would be challenging.  I use a Studio Projects B1 large diaphram condenser microphone on almost everything because . . . well . . . it’s all I have.  I was actually pleasantly suprised at the fidelity.  My son was tired, though, and quickly became frustrated at the numerous takes, so we sacked it and will try again later.  I think, although I’m not sure, that a lot of the sound of a console piano resonates off its back, which means I might be better off pulling it from the wall a little.  I don’t know.  Do you? 

I placed the mic on a boom about six feet up over his right shoulder, angled downward at the piano at about forty-five degrees.  I cloned the track (since it is recorded in mono) and it did not sound too bad.  I look forward to doing more recording.  I really want to get the boys excited about it;  I want them to be as creative as possible when it comes to their music.  They are both so gifted. 

I spent a little bit of time yesterday cleaning/clearing off the tower computer and workstation  This is all part of an agreement between my wife and me.  She really wanted a new laptop for scooting around to various swim meets and the like, so we bought her a new Dell laptop, and her concession was that I could use the main home computer for recording.  I am going to work today on configuring the work area so that it is more usable.  The main problem is that the area becomes a dumping ground for various tidbits of paper, mail, trash, etc.