A guitar performance (Look mum, no face!)

[GregB]

I rarely perform on camera ... I don't see the need for it ... I try to promote my music rather than ME.  And my music videos are narrative rather than miming a performance to the album track.   Plus I can't stand the sight of my facial contortions as I concentrate, so hence ... no face!    In this case, I thought it instead better to frame my two hands so other players can  clearly see what is going on.

 

 

 

This is a live guitar-only performance made well before recording it for Track 14 "Guitar Suite" on my "The Flat White Album" (2020).  It was primarily done as a least-effort quick-and-nasty first video in 2019 for the album's YouTube channel I had just set up. 

 

The video was a simple single long continuous take using a fixed camera.  There was just one bad mistake on a section start (the wrong chord!), so I froze in position and restarted that section and later fixed the 'gap' in the video edit ... can you spot it?  So, in the end, it was one of many practice sessions but with the fab bonus of having an easily produced new video!

 

Because the performance was planned to be just a single take, I had to play/practise each day for a week prior, and practice is very rare thing for me! The audio is the unprocessed recording from a Zoom H1 stereo mic (visible on the table) mixed with a Rode directional mic shoed on a Canon 70D with tripod.  The kitchen provides a great room (wood, glass, tile) for live sound . 

 

The 'audience' vibe bookending the video was done purely for personal amusement (an audience ... in a kitchen??), but I thought it worked so well for the 'concert' vibe' that I later incorporated it on the album track because it so suited the orchestral performance.

 

The guitar for the album track was 100% re-recorded, section by section.  This allowed for continuous tuning checks ... 12-strings are twice as likely to than a 6-string to go slightly out of tune, and this sounds awful when layered with precisely tuned MIDI-orchestral instruments. Recording section by section also meant I could hold the closing notes of a section rather than have to move my hands to the next position.  The released track therefore bears little ultimate resemblance to this live video ... but it may be of interest to see and hear the raw composition exactly as it had been developed for guitar alone.

The album recording and narrative visuals are here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e-ETLfNyoY

 

GUITAR NOTE.  I am always gobsmacked by people who have racks/walls of guitars.  I currently have, and have only ever had, ONE guitar ... a 12-string.  Unlike a 6-string it is never loud, nor the easiest for finger picking and slide, but I happily forego that in exchange for the exquisite sound.   I had an EKO from 1970 which I then sold after buying my current Takamine in 2001.   I use D'Addario EJ39 12-String Phosphor Bronze Acoustic Strings, Medium, 12-52. When home-studio recording I play in to my Focusrite Scarlett 2i-4 concurrently via a Rode NT-1 and also DI via the Takamine piezo pickup and Takamine GT-4B-II onboard unit.   I EQ the two mono stems differently and pan them across the stereo field.  The result (to my own ears) gives a solid and rich sound.   

 

MEA CULPA: I do my best, but I can't paper over ALL the mistakes  

 

Edited January 29 by GregB

[Bridget Murphy]

Focusing on promoting the music itself rather than the performer is a great approach. Using narrative music videos adds an artistic and storytelling dimension to your work.