Afternoon Chap's

Remember Aker Bilk and a tune called Petite Fleur on clarinet

Here's my version, not often you hear me do an instrumental.

The accompaniment is a touch quiet but other than that I was quite pleased with the attempt. All comments gratefully received.

https://app.box.com/s/rqlmg75xhxmeutgqrwp6

Regards

Col

A beautiful job on a new-to-me song. I agree about the accompaniment being a touch quiet, but I don't think it detracts overly from your lovely performance.


Thanks for the music,
Dan

P.S. Perhaps it's a little on the short side?

Hi Dan

You have to be very old to remember this one. It was a very quick impulse recording and as you say needs to be a little longer.

I'm just having a go at "Stanger on The Shore" made famous by the same Gentleman, this one has a string section as well, a bit more variety.

I'm quite enjoying the instrumental approach makes a nice change from singing.

Col

I remember very well this song, made famous by the great Sidney Bechet ("Le Dieu" Bechet, as his admirers nicknamed him). His version was in a swing tempo, while yours is different, something between a bolero and a rhumba, but I liked it. The only suggestion I have would be to kill that string pad and replace it with a vocal sound played with your left hand (something like a "mmmhhh", that underscores the melody and emphasizes the chord changes at the same time). It would add more variety/movement and sound less canned.
And yes... the song is definitely too short!

Andrea

You must be older than you look in your photo's if you remember that one LOL

I'm only just finding my way around the G70 the make up tools are quite amazing when you get used to them (some time in the future)

How's about this one then hot from the press so to speak:

https://app.box.com/s/95icp89uyi3nr3sd3t8v

One take, warts and all.

Col

HEY, Col ... I resemble that remark !!!

1959 hit by Chris Barber Jazz Band with Acker Bilk ? ...

Yeah, happy day's Tony, just left school (1958)not a care in the world (I think), the memory isn't that good.

Col

Not to 'steal' this thread, but ... I graduated High School in 1958 ... the big excitement for us was that friends of ours - 'The Elegants' had a number 1 hit with "Little Star" ... man, that was a lifetime ago - literally ...

A number of years later a son of one of the group's members was on a baseball team I coached and I also taught him to play the accordion ...

Wow, Tony. I was a kid in the Navy when that came out - remember it well.

Gary

Col,

I can tell that you fell in love with the clarinet sound. This second song is really inspiring: if my day had 48 hours I would love to record it, but I have a long waiting list in my head already. I wish I lived in Canada and could bury myself in a cellar and forget everything except music till spring comes...

... you ol' codger ...

The lead singer - Vito Picone _ was a long time boyfriend of a cousin of my wife ...

Meanwhile, back at the original topic ... another nice job Col ... you have found your way around that G70, eh ? ...

Excellent job COL. Loved the Clarinet sound. Very tastefully done. The G70 sounds great. A nice big realistic sound. The only suggestion I would have is to move the clarinet a little back into the mix and move the accompaniment forward.

Do the newer Roland Arrangers (BK-5,7 and 9) sound as good?

Another nice job. This time the mix balance was much better.

Sorry Col, I was so caught up in the nostalgia that I forgot to complement you on the fine job you did with the song.

Gary

Thanks' Guy's

Andrea, pure coincidence with the Clarinet I posted Petite Fleur in another place and someone suggested I do "Stranger on The Shore" so not wishing to disappoint I recorded it. It's a bit rough round the edges but "not too terrible" as they say over here.

Joe, Andrea has a BK7m and a G70, Diki has the G70 and the BK9,
so they are more familiar the Roland sounds, as I am new to Roland I'm not really in a position to compare. I'm not really into instrumentals but the G70 has some descent sax's so I may try a bit of swing, watch this space.

Tony, I'm getting there slowly, it really is a beast, so different from the Korg, a really nice change though.

Col

Here's a little tip to get over that 'too loud lead' syndrome...

Practice the song with the Accompaniment/Keyboard knob at 12 o'clock... but when it comes time to record it, back off the knob to favor the accompaniment (on the G70, about 9 o'clock works for me) and try to not play any harder. Adjust to taste if you can't hear the lead at all, but use as little as you can.

It will amaze you how much more in balance it will be.

Thanks' Diki I'll try that tomorrow makes a lot of sense.

Col