Thoughts during the breaks
And she did it all by herself, after I made her a template in Ardour so that she can load and play Alexander’s “Salamander Grand”, a very nicely sampled Yamaha C-5 Grand Piano. Sounds like this:
I’m very proud. Now she doesn’t need me any more and can do it all by herself.
Thanks for listening.
… as much as I hate spam, but this one’s hilarious:
Targeted at Germans, but obviously at those who can’t read or write… 😀
I don’t know if it was Dick (Richard) or his wife Diana who took this one of me end of August last year, but I do like it (tho the nice Jazz Bass isn’t mine):
I also made a b&w conversion of it, with a bit of a white border:
As always, thanks for viewing.
This is Ray (g, voc), Jean-Paul (violin), and me (b):
Enjoy – and thank for listening 🙂
Edit, from August 21st: ‘Jypeka’ (Jean-Paul) has remixed the track to adjust the loudness to his taste – and now I can take this version for the next album, so I have him and his avatar on the list of musicians as well; cool! So here is his version:
The list of musicians (“mixer” = also “violinist”):
Thanks again for listening 🙂 And merci a JP for making this remix 🙂
Hey, it’s Saturday – so I went to the club with Paul & Chris a bit. Let’s have some fun:
List of musicians:
Thanks to the gang for the fun, and to you for listening 🙂
I first saw Peter Capaldi as the 12th Dr. Who together with his companion Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald less than a week ago, in what appeared to be the last episodes of the 9th series of the long-running Doctor.
And what should I say, other than that I was blown away by their performance? Jenna plays Clara from series 7-9, and Peter is the Doctor in the series 8-10, so in 8 and 9 they’re together (but from what I’ve seen so far, the 7th and 10th are also worth it).
Both the DVD and the BluRay sets are quite expensive, but as soon as I’ve cleaned up a little more space in our bookshelf these will be ordered. If you’ve ever seen the doctor, well, in my opinion Peter just redefined the role and made it his. And Jenna as Clara? Wow, the “impossible girl” can’t be beaten as well in my opinion.
So good, these two… and really recommended. Family-friendly series, from age 12 in Germany (our official recommendation). For me, personally? A must see (Peter would probably say: “a hell of a show”) 🙂
Last time we went to the local drugstore, I took a pack of their cheapest film stock again, so that is what I’m using these days:
Of course, for quick shots like these (using studio strobes), or if someone asks to have their picture taken, I’ll still use digital. But for my personal stuff I just wanted to have that other kind of “look” back again for a bit.
And as you see I got three films for under 8€, but still I won’t waste much of that – so it will last a while until I can show something here again. Something analog I mean.
Back to making music as well in my limited spare time. So be patient with me please.
And as always, thanks for reading.
So here is my upload / remix #100 since I joined Wikiloops in February 2018:
List of musicians:
As always, thanks to my friends on the loops for all the fun, and thanks to you for reading, and for listening. Now going on with my time travels…
Today during lunch break I took my camera for a short walk again – taking some photos of a relatively new construction area just on the opposite side of the street. So here are some photos straight out of my camera, no processing at all:
That last one was taken out of a window at my employers’ office. All taken with my E-M10 Mk2 and the PanaLeica 25mm/1.4 lens.
As always, thanks for viewing.
My last upload (also called ‘remix’) on Wikiloops was the 99th, so my next one will be number #100 – and like most people do, I’m thinking about that a bit, contemplating about which song to choose to play upon.
And that also brings me back to an interesting thread and discussion we had on the ‘loops lately (or rather, which we’re still having), with the initial question from Wade “What type of player are you?“. I answered that one already, lengthily going on about how I found the loops and so on and so forth, but in general agree with what Klaudia (‘jamlady’) wrote short after that: something along the lines of “the music comes first” and/or “serve the music”. Well said, Klaudi! 🙂
So while thinking about my #100 I also found something incredibe, first on an album by my friend from Paris, Mr. OliVBee (and Ms Anne from sunny California), and now again from user ‘Filo974’ from Reunion: a fretless guitar (I think Filo even has more than one of these?). Listen:
On this lovely track which Filo played for his grandson Hector, there are two more uploads already – some keys by Mario (another very good bass player from Spain), and a violin by Jean-Paul whose tone I also love.
But does that track need me, or leave a bit of space for a bass? Tho it has another remix by a German bass player already, I’m not sure of that. Yes, I could ornament it all a bit – but in my opinion and in my understanding, music needs some breaks and some space to take a breath as well, just before the next one gets in with his or her awesome solo or melody. Filling these gaps would possibly do a disservice to the music rather than improving it. So while I love love love this track, with a heavy heart I gave up upon the thought of playing, took it out of my ‘watchlist’ and put it into my ‘hit list’ instead, to join dozens of other tracks which can’t be improved in my opinion (at least, not by me).
And the same is true and was done to Oliv’s and Anne’s “Shadowplay”. Listen to my first ever experience of a fretless guitar, played so masterfully by Oliv himself (between Anne’s great lines):
Well if this ain’t awesome then I don’t know what is. And no, it doesn’t have a bass (yet), and tho 5 people tried already, I didn’t even listen to one of them. Why not, if I don’t want to play? Maybe because of the same reason Oliv took exactly *this* version onto his album with Anne: the track has some certain kind of ‘airiness’, it feels light like a feather (tho it’s deep, dark, and blue) – playing a bass would probably rob the song of this light and airy feeling. So no, I had it in my ‘hit list’ already, and took it out of my ‘watchlist’ just like the one from Filo (and company).
And while these two examples stand for fretless guitar tracks (and I still would love to play on one), they also reminded me of another and much older track with just a singer and a piano. Listen to one of my all time favs from the loops:
Hurzel’s and Shi’s “When the lights go out” has 155 thumbs and 26 remixes, 11 of which are from bass players (as the first added instrument) alone. But does this track need a bass?
I doubt that, really. Maybe, just maybe if *I* would happen to be a producer and had to come out with making this the hit it deserves to be, I would possibly re-record it on a real stage and with a real piano in an empty ballroom (or with a dead quiet audience which wouldn’t be hard to get on this level), just a Grand Piano and that voice (taken with the best vintage tube mike I could find or rent). Would I add a bass? I don’t know. Charles Mingus isn’t around anymore, and I don’t know if Christian McBride or another great double bass player could improve this – but certainly not me (first, I don’t have a double bass, second, can’t play it on this level).
So this track will forever stay in my heart and in my ‘hit list’, but I’m really not sure if some day I’ll come back and play on it. ‘Serving the music’ can sometimes mean: leave it all alone, it’s great as it is. Such as these three examples.
So a big thank you to my friends over at the loops for their wonderful music – but none of these will be my next track to play on; they’re just too precious for me to ruin them.
As always, thanks for reading.