Lazy Rhythm - Bassett - Classic fingerstyle banjo

This is my first attempt at using my new mic. I'm very happy with the quality but for some reason it produces a strange buzzing sound in the background. I still have no idea how to record video and sound in sync without having to use the camera's mic, which is rubbish. So this is more of a first experiment until I get this fancy new recording technique down.

Anyhow, so Julian Egan asked me how I played Lazy Rhythm. I don't play it exactly as written, but that's how I roll. I think the swung beat w/ a bit of a dotted quaver rhythm makes it feel more nonchalant, lazy and whatnot.

As for my omission of dynamics: it is said that, as a babe, bees would flock in and out of young Ambrose's mouth as he lay in his cradle, leaving behind a drop of honey. But understand this: if the pride of Mediolanum had known when the bees would come, he would have kept watch and not let his mouth be broken into. For by honey I mean eloquence, and by banjo I mean violence.

Rating:
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Views: 120

Comment by Alan Sims on January 21, 2013 at 16:43

great tune Mike . Are you playing a different banjo , its just that you sound better .Not that you did not sound good any way . lovely sound.

Comment by Trevor Boyd on January 21, 2013 at 16:45
Is that your new Weaver?
Comment by Mike Moss on January 21, 2013 at 16:47
Hahaha, no, not yet! Still two weeks or so to go. I can't wait! This is the same old banjo, but I got a good quality microphone which is miles ahead of my camera's mic. Now if only I could figure out how to record the video and sound separately and then sync them...
Comment by thereallyniceman on January 21, 2013 at 17:44

Maestro Moss strikes again.  That is excellent. What microphone do you have? I will be interested to hear how you sync video/audio. I use an old video camera with its inbuilt mic and have never been really happy with the sound so perhaps you have just cost me MORE money :-)

Comment by Mike Moss on January 21, 2013 at 18:11

It's an Audix brand entry level vocal microphone; I got it dirt cheap and I decided to give it a try. I basically mounted the mic on a stand and pointed it at the vellum, very much like the early recording artists with the paper cone, and the quality is surprisingly good, miles ahead of the inbuilt mic in my camera! Of course, I assume that a purpose-built instrumental mic would be better but they are a bit pricey.

Comment by German David Patarroyo on January 22, 2013 at 0:44

Glad to hear you Mike! It sounds great!. I hope you can improve the video issue in a short time.

Comment by marc dalmasso on January 22, 2013 at 9:03

Yes , we all were waiting for the good old Mike with a new mike .. very very good / i like the way you play it  &  the sound of the Bj ; Rob used to play this one , too ; very good redition too ; but , beeing a guitar player , he never understood that  a banjo needs no reverb at all ...bravo Mike

Comment by Mike Moss on January 22, 2013 at 9:24

Ah yes, Reverb, the curse of the Tempter, whom the ancient Egyptians knew as AUD-AH-SEHT-I around whom space forms and unforms like so many unfinished strands of reality, and rooms large and small orbit around him like so many planets. It is said that the ascetic Desert Fathers were the first to be approached by The Tempter as they disturbed his sleep in the desert of Σκετες where he had been banished. There, in the vast expanses of sand, he promised them imaginary rooms in which the sound of their sintir -- for they were a musical sort, skilled with three-stringed proto-banjos -- would reverberate as if they were in the Royal Albert Hall. Only one of them, known as Macarius the Banjoist, fell for his tricks: and he was confined to a well, where his banjo did indeed resonate, but none could hear him.

Comment by julian egan on January 22, 2013 at 18:52

Its fantastic !! What i love most about it is the fact that it sounds so different from Rob Mackillops version. Your version is almost up-beat and ambles along at your side like a faithful friend. Robs version i find very melancholy and could be a lament to a love lost!!! Both are very, very nice. Thanks for letting us hear it.  

Comment by Mike Moss on January 22, 2013 at 20:49

Cheers Julian, now that I think about it I was influenced by Bill Ball's performance of Cammeyer's Humoresque, a very similar piece in bass to D. Humoresque is also relatively easy to play, and it also benefits from a dotted rhythm.

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