EP439 – Funk Rhythm and Lead.

[Geoff]

This was one that was originally intended as a collobaration between Bob U and myself. Sadly, Bob was tied up with too many personal commitments to do this one with me so I figured I would do the Rhythm and pop my own lead over the top of that.

Easier said than done. This is the first time I have attempted to do multi-track on Da Vinci resolve. Not too bad when you know how to do it but first time I had pain trying to line up the tracks so they would all come in on time, then figuring how to make videos appear, then figuring out how to put in that background flame effect ya dee ya dee ya da.

Anyway, this is the final result. I don’t feel it’s my best because the Strat came out a little too ‘death metal’ for my taste and the ryhthm could have been more confident. You will have to forgive me, my first shot at doing this kind of recording. Hopefully it will be easier in future.

[Guido]

I loved the final result, Geoff! The lead part you created to my ears sounds really very original and enjoyable to listen to. Really brilliant! In fact I also like the “metallic” tone of your Strat, it complements well the more mellow tone of your Guild! By the way, I wish I had such a compositive talent and musical ear! The overall rendition is excellent! The video is also pretty good, and you’ll see that playing with this applications, step by step you’ll get better and better also with these things.

Guido

[Geoff]

Thanks for your kind comments Guido. If you are interested, I was really just jamming the blues scale over the top of the chords. Key was in A – minor pentatonic scale and off you go. Admittedly, though, I just throw in some extra notes to give the thing a bit of a dorian minor sound but that’s just icing – Brian’s lesson EP436 is really useful, I can tell you that. You know how he talks about ‘lightbulb moments’, that lesson was that for me – just shows really nicely how you can connect the blues scale all across the fretboard. I don’t think you would have us much diffulty coming up with your own as you might think.

I have learned more about music editing that I ever intended originally. Its a fun, if not somewhat frustrating at times, journey.

[sunjamr]

Good one Geoff, nice to see you digging into some multitrack recording. Most people record the audio onto their DAW, and simultaneously shoot the video. So when you set to work in your video editor, you’ve got two video tracks with audio, then a separate audio track from your DAW (where you synced the rhythm and lead, then bounced as one track). Since you can hear the audio from each video track, you can easily shift the video left or right to sync its audio with the DAW’s audio. After doing it, you just mute or delete the audio from the video track. Voila!

Sunjamr Steve

[Geoff]

Thanks Steve, fortunately for me Da Vinci resolve has this handy little tool that will automatically sync my Video with the separe DAW audio track by waveform – a really nice little feature. The thing thats a little bit of a pain with multi track recordings like this is I still have to sync the separate videos – quite doable but fiddly.

[Garry]

This is really cool Geoff. A real funky version and great to see you so relaxed and getting into it (loved the coffee sip near the start). Video was pretty good too. As we know the more we work on these skills the better we become so you’ll be a video expert in no time. All the best!

[Geoff]

Thanks Gary, the coffee sip was just me pretending to look relaxed after all the frustrated attempts to get my camera and microphone set up – I still have real trouble figuring out how to do that smoothly. Like you say, I have been learning new skills ever since I started on Active Melody nearly two years ago – I am sure it’s the same for you.

[Anonymous]

Nice playing Geoff. I have to say, your video production has jumped up a few notches on a sophistication level. Maybe a classical duet in the not to distant future?😊 Sounding and looking great…keep em coming.

[Geoff]

Hi Ivan I thought of one called Chanson by Jonh W.Duarte. It would have been a project so I gave up on it. Maybe I should pick it up again.

[brian-belsey]

This is very enjoyable and good fun, Geoff! This multi-tracking recording and videoing is well beyond my partner and my point and shoot video skills! I was interested to see your reference to John Duarte’s duets. I met him once in London when I was at a concert with my then teacher. Is the piece from a collection called something like 6 Friendships for 2 Guitars? He wrote some good stuff, including an English Suite which Segovia recorded.

[Geoff]

Hi Brian, apologies. I meant to answer you some time back and got caught up in things.

Yes, I got if from that ‘6 Friendshipts for 2 guitars book.
John Duarte is quite the composer. The piece I was looking at sounds like something a French impressionist painter might have come up with. Must have been interesting meeting him.

[brian-belsey]

Hi Geoff, my teacher seemed to know lots of guitar people but the meeting was fairly brief. John Duarte was an impressively expert musicologist as well as composer, often writing sleeve notes for records and was also a chum of Segovia. He wrote some very interesting books including The Bases of Classic Guitar Technique and Andres Segovia As I Knew Him.

My teacher also knew a successful recitalist called John Mills and through him I got to attend a weekend group class with John Mills which was quite an experience. There was also then a John Mills Trio, including my teacher and another guy, and my copy of their record was borrowed by a subsequent teacher Simon Munting and I never got it back!

Sorry to go on at length – I could bore for England on classical guitar!

[Geoff]

Wow, you certainly have a love for this classical music don’t you Brian. I share your passion but I never got to meet any famous people. Your knowledge of the history is encyclopedic.

[Clarke]

Geoff,

I there such a thing as too much fun – Has to be really satisfying putting all of your skills together – Very nice production.

Clarke

[Geoff]

Hi Clark, Most definitely not 🙂 I think that, every time we produce one of these videos, we are putting all of our skills together.

[Enrico]

That’s very cool Geoff! I enjoyed listening to this. Good improvisation and video skills. Can’t complain for your first time! ☺️ while the sound of your strat came out a bit metal, it kinda fits with the overall composition! Well done!

[Geoff]

Thanks Enrico. Maybe I should become a guitar metal head 🙂

[Ralph P.]

Very Funky and 1970’s sounding.
Ralph

Ralph P.

[Geoff]

Thanks Ralph. 70s psychedelic is the way one friend of mine described this.

[Mark T]

Very nicely done, Geoff – you jumped right in with the multi-track audio, but also impressed with the video too, with added flame effect – beautifully presented! 👏👏👏🎶🎶🎶

I too really struggled with syncing multiple videos and audio, and really appreciated the auto-sync feature when I splashed out for better video editor software!

I confess though, and I felt an idiot for not realising this, that the purpose of the “clapper board” was not just to note the scene and take; it’s to ‘clap’ a mark to allow easier syncing! Yeah, come on Mark, the clue’s in the title – duh 🙄😂😂😂

[Geoff]

Hi Mark, I already don’t know what you are talking about so now you know my skill and knowledge level. It was all manually lining up the tracks – tedious. I just watched a bunch of littl youtube videos on how to do things like the ‘flame effect’ and adding in tracks.

Mind if I ask what video edition software you are using ? I am using Da Vinci Resolve and it is pretty feature rich – still figuring it all out.

[Mark T]

You’re not alone, Geoff! My whole life is littered full of bemused people left thinking, “What the hell was he talking about?” 😂😂😂

For quite a while I’d been using iMovie, that came free with my Apple MacBook Pro. I had a lot of trouble syncing video and audio, especially with “audio drift” (where the video was synced fine at the start, but drifted out-of-sync by the end – often really noticeably). Someone on AM recommended software to help cure this problem, but it never quite worked for me!

In the end, I bit the bullet and bought the rather expensive Apple Final Cut Pro software (£300 here in the U.K.) It’s been a godsend – saving me so much time. It’s also been another fun toy to play with, though it has many features that I haven’t tried and may never need.

Best wishes 😎

[Geoff]

You got me thinking about Macs again. My laptop is starting to break down and I have been thinking of moving over to something like a MacBook. It has something called ‘Garage Band’ which appears to do something similar to what ‘Da Vinci Resolve’ does for me on a PC – only problem is I would have to relearn software. Its something I could do but not sure how much I relish the idea.

If money saves time it can really be worth spending. Garage Band has a free and a paid version with is $400 – I would really have to consider the benefits. Clearly, its worked well for you.

[Mark T]

Geoff, I started working on Computers way before the days of PC’s or Laptops – large Mainframe machines using UNIX and COBOL languages. The BBC then migrated most stuff to Microsoft, though at the time I retired, they were still running some of my old HR software on UNIX that I’d written in 1992 (probably still are for all I know) 😂

My MacBook Pro was a retirement present to myself. I was determined to leave behind anything work related – Microsoft/UNIX – and use Apple instead, and I haven’t regretted it one bit 🤓

The audio recording software I use on the Mac is called “Logic Pro X” – if you do look for a paid version of Mac audio software, this is worth considering 😎

[Geoff]

He there Mark, I am a programmer like you and, sadly, not retired yet. Don’t be surprised if they are still running your old HR software – software has a way of hanging around. I have always used a PC for work related stuff and my wife uses an ipad.

One thing I have noticed where the ipad better is the battery in it has lasted WAAAY longer than my PC battery. She has been using the same ipad for the last 7 years with no complaints and that is very impressive. These days I don’t seem to need a PC for work related stuff any more because my company supplies one so now I am considering a MacBook – everyone who has one seems to love it. Just have to get used to some weird things like th MacBook not having USB ports – or, at least, thats my understanding. I still have a very PC oriented mindset.

Geoff.

[Helen Lazaridou]

Oh Geoff you have definitely leveled up in terms of video production!!!!!!!you even did the “clone” thing that Guido said!!!!AND with different guitars!!!!!!the sipping of coffee surely fooled me!!!you looked so 😎 😅😅😅and I loved the last image too🤣🤣🤣you should be really proud🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

[Geoff]

Thanks Helen, I am trying to practice looking cool when I play – fortunately I didn’t spill coffee all over myself.

[Dieter]

Hi Geoff,

Your production rate is really amazing, great that both of your guitars are in use as well. Excellent interpretation of the lesson and as a highlight your very varied and groovy improvisation. Really great.

Dieter

[Geoff]

Thanks Dieter. I am always trying to put my own take on Brian’s lessons when I can. I don’t think I could of done it with the rhythm but coming up with the lead was just a of playing around with the blues scale on top of the chords. (I had to practice the lead quite a bit to get anything even close to what I was hoping for).

[Andy N]

That was a really interesting tone on the Strat, Geoff. Completely took me by surprise when it came in but I really liked it. Had a kind of vintage vibe to it especially over the funk rhythm. Great rhythm playing too and you nailed some fast little runs in the lead. Your video skill are coming on in leaps and bounds too. Great job!

[Geoff]

Thanks Andy. Great to hear from you again. Someone described the lead as 70s psychedelic. Wansn’t quite my intention but I think the description is probably accurate.

[John H]

Geoff,
Your love of guitar is sooooo infectious. Nice job on this. BTW, synching a multi-track recording is no easy feat. You will find your way, it just takes time and the more you do it the better you will get. I struggle with it every time I try. Well, it is great to see you having fun, jamming with yourself and putting on a great show.

John

[Geoff]

Oh you haven’t seen me swearing and cursing when I try John but, mostly, its fun. Good to know I am not the only one.

[James B]

Nice job Geoff. You made a snappy tune out of that funky lesson. Nice video too.

James

[Geoff]

Thanks James.

[Bob Utberg]

Way to go Geoff!!! That was so funky delicious and well done! So sorry I missed out. We will do one soon my friend. way to play and get better at all the recording stuff. Bob

Bob U. (aka Bobby Ut)

[Geoff]

Yes Bob. I am looking forward to doing something with you again. I know how difficult it can be finding the time.

[John B]

You are so versatile. Great job.

[Geoff]

Thanks John.

[Author]

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