blanham - Posted - 10/05/2014:  12:27:17

Put new strings on the old Bacophone Plus!  These 2 tunes were recorded with a pair of Shure BETA 57A dynamic microphones (no EQ, no reverb).

The Jolly Blacksmith

Santa Anna's Retreat

banjo bill-e - Posted - 10/05/2014:  13:30:21

Sounds great, very nice clean playing too.

jbalch - Posted - 10/05/2014:  14:06:18

Well done.  The banjo sounds great too!

JanetB - Posted - 10/05/2014:  15:02:10

You always sound great, Bob, and you pick the choicest tunes to share.  What are the mics plugged into?  (Pardon my ignorance.)

Jack Baker - Posted - 10/05/2014:  15:52:42

Excellent playing. Great sounding banjo...Jack

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Originally posted by blanham

Put new strings on the old Bacophone Plus!  These 2 tunes were recorded with a pair of Shure BETA 57A dynamic microphones (no EQ, no reverb).

 

 

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Edited by - Jack Baker on 10/05/2014 15:53:19

guitarman8491 - Posted - 10/05/2014:  16:47:32

Really nicely played and great sounding banjo!

blanham - Posted - 10/05/2014:  16:47:43

quote:

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Originally posted by JanetB

You always sound great, Bob, and you pick the choicest tunes to share.  What are the mics plugged into?  (Pardon my ignorance.)

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They're going through a Focusrite Saffire audio interface, and recorded in Garage Band on my Mac.

rickhayes - Posted - 10/05/2014:  17:12:45

A pair of beauts.  SAR sounds like a cousin to Texas.  Excellent playing.

blanham - Posted - 10/06/2014:  04:42:35

Rick, I don't know about the tune "Texas", but you got me wondering where my fiddling friend got "Santa Anna's Retreat" from, and it must have been from Henry Reed.  I found some good background on this Library of Congress page:

loc.gov/item/afcreed000114/

Also, it was once a TOTW here:

banjohangout.org/archive/150199

Thanks, everyone; you are all so nice!

Edited by - blanham on 10/06/2014 04:47:51

banjered - Posted - 10/06/2014:  11:09:05

I'm currently learning this tune. Lots of awkward (to me, anyway) fingering. There seems to be a lot of divergence both written and audio about whether to use C or C# (third string, 3d or 4th fret). I wonder how much the original recordings had half tuned fiddles or half tuned (hiccup!) musicians? Ha! Good tune! Banjered

mworden - Posted - 10/06/2014:  12:19:15

Sounds great.  I'm also reminded of Texas, which also comes to us from (through) Henry Reed.  We did it as a TOTW a while back:

banjohangout.org/archive/245990

Edited by - mworden on 10/06/2014 12:19:51

blanham - Posted - 10/09/2014:  05:06:43

Mike, when I hear Texas (aka Newcastle) played on the fiddle by Henry Reed, it sounds like a version of the old minstrel era song, Charleston Gals.

mworden - Posted - 10/09/2014:  08:17:52

They definitely seem related, especially Melvin Wine's version.

SCclawman - Posted - 10/09/2014:  11:50:31

great playing! I've been looking at getting one of the saffire interfaces. The MBox I have now only has one XLR input, and I would love to have 2. Have you been pleased with the saffire? I'm only listening through computer speakers now, so I'm not able to listen closely, but would love to hear your thoughts on the unit.

blanham - Posted - 10/09/2014:  16:18:39

quote:

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Originally posted by SCclawman

great playing! I've been looking at getting one of the saffire interfaces. The MBox I have now only has one XLR input, and I would love to have 2. Have you been pleased with the saffire? I'm only listening through computer speakers now, so I'm not able to listen closely, but would love to hear your thoughts on the unit.

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I have the Saffire Pro 40.  It is exactly what I needed, and the recordings are as clear as a bell.

Bill - Posted - 10/09/2014:  18:35:34

Superb performance both!

I have been thinking about Santa Anna's Retreat for a couple of weeks now. I haven't played it in several years (never well) and I mean to rectify that.

Thanks for posting.

superdave - Posted - 10/10/2014:  07:51:37

Great playing and sounding banjo Bob. I have a Reiter Tubaphone but your Bacophone + has a certain shimmer that my Tubaphone does not. What type of head is your Reiter have ?

Thanks, Dave

blanham - Posted - 10/10/2014:  16:11:04

quote:

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Originally posted by superdave

Great playing and sounding banjo Bob. I have a Reiter Tubaphone but your Bacophone + has a certain shimmer that my Tubaphone does not. What type of head is your Reiter have ?

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Dave:  It's my only banjo with a real skin head; it has a Miller vellum calf skin head.  I think a Tubaphone would sound awesome with a skin head.