Puff the Magic Dragon on a 62 Bird

[tpbiii]

Green screen is too much fun.

 

We have a audio/video recording system I put together maybe 5 years ago to give faithful reproduction of vintage guitar tone. Thus if you listen in the room with and without headphones, the guitars sound essentially indistinguishable. Of course that does not mean that would necessarily be true with voice or additional instruments, but it is still a really good recording system for that too -- one without knobs that you just sit down and use.

 

I have never really been all that interested in recording performances -- us or anyone else either. But when I recently set up a green screen system for photographing guitars, I moved the stuff across the room and set it up for the audio/video system too.

 

We are taking it one step at a time, and right now we are only at the one strummed guitar and two voices stage. Since it is all acoustic, everything matters -- guitar tone, people placement, etc.... We have been making a few videos for our 1 1/2 year old grandson Jonah. It turns our that our 62 Hummingbird -- warm and full and not too loud compared to the 30s stuff -- is a great tool for this stage.

 

So here is our rendition of Puff the Magic Dragon for Jonah.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbZsTgefub4&feature=youtu.be

 

Let's pick,

 

-Tom

[MissouriPicker]

Tom, I like the recording a lot, but in all sincerity, I don't know what the "vintage" tone or the tone from the 30's is supposed to be. All I know is whether or not I like the sound of a guitar, and I like the gentle sound of the one you are playing.

[Avery]

Very nice! Loved hearing your two voices harmonize. Honestly, I'm not enough of a connoisseur, and I like new Gibsons too. But the guitar sounded great too.

[tpbiii]

Tom, I like the recording a lot, but in all sincerity, I don't know what the "vintage" tone or the tone from the 30's is supposed to be. All I know is whether or not I like the sound of a guitar, and I like the gentle sound of the one you are playing.

 

Hi MP,

 

As a general rule, vintage guitars are clearer than modern, but all of their other tonal features can be found in modern guitars. Also as a general rule, they are not especially good recording guitars -- their nuances are hard to capture. For this folk revival stuff from our youth, the wide warm blended Hummingbird gives a nice sound -- others sound different. We like them all in some sense -- but they are different and we are always aware of those differences. Here I can just play and enjoy this particular material -- with say an old AJ, I would have to hold back, and that would have been one more thing to think about -- sort of a less comfortable shoe. For me, the bird is just a better fit here -- for somewhere else it would not be. When we do bluegrass and tradition rawer folk, it does not work so well.

 

Did that make any sense?

 

Best,

 

-Tom

 

PS

 

Here is another video we did are part of this test. It still is the "simple strum single guitar" approach but with a different guitar. In this case a 1920s rosewood Larson Brothers. This is a stronger, sparser, and more roaring guitar than the Hummingbird. When we went to the milder materials, we left this and went to the Hummingbird. Of course it must be said none of this particularly power stuff.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4jhz8RGEE8&feature=youtu.be

 

Best,

 

-Tom

[E-minor7]

I liked this a lot - uplifting to hear you sing harmonies.

 

If I'm not wrong the Bird has the ceramic saddle. Nice and crisp it is (in these cans one of the best recordings from your camp) - and yes, it suits the song fine.