Open Mic Week 42: (Original) Study by, Oliver Waterman
I wrote this Study as part of my theory final last semester. My guitar is still tuned lower than normal, so it's meant to be played in C but because of my tuning it's played in A. If people are interested in the sheet music let me know and I'll try to make it available. Thanks.
This piece was beautiful in its melodic simplicity and a pleasure to watch it's physical complexities. Great job Brother, good luck this week!
Thanks! you too!
Beautiful playing, and I think the low tuning gives it a lot of richness!
Thanks! The one I'm uploading now for week 43 is even lower haha... so more richness?
Welcome to the dark side! I like to tune my acoustic piano down as much as it can tolerate and still be stable, which is roughly A=438. Verdi insisted on all of his operas be performed at A=432, where the voice is much darker sounding.
Have you played around at all with that kind of tuning?
Such talent. I enjoyed listening. Thank you.
Thanks! I'm glad!
Very cool man I love the general vibe of this. I could hear this being played on piano as well!
thanks! It definitely could! I wrote it to reflect my understanding of how to use concepts of basic root progressions, embellishing tones, voice-leading, diatonic sequences and secondary chords in SATB format transcribed for guitar. The current sheet music I have for it is on treble clef only with what seems like infinite ties to technically have four voices. I'd have to transcribe it to the grand staff and remove the ties replacing them with different note values in the four voices available in the grand staff. That is the difficulty with classical guitar music. A single staff only allows for two separate voices, so you have to use ties to indicate that certain notes are still playing.
Sounds beautiful, nice work. What are you using to record? It sound so full.
Thanks! It's not as good as it could be. My guitar is a Cordoba C10, Cedar top model, which is an all solid wood guitar, so the guitar itself has a very full body sound. Also my technique is traditional classical, akin to how Segovia played, where I shape my nails so I'm able to graze the string with my nail and finger pad at the same time creating a much thicker sound than just plucking it. Then my mic is an Audio Technica AT2020 through a focusrite iTrack solo. I add a limiter in my DAW to get the volume a little louder and a touch of reverb. The sound is all just from the mic picking up my guitar, but if I had better mics and a better room I could get a more natural sound. It's more about technique than anything else for the fullness. I rarely use EQ's unless I'm "close micing," because a good nylon string guitar played with classical technique sounds as good as it's gonna sound as is. I do use minimal compression to make sure the levels are smooth if there's peaking. Also mic placement is still something I'm trying to figure out. Some of these pieces sound too bassy while others sound too thin due to my placements.
Edit: I didn't really mean "Peaking" when talking about compression. I meant uneven. Any mistake in plucking the string can sound piercing to me, so I like to make sure it's not as bad as it could be.
It is a very nice sounding guitar. That's interesting, I've never studied classical guitar formally but I have noticed that I get the best sounds out of my fingerpicking when both my nail and pad of my finger make contact.
I use an AT2035 myself, but so far my recordings for the open mic have just been through photobooth haha. You definitely have a more thorough process figured out than me; the room I play in is really dry which I'm frustrated with, but I hadn't even thought to do the audio through a DAW and run some reverb and light compression.
What are you using for video capture (hardware and software) and what DAW are you working with?
coolness! There is a "no nail" technique that I've seen people use relatively well. I've tried it myself, but it's not easy having used the nail technique all my life. Also, you have to build up a callous before it starts sounding right. Instead of grazing the string at an angle towards the face of the guitar, you graze under the strings, so you have to hold your hand upside down with your fingers pointed up. once my nails grew back I gave up. Just checked out your stuff, very cool! very interesting and direct focus on a very difficult style! Awesome! I can see Where you'd do better with a proper nail shape, but i don't know how well classical technique would work for a steel string. If I can find a good video explaining how to shape nails and pluck authentically I'll send it, or make a quick tutorial if I can't. As far as my Daw, I use Reaper. The limiter plugins are simple and easy to use as well as the compressor and other effects. Great for someone like me who doesn't really understand them. I use filmora to edit video and I just use my cheap zte phone for shooting. I've been talking with my friend who engineered my EP about what to get as an upgrade for mics and he suggested these: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/M5MP?product_id=M5MP&campaigntype=shopping&campaign=aaShopping+-+Catch-All&adgroup=Catch-All&placement=google&adpos=1o1&creative=156936231009&device=c&matchtype&network=s&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9fSTr5iZ1QIVErXACh1exACOEAYYASABEgICNfD_BwE
they're inexpensive, but they're well made and great for doing an X/Y configuration on the guitar. For me, that's what would work best, and the test video I saw of them used an acoustic guitar with a different stereo configuration that sounded very good. I think the mic you have is great for vocals and steel string though. I'd say maybe add a little compression, turn down a bit while recording and boost it with a limiter in the DAW. You'll have a much clearer sound and the louder parts of your vocals will sound smoother. Your musics cool as hell, so definitely try to get the best tone you can.
Just wanted to clarify, literally any DAW will do. I just like the plugins that Reaper comes with and how cheap it is. The free trial they have is great cause you can get really used to it before you decide it's worth it.
Lovely composition there Oliver. It is great to be able to close ones eyes and listen without being jarred at any point in the piece. Very beautiful.
Thanks!
Thanks for playing. Very nice piece.
Thanks!
That was exquisite.. Bravo!
Thank you!
Nice post. Great piece. Enjoyed your music. Good playing.
Will continue to follow your post. Good job.
Thank you!
your guitar relax me
That's good to hear, thanks!