To my mind, a key part of the what makes Lunasa's album arrangements so great is Kevin Crawford's doubling of his own flute tracks like Devils of Dublin - even if it is a bit self-indulgent!
(at least, I *assume* that's what he's doing - don't recall seeing any other fluter's name mentioned)
But what happens when they perform live... I know many of you have seen Lunasa live many times - I've never come close - so perhaps someone could tell me how the arrangements change to suit that context?
I'm sick of all this Lunasa praise. OK they're good players, but they've done nothing the Bothy Band didn't do, and not half of what the bothy Band did do. Listen to Matt Molloy's multi tracked flutes on the maids of mitchlestown by way a tiny example
It's good to agree with Michael now and then. You would think that Lunasa were the only band around but I've seen and heard lots of good Irish (and other) line ups over the last few years. I've also had the privelege of seeing the Bothy Band live in the seventies which was a revelation and the most exciting gig I had ever seen at that time.
I saw the Bothy Band play "Maids Of Mitchellstown " live. What they did was Molloy played flute and Paddy Keenan was playing a low D whistle. It's not multi-tracked flute, and that's may well be what Lunasa do . Pitnekit - what are you on about?
I didn't know Seamus Egan played the Contradiction Reel. I've got him playing the Convenience Reel on banjo, which is a great, nay, classic, track, all the more remarkable that he was 16 at the time. But it isn't double tracked, is it? It's just him and Mick Moloney on guitar...I think?
On the Solas album Words that Remain Seamus on the first track he plays Contradiction Reel on the banjo and he recorded a second voice.
I thing that’s natural this kind of things in a record cause it is made for selling so let’s make it beautiful and most of all they are brilliant musicians and they know the way to solve the problem
But I didn't know that about the Bothy Band, so thanks for the tip Michael.
Kenny, the way Molloy and Keenan played 'Maids' makes sense, of course. I'd love to be able to compare that with the album version, the different textures must be amazing.
Lunasa-wise, I suppose Sean'd be able to play the doubled stuff in concert, seeing as most of it takes place in solo stretches. I'd forgotten he plays the whistle too. .
Daniel Lapp (from BC, Canada) plays the fiddle and doubles on a trumpt in his album REUNION (a "Celtic plus" type of album.
one of my favourites!). In the album's insert he admits that this is "studio trickery", but claims that he also does it live.
In their live concerts, Lunasa often has one or two whistles going with Kevin's flute (or whistle). Both Sean and Cillian play whistle.
As for Lunasa/Bothy, I guess I don't understand Michael's point. Looks to me like Lunasa gets praise for any number of reasons.
1.) They're great musicians who play together well.
2.) They've done some interesting stuff--using a bass, getting overdrive without a bodhran, writing some stellar new tunes (and not just "new age" ones), and integrating music from Brittany and other traditions. Not that it matters, but I don't recall the Bothy Band doing very much of any of that.
3.) They're actively touring and recording today. (In a totally unrelated note, the Bothy musos are also active, but not together.)
4.) They're personable, friendly blokes who genuinely enjoy meeting people (and not just fans of the music).
Of course, nearly all of the trad musicians I've met are personable and friendly, incredibly talented, steeped in the music, etc. I see nothing wrong if they all get a dose of praise now and then--for sharing their talents, for not letting it go to their heads, for being decent people. In fact, I suspect the Bothy members are glad to see their colleagues and the upcoming generations receive their due. It's not like it's a battle of the bands....
Mick Moloney himself made liberal use of multi-tracking on some of his 1970s recordings. His recording of The Leitrim Fancy starts with flatpicked guitar, backed by strummed guitar, which are then joined in the B-part by another layer of flatpicked guitar, in harmony with the first. Second time round, the tune is doubled at the octave on mandolin, then joined by another mandolin in the B-part... and then the same on banjo. To my ears, it sounds a little twee, but it was a novel idea at the time.
For me, in general, multi-tracking and traditional music do not mix. A major part of the attraction of this music is its spontaneity - the fact that two musicians, who may never have met before, can pick up their instruments and, without any need for prior arrangement or rehearsal, play music that is beautiful and complete.
Max, I don't doubt that Donogh also plays whistle. But he stuck to guitar during their live concert in Montana last summer. Personally, I don't care too much about what they do in the studio. I enjoy listening to cds, but far prefer live music, even better without a sound system. Sitting in a studio lures too many musos into overproduction or just playing with sound for the sake of playing with sound--simply because they can. I don't mind that stuff (really enjoyed the BBC radio thingy on tuning and intonation this week, thanks to Trevor), but when it comes to trad music, I'd rather just play it or listen to someone else play it without speakers and amps in between.
Not only does Sean Smyth play low whistle in duet with Kevin Crawford's flute at live Lunasa gigs, he plays a big-ass low B flat whistle when Kevin's playing his B Flat Grinter flute. I don't know how Sean even manages to get his hands around that pipe, but somehow he does. Guess that's why he gets the big bucks (and the groupies....)
To Danny
I have checked the label from the cd Words that Remain and it is in deed The Contradiction although quite exuberant!
Will seemed to have the best explanation it is indeed that all musicians in Lunasa are daftly brilliant and if they do something on a CD they probably know how to perform in their gigs.
Will, I see your point and agree with you entirely. I just wanted to point out that Donogh does play whistle. I love listening to live music much better than recorded music too.
David said:
For me, in general, multi-tracking and traditional music do not mix. A major part of the attraction of this music is its spontaneity - the fact that two musicians, who may never have met before, can pick up their instruments and, without any need for prior arrangement or rehearsal, play music that is beautiful and complete.
====
On the one hand, I wholeheartedly concur. On the other hand, I have a cut where the cat scratched me.
Seriously, I do enjoy the spontaneity of ITM, such as to be found in sessions. But I also like exploring it in the context of performance -- i.e., working out arrangements with a certain amount of deliberateness and pacing.
Still, it seems to me that doing too much of the latter invariably dulls the appeal of the music. When I was in a band, I think we all tried, individually or collectively, to go to sessions or find or create regular opportunities to just sit back and let the tunes fly.
Does anyone else see that as an important balance to strike?
Oh sure. Most of the experienced musos who record will tell you that latter -- if they'd even bother, for most it's pretty much an assumption and a given. And of course performing and recording are a hell of a lot of fun as a snapshot of what you did with a set or tune, and it's harder to sell what the source of this stuff is, after all. I mean, most of the record/cd buying audience certainly wouldn't "get" the music in it's purest forms that the rest of us really appreciate (er, we *do* appreciate it, right? *snort*)..
sts - I prefer to play live at gigs, sessions etc, but a small part is devoted to recording - don't forget that little performance trapped in time on your CD is what most of your listeners will judge your musicianship by.....
On doubling up - on some of the early Altan albums you would swear the fiddle was double-tracked - sounds like it's too clean for two people to be playing in perfect unison - but I believe that's exactly what's happening...Ciaran Tourish and the Mairhaid girlie....(can't be a*sed to look up the proper spelling of her name!) do a grand job of it.
That'd be Mairead, Jim, and the twin fiddles are brilliant on all their tracks. Early on it was Paul O'Shaughnessy, and now Ciaran Tourish. Even live, they stay amazingly tight--really listening to every nuance the other brings to the sound. A real treat for the rest of us.
Please don’t underestimate Mariéad and Ciaran they are wonderful musicians!
Should hear Rakish Paddy and Farewell to Leitrim some of my favourite tunes!
What happens normally in Donegal is to do octaves often and some spontaneous notes here and there thru the tunes, not arrangements like Dervish
Pitnekit - I have just now, scrolled up on this thread. I was looking for someone underestimating Mairéad ni Mhaoinaigh or Ciarán Tourish. I have to say I found that no-one said anything objectionable. Maybe in English there's much use of hyperbole.
You know, the ancient Greek term for deliberately understating.
Very common in spoken English....particularly amongst Scottish Fiddle players from Drumry Road, whose names might begin with J, and ends with ..im Dorans
..not many of them around, especially in Southampton....
I should say that I do not wish to belittle anyone else for their personal tastes. To clarify my point, listening to a band such as The Bothy Band, Altan or Lunasa is an entirely different experience from listening to a solo or duo recording of traditional music. These bands, while using traditional music as their source material, do not make any claims to being an integral part of the tradition (although they may yet prove to be so). But when a recording which purports to showcase an exponent of the tradition, features one musician playing on two instruments simultaneously, it seems somehow false. One case for which I make exception is Charlie Lennon's 'Musical Memories', where he provides piano backing to his own fiddle playing - simply because nobody else can back Charlie's compostions as well as he can. But then, he would probably not claim that his own compositions were 'traditional music'.
Oh, here we go again. Okay, David, define what an "integral part of the tradition" is and isn't! ;)
There are all kinds of reasons why a muso might double him/herself on a recording. For instance, you might not have money to pay another muso who plays the instrument you want and happen to play as well. I'm not going to tell them they're somehow committing some kind of falsehood by doing so, especially when they can play my rear end out of the hall, running circles round me at the same time, on both instruments. I mean, it's a recording, that's all, and if you can't tell without looking at the liner notes that it's the same muso, then who cares?
And given that the Bothies may not have claimed to be part of the tradition, they've certainly placed such a huge mark on it that people not intimately acquainted with the ins and outs of this rather wide tradition (given that it's one tiny island, it's amazing how wide it's fame is, I've heard, "that's Irish music, isn't it" from the most surprising people) are often surprised when they hear earlier recordings with less drive.
Altan has also placed and is placing it's mark on how we play this stuff. Lunasa, whether we like it or not, is doing the same thing. So, in fact, are each of us who interact on this board, no matter whether we're experienced or beginners. Insofar as I'm concerned, we're all an integral part of the tradition...but of course that doesn't mean that I think all of it is good! Heh.
We each have our own ideas of what the tradition encompasses, and health to us all, because it keeps the thing alive, even as we quibble and yell and argue.
I sorta agree with what David's getting at--the difference between an unadorned recording of a musician doing his or her thing, without benefit of the technological bells and whistles, versus the other 99.9 percent of what the recording industry feeds us. I prefer the former--a tape of your local session, or perhaps a cd of a live concert with a minimum of remixing. I enjoy my old tape of Ceol an Clair, where you can hear a lot of bow noise and the musician breathing, etc.
Of course it's also interesting to hear what talented, conscious musicians such as Lunasa or Eileen Ivers or Ashley MacIsaac can do in a recording studio, but it's not always my cup of tea, and it often stretches the boundaries of the tradition. It begs the question, Is studio recording technology "traditional"? I would say no, but maybe a better answer is no, not yet. Some day, who knows.
I also think it's important to remember that what Sean Smyth or anyone else does in a studio does not define in total who s/he is as a player. Sit down in the same room with him and Sean will deftly show the depth of his immersion in the tradition.
... I also make the exception in the case of Cathal McConnell, because he's bonkers.
In fact, I'd probably make exceptions in a lot of cases. It's just that I can think of a few instances where multi-tracking has done nothing to enhance the music. I wholeheartedly back musical experimentation - and the failures are as important as the successes.
Good point, Zena - plus the fact that's it's not easy to double-track on top of your own playing - especially if it's to be recorded in unison with the first track...so it's not a short-cut
Lunasa and doubling
Lunasa and doubling
To my mind, a key part of the what makes Lunasa's album arrangements so great is Kevin Crawford's doubling of his own flute tracks like Devils of Dublin - even if it is a bit self-indulgent!
(at least, I *assume* that's what he's doing - don't recall seeing any other fluter's name mentioned)
But what happens when they perform live... I know many of you have seen Lunasa live many times - I've never come close - so perhaps someone could tell me how the arrangements change to suit that context?
# Posted on November 20th 2003 by Q
Re: Lunasa and doubling
I'm sick of all this Lunasa praise. OK they're good players, but they've done nothing the Bothy Band didn't do, and not half of what the bothy Band did do. Listen to Matt Molloy's multi tracked flutes on the maids of mitchlestown by way a tiny example
# Posted on November 20th 2003 by llig leahcim
Re: Lunasa and doubling
Yes and Seamus Egan banjo too!
# Posted on November 20th 2003 by pitnekit
On Contradiction Reel
# Posted on November 20th 2003 by pitnekit
Re: Lunasa and doubling
It's good to agree with Michael now and then. You would think that Lunasa were the only band around but I've seen and heard lots of good Irish (and other) line ups over the last few years. I've also had the privelege of seeing the Bothy Band live in the seventies which was a revelation and the most exciting gig I had ever seen at that time.
John
# Posted on November 20th 2003 by Back for a while
Re: Lunasa and doubling
I saw the Bothy Band play "Maids Of Mitchellstown " live. What they did was Molloy played flute and Paddy Keenan was playing a low D whistle. It's not multi-tracked flute, and that's may well be what Lunasa do . Pitnekit - what are you on about?
# Posted on November 20th 2003 by Kenny
Re: Lunasa and doubling
I didn't know Seamus Egan played the Contradiction Reel. I've got him playing the Convenience Reel on banjo, which is a great, nay, classic, track, all the more remarkable that he was 16 at the time. But it isn't double tracked, is it? It's just him and Mick Moloney on guitar...I think?
Danny.
# Posted on November 20th 2003 by Nick Splease
Re: Lunasa and doubling
On the Solas album Words that Remain Seamus on the first track he plays Contradiction Reel on the banjo and he recorded a second voice.
I thing that’s natural this kind of things in a record cause it is made for selling so let’s make it beautiful and most of all they are brilliant musicians and they know the way to solve the problem
# Posted on November 20th 2003 by pitnekit
Sorry I migth get wrong this time it´s probably Convinience
# Posted on November 20th 2003 by pitnekit
No I it´s 2 banjos
# Posted on November 20th 2003 by pitnekit
Re: Lunasa and doubling
Ah! different album, then.
# Posted on November 20th 2003 by Nick Splease
Re: Lunasa and doubling
Ack! I've been set upon
But I didn't know that about the Bothy Band, so thanks for the tip Michael.
Kenny, the way Molloy and Keenan played 'Maids' makes sense, of course. I'd love to be able to compare that with the album version, the different textures must be amazing.
Lunasa-wise, I suppose Sean'd be able to play the doubled stuff in concert, seeing as most of it takes place in solo stretches. I'd forgotten he plays the whistle too. .
# Posted on November 20th 2003 by Q
Re: Yet another doubler
Daniel Lapp (from BC, Canada) plays the fiddle and doubles on a trumpt in his album REUNION (a "Celtic plus" type of album.
one of my favourites!). In the album's insert he admits that this is "studio trickery", but claims that he also does it live.
# Posted on November 21st 2003 by sixholes
Re: Lunasa and doubling
Poor Sean. Everyone forgets -- he was an all-Ireland on the whistle as well as the fiddle...
# Posted on November 21st 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: Lunasa and doubling
Doesn't everybody in Lunasa play the whistle except Trevor Hutchinson?
-Max
# Posted on November 21st 2003 by Max Becher
Re: Lunasa and doubling
In their live concerts, Lunasa often has one or two whistles going with Kevin's flute (or whistle). Both Sean and Cillian play whistle.
As for Lunasa/Bothy, I guess I don't understand Michael's point. Looks to me like Lunasa gets praise for any number of reasons.
1.) They're great musicians who play together well.
2.) They've done some interesting stuff--using a bass, getting overdrive without a bodhran, writing some stellar new tunes (and not just "new age" ones), and integrating music from Brittany and other traditions. Not that it matters, but I don't recall the Bothy Band doing very much of any of that.
3.) They're actively touring and recording today. (In a totally unrelated note, the Bothy musos are also active, but not together.)
4.) They're personable, friendly blokes who genuinely enjoy meeting people (and not just fans of the music).
Of course, nearly all of the trad musicians I've met are personable and friendly, incredibly talented, steeped in the music, etc. I see nothing wrong if they all get a dose of praise now and then--for sharing their talents, for not letting it go to their heads, for being decent people. In fact, I suspect the Bothy members are glad to see their colleagues and the upcoming generations receive their due. It's not like it's a battle of the bands....
# Posted on November 21st 2003 by Miss Lonelyhearts
Re: Lunasa and doubling
Will, Donogh Hennessy plays the whistle as well. At least he does on their most recent album, Redwood.
-Max
# Posted on November 21st 2003 by Max Becher
Re: Lunasa and doubling
Mick Moloney himself made liberal use of multi-tracking on some of his 1970s recordings. His recording of The Leitrim Fancy starts with flatpicked guitar, backed by strummed guitar, which are then joined in the B-part by another layer of flatpicked guitar, in harmony with the first. Second time round, the tune is doubled at the octave on mandolin, then joined by another mandolin in the B-part... and then the same on banjo. To my ears, it sounds a little twee, but it was a novel idea at the time.
For me, in general, multi-tracking and traditional music do not mix. A major part of the attraction of this music is its spontaneity - the fact that two musicians, who may never have met before, can pick up their instruments and, without any need for prior arrangement or rehearsal, play music that is beautiful and complete.
# Posted on November 21st 2003 by OrganicPeatCreature
Re: Lunasa and doubling
Well, I'm off to hear Lunasa right now, amongst some other Celtic heroes (Asturia,Galicie) and Andy Irvine, ever heard of the latter?
Bart
# Posted on November 21st 2003 by Bart
Re: Lunasa and doubling
Max, I don't doubt that Donogh also plays whistle. But he stuck to guitar during their live concert in Montana last summer. Personally, I don't care too much about what they do in the studio. I enjoy listening to cds, but far prefer live music, even better without a sound system. Sitting in a studio lures too many musos into overproduction or just playing with sound for the sake of playing with sound--simply because they can. I don't mind that stuff (really enjoyed the BBC radio thingy on tuning and intonation this week, thanks to Trevor), but when it comes to trad music, I'd rather just play it or listen to someone else play it without speakers and amps in between.
# Posted on November 21st 2003 by Miss Lonelyhearts
Re: Lunasa and doubling
Not only does Sean Smyth play low whistle in duet with Kevin Crawford's flute at live Lunasa gigs, he plays a big-ass low B flat whistle when Kevin's playing his B Flat Grinter flute. I don't know how Sean even manages to get his hands around that pipe, but somehow he does. Guess that's why he gets the big bucks (and the groupies....)
# Posted on November 21st 2003 by johnkerr
Re: Lunasa and doubling
To Danny
I have checked the label from the cd Words that Remain and it is in deed The Contradiction although quite exuberant!
Will seemed to have the best explanation it is indeed that all musicians in Lunasa are daftly brilliant and if they do something on a CD they probably know how to perform in their gigs.
# Posted on November 21st 2003 by pitnekit
Re: Lunasa and doubling
Will, I see your point and agree with you entirely. I just wanted to point out that Donogh does play whistle. I love listening to live music much better than recorded music too.
-Max
# Posted on November 21st 2003 by Max Becher
Re: Lunasa and doubling
Actually Kevin Crawford didn't double his flute on Devils of Dublin,
but has recorded that tune as a flute duet with MickMcGoldrick.
Cheers
Michel
# Posted on November 21st 2003 by michel
Re: Lunasa and doubling
David said:
For me, in general, multi-tracking and traditional music do not mix. A major part of the attraction of this music is its spontaneity - the fact that two musicians, who may never have met before, can pick up their instruments and, without any need for prior arrangement or rehearsal, play music that is beautiful and complete.
====
On the one hand, I wholeheartedly concur. On the other hand, I have a cut where the cat scratched me.
Seriously, I do enjoy the spontaneity of ITM, such as to be found in sessions. But I also like exploring it in the context of performance -- i.e., working out arrangements with a certain amount of deliberateness and pacing.
Still, it seems to me that doing too much of the latter invariably dulls the appeal of the music. When I was in a band, I think we all tried, individually or collectively, to go to sessions or find or create regular opportunities to just sit back and let the tunes fly.
Does anyone else see that as an important balance to strike?
# Posted on November 21st 2003 by sts
Re: Lunasa and doubling
Oh sure. Most of the experienced musos who record will tell you that latter -- if they'd even bother, for most it's pretty much an assumption and a given. And of course performing and recording are a hell of a lot of fun as a snapshot of what you did with a set or tune, and it's harder to sell what the source of this stuff is, after all. I mean, most of the record/cd buying audience certainly wouldn't "get" the music in it's purest forms that the rest of us really appreciate (er, we *do* appreciate it, right? *snort*)..
zls
# Posted on November 21st 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: Lunasa and doubling
sts - I prefer to play live at gigs, sessions etc, but a small part is devoted to recording - don't forget that little performance trapped in time on your CD is what most of your listeners will judge your musicianship by.....
On doubling up - on some of the early Altan albums you would swear the fiddle was double-tracked - sounds like it's too clean for two people to be playing in perfect unison - but I believe that's exactly what's happening...Ciaran Tourish and the Mairhaid girlie....(can't be a*sed to look up the proper spelling of her name!) do a grand job of it.
Jim
# Posted on November 21st 2003 by Worldfiddler
Re: Lunasa and doubling
That'd be Mairead, Jim, and the twin fiddles are brilliant on all their tracks. Early on it was Paul O'Shaughnessy, and now Ciaran Tourish. Even live, they stay amazingly tight--really listening to every nuance the other brings to the sound. A real treat for the rest of us.
# Posted on November 21st 2003 by Miss Lonelyhearts
Re: Lunasa and doubling
Please don’t underestimate Mariéad and Ciaran they are wonderful musicians!
Should hear Rakish Paddy and Farewell to Leitrim some of my favourite tunes!
What happens normally in Donegal is to do octaves often and some spontaneous notes here and there thru the tunes, not arrangements like Dervish
# Posted on November 21st 2003 by pitnekit
Re: Lunasa and doubling
Pitnekit - I have just now, scrolled up on this thread. I was looking for someone underestimating Mairéad ni Mhaoinaigh or Ciarán Tourish. I have to say I found that no-one said anything objectionable. Maybe in English there's much use of hyperbole.
You know, the ancient Greek term for deliberately understating.
Very common in spoken English....particularly amongst Scottish Fiddle players from Drumry Road, whose names might begin with J, and ends with ..im Dorans
..not many of them around, especially in Southampton....
:~)
# Posted on November 21st 2003 by Nick Splease
Re: Lunasa and doubling
btw, Lunasa has just relaunched their website
# Posted on November 21st 2003 by Q
Re: Lunasa and doubling
I should say that I do not wish to belittle anyone else for their personal tastes. To clarify my point, listening to a band such as The Bothy Band, Altan or Lunasa is an entirely different experience from listening to a solo or duo recording of traditional music. These bands, while using traditional music as their source material, do not make any claims to being an integral part of the tradition (although they may yet prove to be so). But when a recording which purports to showcase an exponent of the tradition, features one musician playing on two instruments simultaneously, it seems somehow false. One case for which I make exception is Charlie Lennon's 'Musical Memories', where he provides piano backing to his own fiddle playing - simply because nobody else can back Charlie's compostions as well as he can. But then, he would probably not claim that his own compositions were 'traditional music'.
But let's not get into that.
# Posted on November 22nd 2003 by OrganicPeatCreature
Re: Lunasa and doubling
Oh, here we go again. Okay, David, define what an "integral part of the tradition" is and isn't! ;)
There are all kinds of reasons why a muso might double him/herself on a recording. For instance, you might not have money to pay another muso who plays the instrument you want and happen to play as well. I'm not going to tell them they're somehow committing some kind of falsehood by doing so, especially when they can play my rear end out of the hall, running circles round me at the same time, on both instruments. I mean, it's a recording, that's all, and if you can't tell without looking at the liner notes that it's the same muso, then who cares?
And given that the Bothies may not have claimed to be part of the tradition, they've certainly placed such a huge mark on it that people not intimately acquainted with the ins and outs of this rather wide tradition (given that it's one tiny island, it's amazing how wide it's fame is, I've heard, "that's Irish music, isn't it" from the most surprising people) are often surprised when they hear earlier recordings with less drive.
Altan has also placed and is placing it's mark on how we play this stuff. Lunasa, whether we like it or not, is doing the same thing. So, in fact, are each of us who interact on this board, no matter whether we're experienced or beginners. Insofar as I'm concerned, we're all an integral part of the tradition...but of course that doesn't mean that I think all of it is good! Heh.
We each have our own ideas of what the tradition encompasses, and health to us all, because it keeps the thing alive, even as we quibble and yell and argue.
# Posted on November 22nd 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: Lunasa and doubling
Damn it, Domhniaill, you've blow my cover. We're going to have to kill you - will it be death by Kesh, 20-kilo accordion, or just a simple bullet?
Jim
# Posted on November 23rd 2003 by Worldfiddler
Re: Lunasa and doubling
I sorta agree with what David's getting at--the difference between an unadorned recording of a musician doing his or her thing, without benefit of the technological bells and whistles, versus the other 99.9 percent of what the recording industry feeds us. I prefer the former--a tape of your local session, or perhaps a cd of a live concert with a minimum of remixing. I enjoy my old tape of Ceol an Clair, where you can hear a lot of bow noise and the musician breathing, etc.
Of course it's also interesting to hear what talented, conscious musicians such as Lunasa or Eileen Ivers or Ashley MacIsaac can do in a recording studio, but it's not always my cup of tea, and it often stretches the boundaries of the tradition. It begs the question, Is studio recording technology "traditional"? I would say no, but maybe a better answer is no, not yet. Some day, who knows.
I also think it's important to remember that what Sean Smyth or anyone else does in a studio does not define in total who s/he is as a player. Sit down in the same room with him and Sean will deftly show the depth of his immersion in the tradition.
# Posted on November 23rd 2003 by Miss Lonelyhearts
Re: Lunasa and doubling
... I also make the exception in the case of Cathal McConnell, because he's bonkers.
In fact, I'd probably make exceptions in a lot of cases. It's just that I can think of a few instances where multi-tracking has done nothing to enhance the music. I wholeheartedly back musical experimentation - and the failures are as important as the successes.
The things we say to stay popular...
# Posted on November 23rd 2003 by OrganicPeatCreature
Re: Lunasa and doubling
Good point, Zena - plus the fact that's it's not easy to double-track on top of your own playing - especially if it's to be recorded in unison with the first track...so it's not a short-cut
Jim
# Posted on November 23rd 2003 by Worldfiddler
Re: Lunasa and doubling
Hm... will stick to Patrick Street and Celtic Fiddle Festival... :p
# Posted on November 25th 2003 by Pádraig