Had the pleasure of seeing Walter Trout and his band perform at Music City Roots, broadcast live from Franklin, TN. What a set! That’s him on the left of the photo below.
He began and ended the set with an incredible amount of energy, which is amazing for a guy who nearly died a couple of years ago. His skill with the guitar is impressive and creative. If you like the blues and guitar wizardry in general, be sure to check him out.
A video review of the Allen & Heath ZED 10FX mixer follows this paragraph of blather. Please allow me to introduce a new category to The Bent Page, and that category is BLOG CASTING. Soon I’ll be posting video blogs here on WordPress and YouTube. A separate streaming channel is also in the works but not finalized. Let’s look at that video review first. Another paragraph of explanation follows.
Over the past several months, I’ve been doing my homework in preparation for putting together a video blog casting studio. (The first order of business was to clean out my old office, which was chock full of nothing useful.) Naturally, the computers were updated. Next comes the audio component. To mix and feed audio into the digital recorder in my computer, I chose the Allen & Heath ZED 10FX mixer. At first glance it may seem like a bit of overkill, but my requirements and consultation with friends in the music world led me to this unit. I needed at least 3 microphone inputs with power supplies. The ZED 10FX has 4. I also wanted the ability to plug in some musical instruments because a few of those friends from the music world will (at least they said they would) participate in some of the productions coming out of here. Instead of having them lug all their gear, they can plug into this unit. There is also the ability to have studio monitors (speakers) connected through the ZED, a separate headphone output with the ability to isolate the feed to the phones. The onboard effects were less important but for the price, why not? Without going crazy on the technical side, each channel has the ability to be sent to the “RECORD” bus separately, so if those pals are playing away and I want to record each channel independently, this can be done. In other words lots of flexibility.
Now that the audio is piped into the system, I’ll be tweaking the video in a few different ways. Most import are the lights, which are on the way. More on this issue soon.
Remember when music was intelligible? When you could understand the lyrics? When the music was produced by people playing instruments as opposed to computers regurgitating digital samples of who knows what? Whether you remember or not, may I suggest thumbing through some old vinyl or surfing down through the download device of your choice to Mr. Jim Croce.
Croce was a guy with talent for the ironic. You’ve heard his songs in all manner of venues, but take a moment to listen to them on their own. Maybe in your car or sitting on the porch with a nice cocktail. One of my favorites is “Two Less Footsteps.” The man gets it spot on here. The song tells its story, moves along like an ambling freight train, delivering a wry smile and clever grin before it’s over.
I’m not sure who produces this kind of music today. Maybe no one. At least, not in English. (In Spanish I can recommend Julietta Venegas for one.) Too much doom and gloom. Too much bass, not enough skill, and precious little irony or finesse. Your suggestions to rectify the hole in my present music library would be much appreciated.
The Bent Page 
Piano practice
As with anything, practice makes perfect. So, after some years away from my piano, I’ve begun again. It is truly a labor of love as playing music can be one of the most rewarding activities of human existence. There are some things that just sound right. Don’t ask me about music theory; I don’t know much about it. But one’s ear doesn’t lie. It sounds right; it is right. The following piece has some lovely chord progressions that I enjoy.
It’ll be many months before I can play this piece to the level I could years ago. It will be fun re-learning it and many others. Play on!
- Commentary
on February 17, 2016 at 2:15 pm Leave a CommentTags: Bach, baroque, Baroque music, composing, music, photo, piano