tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52542828344775380862024-03-13T22:09:29.216+11:00Alan's Music BlogAlan Hargreaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03185435856374895327noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5254282834477538086.post-69399207176338107512013-09-16T11:16:00.000+10:002013-09-16T11:16:09.966+10:00It's been a whileI've just noticed how long it's been since I did anything here. Bad Alan! I have a few things that I will (hopefully) put up in the next few days.Alan Hargreaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03185435856374895327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5254282834477538086.post-25489965729436454402010-11-13T12:06:00.000+11:002010-11-13T12:06:55.989+11:00Looping some Funk'n Jam<object style="background-image:url(http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/tqAlBGdFZgM/hqdefault.jpg)" width="480" height="295"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/tqAlBGdFZgM?fs=1&hl=en_US"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/tqAlBGdFZgM?fs=1&hl=en_US" width="480" height="295" allowScriptAccess="never" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object>Alan Hargreaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03185435856374895327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5254282834477538086.post-87546281554481133062010-08-13T00:03:00.003+10:002010-08-13T00:08:36.054+10:00New Mix Layout<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_rZPXZJEYPAY/TGP_voajpFI/AAAAAAAAABU/gZ7yHCFgSkA/s1600/Audio+Layout+2010-08-12.gif"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 236px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_rZPXZJEYPAY/TGP_voajpFI/AAAAAAAAABU/gZ7yHCFgSkA/s320/Audio+Layout+2010-08-12.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5504524363344618578" /></a>
I was feeling a bit constrained by my old layout. I couldn't do stereo in the mix (only in the rp-150 feeding the notebook) and I couldn't separate out how much reverb etc each channel got. As a result, I've moved things around a bit s per the picture.
This has given me a lot more flexibility.
I've changed the settings on the RP-150 so that it is no longer doing EQ (mixing what it output back into the mix sounded like speaking through a pipe). What it is doing is some reverb and Chorus.
I've got the Mike adding a goodly amount of that effect in through the Aux send and just a little to the guitar.
I've also played a little with the stereo field.
Overall the sound I am getting out of the guiter is one hell of a lot crisper and I'm also pretty happy with what it's doing to my vocalAlan Hargreaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03185435856374895327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5254282834477538086.post-41489342237194425572010-04-05T18:26:00.004+10:002010-04-05T18:34:51.798+10:00Video for Goodbye Heaven<p>Just for chuckles I had a play with Windows Movie Maker to video myself playing this live using the audio equipment I've blogged about earlier.</p>
<p>I like to dedicate this song to anyone who has ever had o move on from a place that they've grown attached to. A place that is full of fond and precious memories. What you've go to come to realise is that the memories are not embedded in the woodwork or in the land. They will live forever in your heart, soul and mind.</p>
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/h6haTYy9WK4&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/h6haTYy9WK4&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>Alan Hargreaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03185435856374895327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5254282834477538086.post-84039545527820804612010-03-11T20:57:00.002+11:002010-03-11T21:01:22.310+11:00More equipment<img src=http://www.behringer.com/EN/images/products/MDX4600_P0179_FrontTopPerspective_web.jpg>
<br clear=all>
<p>I should also mention that a few weeks back I picked up a <a href="http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/MDX4600.aspx">Behringer Multicom Pro-XL</a> four channel compressor that I'm using now too.</p>Alan Hargreaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03185435856374895327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5254282834477538086.post-23773451530568451192010-03-11T20:51:00.002+11:002010-03-11T20:56:52.682+11:00New Guitar<img align=right src=http://www.tanglewoodguitars.co.uk/__myAssets/Acoustics_and_Electros%5C05_Rosewood%5C01_TRD%5CTRDVSEMED.jpg>
<p>Those of you who have been listening to me on Second Life or following my facebook/twitter would know that last week I finally had enough of the problems I was having with the electrics in the Vantage so I went and bought a new guitar.</p>
<p>The guitar in question is the one pictured, a <a href="http://www.tanglewoodguitars.co.uk/products/default.asp?cID=66460550&sID=66460561">Tanglewood TRD-VSE</a>. It was a close call with a Washburn in the shop that I didn't actually look at the model of.</p>
<p>I have to say that I absolutely love the sound that I'm getting out of it and it feels lovely to play. I am finding it amazing the extra energy I am feeling while I am playing a nice guitar, and I am passing that energy on to the listeners when I play, so it's all good.</p>Alan Hargreaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03185435856374895327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5254282834477538086.post-1553493768117379862010-01-29T12:00:00.003+11:002010-01-29T12:19:15.002+11:00Australia Day Pass the Mike<p>On the evening before Australia day I got a message from <a href=http://myspace.com/laceylohner>Lacey</a> that she wanted to get a few Australian Second Life performers together to play at her place (in Second Life) with a definitely Australian Theme.</p><p>So it ended up with four of us doing a "pass the mike" for four hours! The participants were:</p><p><ul>
<li><a href=http://www.jaggpro1.com/>Jaggpro McCann</a> (Rob Fisher),</li>
<li><a href=http://myspace.com/ohmykidd>OhMy Kidd</a> (Matthew Davies),</li>
<li><a href=http://myspace.com/laceylohner>The Lohners</a> (Shan and Byron), and</li>
<li>Me <a href=http://alanhargreaves.blogspot.com>Tpenta Vanalten</a> (Alan Hargreaves)</li>
</ul></p><p>I have to say I have not had so much fun performing in a long time (and I generally have fun performing). The format that we went for was simply three songs and then pass the stream to the next performer (well I did one set with two, but "The Band Played Waltzing Mathilda" runs about 8 minutes). For the most part we played a lot of Australian music, I did a few I wouldn't normally (what is Australia Day without Slim Dusty's "Pub with no Beer" ?).</p><p>Apparently for the four hours we had about 30 people listening constantly. We all had a fantastic time. I love this format!</p>Alan Hargreaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03185435856374895327noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5254282834477538086.post-55247519906043485042010-01-28T22:39:00.004+11:002010-01-28T22:58:40.264+11:00Video from kameleonz in Second Life - "Hot Cappucino"<p>Two Weeks ago I was playing in a new place called Kameleonz in Second Life. Before I went up I had a request from Fabios that he would like to take a video of me playing. I requested that he only record one of my originals as I don't have the rights to allow for something else to be videoed (in spite of lots of people on youtube doing it).</p><p>The result is the clip below of me playing my own "Hot Cappuccino".</p>
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/UcDyGpRQQFo&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/UcDyGpRQQFo&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Alan Hargreaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03185435856374895327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5254282834477538086.post-36041475943116311052009-11-03T15:04:00.002+11:002009-12-22T20:09:08.900+11:00Widget to play "Goodbye Heaven"<img style="visibility:hidden;width:0px;height:0px;" border=0 width=0 height=0 src="http://counters.gigya.com/wildfire/IMP/CXNID=2000002.0NXC/bHQ9MTI1NzIyMDgyMTMyOCZwdD*xMjU3MjIxMDg4MjM*JnA9MjcwODEmZD1taW5pX211c2ljX3BsYXllcl9maXJzdF9nZW4mbj1ibG9nZ2VyJmc9MSZvPTczMjYxZTk4ZjI*NjQ*Mjc5YjUzMDA1OGYyMDUwODE4Jm9mPTA=.gif" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://cache.reverbnation.com/widgets/swf/13/widgetPlayerMini.swf?emailPlaylist=artist_122316&backgroundcolor=EEEEEE&font_color=000000&posted_by=artist_122316&shuffle=&autoPlay=false" height="83" width="262" > </embed><br/><a href="http://www.reverbnation.com/c./a4/13/122316/Artist/122316/Artist/link"><img alt="Alan%20Hargreaves" border="0" height="12" src="http://cache.reverbnation.com/widgets/content/13/footer.png" width="262" /></a><br/><img style="visibility:hidden;width:0px;height:0px;" border=0 width=0 height=0 src="http://www.reverbnation.com/widgets/trk/13/artist_122316/artist_122316/t.gif"/><a href="http://www.quantcast.com/p-05---xoNhTXVc" target="_blank"><img src="http://pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-05---xoNhTXVc.gif" style="display: none" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt="Quantcast"/></a>Alan Hargreaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03185435856374895327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5254282834477538086.post-13025726737591398622009-10-02T07:27:00.003+10:002009-12-22T20:08:44.169+11:00Widget to play "That's just the way that it goes"<img style="visibility:hidden;width:0px;height:0px;" border=0 width=0 height=0 src="http://counters.gigya.com/wildfire/IMP/CXNID=2000002.0NXC/bHQ9MTI1NDQzMTc1MjUxNSZwdD*xMjU*NDMyNDQ4MTQwJnA9MjcwODEmZD12aWRlb19nYWxsZXJ5X3dpZGdldF9maXJzdF9nZW4mbj1ibG9nZ2VyJmc9MSZvPTJiZmNkZDZkYWEwNDRmMDE4YzlhYTM5OGZjZTVjOGMwJm9mPTA=.gif" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://cache.reverbnation.com/widgets/swf/33/video_gallery_widget.swf?page_object_id=artist_122316&id=artist_122316&backgroundcolor=EEEEEE&font_color=000000&autoPlay=false" height="374" width="332" > </embed><br/><a href="http://www.reverbnation.com/main/artist_feature/widgets"><img alt="Alan%20Hargreaves" border="0" height="19" src="http://cache.reverbnation.com/widgets/content/33/footer.png" width="332" /></a><br/><img style="visibility:hidden;width:0px;height:0px;" border=0 width=0 height=0 src="http://www.reverbnation.com/widgets/trk/33/artist_122316/artist_122316/t.gif"/><a href="http://www.quantcast.com/p-05---xoNhTXVc" target="_blank"><img src="http://pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-05---xoNhTXVc.gif" style="display: none" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt="Quantcast"/></a>Alan Hargreaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03185435856374895327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5254282834477538086.post-70961972327243487722009-09-12T21:40:00.005+10:002009-09-12T22:09:34.556+10:00Jamming<p>I had my brother visit today. We set up our respective gear in the lounge room and jammed for a bit. Him on his lovely black Ibanez with Marshall amp and I did a combination of my Vantage and the Gibson L6S.</p>
<p>Lots of fun.</p>
<p>One of the things we did was an earlier version of "How Can It Be over", where he set up the Ibanez with some nice warm distortion to play the original riff that "made" the song when I wrote it. Really nice to get the feel of that one again. I backed off to my original finger picking style to play against him as against how I do it solo now.</p>
<p>He has spent so much more time getting to know his guitar and working on his technique. It puts me to shame at times; but the great thing is that he loves to jam against the music I write, so we have a ball. Maybe I should get him on some of the recordings that I'm doing at home :)</p>
<p>The bad news was that I think my old practice amp has a small rip in the speaker. The nice thing to know was that my big amp (The Jade twin 130) sounds as good as ever and I really had to watch the levels in the house. Especially with the electric acoustic as I couldn't find my feedback buster quickly. At a later time I'm going to try running the full mix into the jade to see if it might work in a pinch for a small PA.</p>
<p>Also got to muck about with a few ideas that I had and progress them a little.</p>
<p>A great day for jamming.</p>Alan Hargreaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03185435856374895327noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5254282834477538086.post-80229806429351880252009-09-01T23:12:00.005+10:002009-09-02T10:39:11.117+10:00Performing Live onto the Internet<p>I mentioned earlier that I play live into Second Life. This is not as tricky as it may initially sound. OK, my setup is a little more complex than when I started, but you really don't need a lot to get into it.</p>
<p>The most important thing you'll need is a way to take your audio and send it to an shoutcast (or icecast) server. I use a tiny free little tool called <a href="http://butt.sourceforge.net/">BUTT</a> (Broadcast Using This Tool).</p>
<p>Now as to my setup, it's a bit more complex than it used to be and it's forever changing, but as of this moment it comprises the following.</p>
<p>An <a href="http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/review/notebooks/acer/travelmate_7720g_7720g-602g50mn/221427">Acer Travelmate 7720G</a> notebook. While I'm currently doing audio in (and out) using USB, this notebook also provides a line level stereo input, which I find useful. I've also set up a second screen off the notebook that I can see while I am playing. This allows a bit of interaction with what people are saying/typing online while I'm onstage, making for a more intimate performing experience. It can also lead to dropping me into fits of laughter in the middle of a song, but that's live music!</p>
<p>An <a href="http://www.ashtonmusic.com/productView.asp?productID=211">Ashton MXL8 mixer</a> feeding one channel into a <a href="http://www.digitech.com/products/Multi-Effects/RP150.php">Digitech RP150</a>, which in turn connects in stereo to my notebook through USB. The RP150 does a little EQ, post compression and reverb for me (as well as the odd freaky effect on the whole shebang).</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Mikes</span></p>
<p><ul><li><a href="http://www.rodemic.com/microphone.php?product=M3">Rode M3</a> - Vocal</li><li><a href="http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/C-1.aspx">Behringer C-1</a> - Guitar</li><li><a href="http://www.shure.com/ProAudio/Products/WiredMicrophones/us_pro_PG81-XLR_content">Shure PG81</a> - Vocal (for when my daughter wants to sing)</li><li><a href="http://www.samsontech.com/products/productpage.cfm?prodID=1803">Samson Q4</a> - sat on the floor under my wooden stomp box</li></ul></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Instruments</span></p>
<p><ul><li>Vantage VW25CWSB - Electric Acoustic cutaway (I'm holding it in my profile pic). This is the instrument that I mainly use.
</li><li><a href="http://www.takamineguitars.jp/guitars/model.php?series_id=2&model_id=56">Takamine D-20 TBS</a> Acoustic. I need to mike this one to use it. But it has a lovely tone.</li><li><a href="http://www.captainibanez.com/download/attachments/132379/Page07.jpg">Ibanez V302</a> 12 String Acoustic. Again I need to mike this when using it.</li><li><a href="http://www.vintageguitars.org.uk/1976gibsonL-6Sdeluxe.php">Gibson L6-S Deluxe</a> - Lovely to play. I bought this guitar with my first pay packet in 1986. Mine is done in the natural satin finish. Apparently there were only 2161 of these made.</li></ul>Now the effects line on the guitar is pretty simple. I have a <a href="http://www.effectsdatabase.com/model/psk/1/cp1">PSK CP-1 Compressor</a> which looks to be a Korean knock-off of a Boss compressor pedal feeding into my nice new <a href="http://www.bossus.com/gear/productdetails.php?ProductId=819">Boss RC-2 loop station</a>.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Performing into Second Life</span></p>
<p>Most of the venues in second life provide their own shoutcast or icecast stream that will need to be programmed into BUTT. I also rent one of my own in case there are problems with a venue stream or the venue simply doesn't have one. A stream that will handle up to 50 listeners costs me about US$3/month.</p>
<p>I'll get a bit more into the specifics of making your avatar look like he is actually playing in another blog.</p>Alan Hargreaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03185435856374895327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5254282834477538086.post-21739500593814840742009-09-01T20:35:00.003+10:002009-09-01T22:20:24.252+10:00Only My Music<p>I'm going to try something different here. I have a number of blogs where I mix personal stuff, work stuff and my music. This one is going to be a different in that I will only blog about music here.</p><p>To introduce myself, I was in a couple of bands 20-25 years ago in Newcastle, Australia and had a good time then, but i dropped out to make a living elsewhere, ending up <a href="http://blogs.sun.com/tpenta">here</a>.</p><p>Back in 2005, my wife invited me to <a href="http://coastfest.org.au/">Coastfest</a>. I met a whole lot of wonderful people and got involved with <a href="http://bracketsandjam.com.au/">Brackets and Jam</a> doing sound for the North monthly event and helping out with subsequent coastfest events.</p><p>Brackets also gave me the opportunity to start getting back into some performing in the shape of walk-ups.</p><p>In addition a few years back I started playing some of my own stuff and some covers live into <a href="http://secondlife.com/">Second Life</a> in the persona of Tpenta Vanalten. I've met a lot of wonderful people and very helpful musicians all over the world through this fantastic social medium.</p><p>I play a bit of everything, as long as it can be done on an acoustic guitar (or maybe a uke). You can have a listen to some of what I've done in the following places.</p><ul><li><a href="http://www.reverbnation.com/alanhargreaves">Reverbnation</a></li><li><a href="http://www.myspace.com/alanhargreaves">Myspace</a></li><li><a href="http://www.thesixtyone.com/tpenta">TheSixtyOne</a></li></ul><p>I'm not quite sure what I'll be putting up here but it would be nice to get into some conversation on topics like, performing, songrwriting, recording, ... stuff like that. I may even talk about some of the folks I'm listening to, be they recorded, live, or live in second life.</p>Alan Hargreaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03185435856374895327noreply@blogger.com1