Tim Green's 'Love me in Obscurity' - Now with Autoharp!

[cuthbert]

OK Tim - here it is, with my autoharp scratchings stylings added... 

It's an old Oscar Schmidt autoharp that was packed away,. and what a dickens it was to get it tuned - 36 something strings that I had to make two tuning passes to get something that sounded relatively in tune. There were also some squeaks and groans from the chord bars (this thing is antique) that I reduced in Audacity.

Anyway, let me know what you think - it's not exactly a harp (it's more from the dulcimer family), but it does have a sweepy chord sound.

By the way, I'll say it again: fantastic song - loved the chords and how they go from major to minor. Just wonderful.

[launched]

That sounded good - You must have gotten it in tune. I thought it was a great addition to the song - The efforts have paid off!

Mark

[Vanncad]

Wow! Tim - this is a really good song (as usual). Very dreamy and well-written. I somehow missed the origianl posting but the addition of the Autoharp sounds good to me as well.

P.S. - Cuthbert - I sold my 12 string becuae I was too lazy to keep re-stringing the damn thing so I give you loads of credit for tackling 36!

Great tune!

 - Vann

[Wiley]

I believe it really added to the song. Great job!

[guitarron]

its a really good fit for sure-gives it a very distinctive voice

[Flash Harry]

I have lost my autoharp tuning wrench. I need a new one. This has re-inspired me.

Nice addition to an already great song.

[Ferryman_1957]

I had no an idea what an autoharp is, had to look it up! I'm afraid I can hardly hear it (altho my hearing is bad), I think it's doing something in the left hand channel but it's very indistinct to me. I would be tempted to bring it up in the mix, but that may be hard if you are just working with an mp3 of Tim's original. But let's hear more autoharp in the future please.

Cheers,

Nigel

[cuthbert]

Thanks for the kind words, one and all. It's a lot easier to make something sound halfway decent when the song is as solid as this one is, and credit for that goes entirely to Greeny. 

Autoharps seem to be fickle and somewhat eccentric instruments - at least the vintage (fourties? fifties? sixties?) model I have is. I mentioned the tuning debacle (a tuning wrench is required and thank Korg for electronic tuners), but also the chords provided by the chord bars are somewhat puzzling to me - some chords have no major form, but appear as a diminished 7th...and there are no E chords here! So altogether there are a handful of major, minor, and diminished 7th chords, which I strummed after first figuring out (most of) the chords to the song on guitar.

This was my first experience recording an autoharp, and at the time I was really wishing it had a pickup installed on it. Strummed with a pick, it had a sharper attack that seemed to overpower Greeny's lovely arrangement, which I did not want. I ended up playing the chords with the base of my thumb, which made it difficult to get a decent level from the mic which then had to be positioned very close to the soundhole, which subsequently picked up all the moans from the chord bars as they were pressed and released. 

After it was recorded, it still seemed a bit overpowering to me, so I backed off the levels and panned it a bit left as Greeny's strings seemed more right-panned. But I agree with Nigel, it does make the autoharp more difficult to hear, but to my ears it intruded less on what I considered an already perfect arrangement.

In future, I may use this 'hillbilly harp' on other recordings - it definitely offers a unique sound, and I kind of like instruments with character and built-in limitations.

In conclusion, this was my first remote collaboration, and I'm grateful to Greeny for allowing me to take a crack at it - thanks Tim!  And Flash Harry, let me know if you'd like to borrow the wrench. 

[Bluesberry]

When I think of autoharp, I think of this incredible song everytime.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54PV2_b4-ow

[guitarron]

too bad you cant hear it