Fidelity - Sandy Gritt covers Regina Spektor

[Gritter]

There are not many instances of men covering women's songs. Maybe Joni Mitchell or Karen Carpenter on occaison but not many others that I can think of...okay Annie Lennox also comes to mind.

Anyway, I'm a huge fan of Regina Spektor - A beautiful voice, amazing musician and a delightfully quirky and moving songwriter. I took my wife and daughter to see her in concert 2 weeks ago and it was incredible.

Here is my acoustic attempt...live frrom Jericho Beach Park, Vancouver on a sunny afternoon in late October. The birds, who are the real star performers here, are my audience and accompaniment. A woman bellowing at her kids or dogs adds some ambiance in the middle and the boom from a fashion show DJ (for whom I had set up gear an hour before on a nearby restaurant patio) adds a heartbeat to the conclusion.

Thanks for listening...and reading this short essay!

Sandy.

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[Wiley]

The player didn't seem to work for me guys!

[Gritter]

Please try again Wiley. It does work. Click it twice.

[Satchwood]

This is a really cool recording and performance Sandy!!! 

You got that open-air-live vibe going there - can't help but smile when listening to this - that bouncing chorus really is catchy!!! 

Luv those background noises and birds singing!!!

[Bluesberry]

Worked for me, this is wild and raw stuff Sandy, really cool.  Jerico Beach hu.  I lived in Vancouver for one winter, came out from Burlington Ontario just after High school ended, that was 1983 I believe.  I lived at the jerico Beach Youth Hostel that winter and I spent a lot of time at Jerico beach hanging out, looking out at the Vancouver skyline, walking along 4th ave and Broadway, great memories of that winter, you just reminded me of that time.  Now here I am on the other coast.  

Back to your song, really cool wonderful stuff.  I really like your style.

[launched]

I love the live and natural feel to this one. The extraneous sounds really add to the whole listening experience. Right on!

This is a great live recording - Could you please share with us how you set your MBR up? I've been trying to do some similar recordings and my results have been poor.

Love it!

Mark

[Gritter]

When I record live...

I usually have the mic effects on guitar patch: Twangster, I have customized it somewhat - recorded to 2 tracks (stereo) - effects location: input <normal> . It helps round out the sound and gives it a broader stereo spectrum...

I then bounced the recorded stereo tracks with the Mic patch: Vo Delay 2 - also customized...a similar patch would be the preset Mic patch: MTK on M. Effects location: Master (Track 1/2 also would work if live to 2 tracks).

Mastering: toolbox set to Premaster.

Position of MBR: I was sitting on a picnic bench with the MBR on the table so it was close to both my mouth and guitar...I went for a muted guitar sound on this one which made it easier to sing at a lower more intimate volume. I played with headphones on. The clicking you hear especially near the end is actually the headphone cord dangling on the MBR as I "rock" out.

I'm still experimenting so not all live recordings are done the same way but I think that is how I got this particular sound.

I hope you can make sense of this and I hope it helps.

Cheers,

Gritter

[Tangled Wires]

Really well performed song here Sandy, the background noises just add to the atmosphere of the recording

Interesting and informative reading your method of live recording too!

[Covermark]

This is really special. Raw diamond I should say. Never thought about recording this way.

[Wiley]

You got it right the birds really added a lot!!.  Great job though!! You pulled this off nicely!!