Old Faithful Revisted

David Mitchell · Post by **David Mitchell** » 8 Sep 2022 7:46 pm

I've noticed some of you guys have been making one man band videos and I sure enjoy that. I've been making some myself in my bedroom and thought I would do a good old Mel Tillis shuffle. I played my self assembled EMCI on this with E-66 and 2 year old dead strings. I had been playing another steel and just neglected the EMCI but it had the most Emmonsey sound and I was out of strings. I played all real instruments one track at a time except the fiddle parts which I played on a midi keyboard using a sampled fiddle. I own a fiddle but not ready for anyone to hear me play it. Lol! I sang the harmony to myself on another track. My voice is by far the worst sounding instrument I use but I have no choice alone in my bedroom. I'm a retired audio engineer that's learning to play pedal steel as well as the other instruments in my old age. What little bit I know I learned from watching a bunch of great players in my studio. Many are in the ISGHOF now. I got plenty of time to learn now. I'm 68 years old. Hope you like it and tell me what you think.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgcHaMv ... lyMitchell

Kenny Davis · Post by **Kenny Davis** » 8 Sep 2022 8:19 pm

Pretty cool David! Didn't sound like a bedroom recording. Steel sounded great, but I especially liked your piano and your vocal harmonies. Overall good job on everything.
I thought I detected Mel's voice in a few places. I did get a little distracted looking at at the picture you used!

David Mitchell · Post by **David Mitchell** » 8 Sep 2022 11:54 pm

Kenny Davis wrote: I did get a little distracted looking at at the picture you used!

Ha! Nobody would look inside if I used my 68 year old ugly face. Lol! Thanks Kenny! I did it all in my bedroom, no acoustic treatment just a lot of clutter to break up standing waves and a computer and 2 channel Presonus audio interface. All instruments were direct and no amps or mics were used except for vocals. All the walls in my house are built from solid concrete blocks so I can tell what my mix sounds like. Hollow walls amplify low frequencies like a huge bass drum so it's almost impossible to mix in a conventionally constructed home without lots of modifications.
I've been working on getting a tighter rhythm track for these. That was the beauty of the old Nashville sound. The rhythm was so tight and smooth it sounded like a well oiled machine running. Made the lead instruments and voices a pure pleasure to play to. I had to punch the piano rhythm in 3 or 4 times because I could feel it when I started falling out of the groove. When it's in the groove your hands just disappear into the music and on automatic.It takes me 8 hours to do what the Nashville session players did in 3 minutes but I have fun and it doesn't cost anything. Thank you for listening!

Kenny Davis · Post by **Kenny Davis** » 9 Sep 2022 7:57 am

David Mitchell wrote:
Kenny Davis wrote: I did get a little distracted looking at at the picture you used!
Ha! Nobody would look inside if I used my 68 year old ugly face. Lol!

...Just wait until you turn 69!

Rick Campbell · Post by **Rick Campbell** » 9 Sep 2022 7:03 pm

That's some good work right there. I understand very much all the work that goes into these things. I enjoyed it. Keep it up. I have a couple of things "in the can" that I'm working on between building fences, cutting hay, etc...

Thanks for sharing with us.

RC

David Mitchell · Post by **David Mitchell** » 9 Sep 2022 9:51 pm

Rick Campbell wrote:That's some good work right there. I understand very much all the work that goes into these things. I enjoyed it. Keep it up. I have a couple of things "in the can" that I'm working on between building fences, cutting hay, etc...

Thanks for sharing with us.

RC

Thanks Rick! I always enjoy your one man projects. Wish I could play a fiddle like that. I'm putting that on my practice list. Thanks for listening!

Larry Jamieson · Post by **Larry Jamieson** » 10 Sep 2022 1:58 pm

Nice job, Dave. Sounded good and well produced. Have fun!

Samuel Phillippe · Post by **Samuel Phillippe** » 10 Sep 2022 4:06 pm

Kenny Davis wrote:
David Mitchell wrote:
Kenny Davis wrote: I did get a little distracted looking at at the picture you used!
Ha! Nobody would look inside if I used my 68 year old ugly face. Lol!
...Just wait until you turn 69!

LOL... reminds me of the song "I just don't look good naked anymore"...wait till you are 83
Sam

David Mitchell · Post by **David Mitchell** » 11 Sep 2022 3:54 am

Thank you Larry!

David Mitchell · Post by **David Mitchell** » 11 Sep 2022 3:56 am

Samuel Phillippe wrote:
Kenny Davis wrote:
David Mitchell wrote: Ha! Nobody would look inside if I used my 68 year old ugly face. Lol!
...Just wait until you turn 69!

LOL... reminds me of the song "I just don't look good naked anymore"...wait till you are 83
Sam

Lol! Samuel I just watched that video a few days ago even though I had seen it before and just as good the second time. Funny but so true.

Dale Rottacker · Post by **Dale Rottacker** » 11 Sep 2022 6:22 am

Always admire how you put things together and get such good consistent sound, and then on top of that being able to play EVERYTHING that went into it. Something I can only shake my head at.

David Mitchell · Post by **David Mitchell** » 11 Sep 2022 8:15 am

Dale Rottacker wrote:Always admire how you put things together and get such good consistent sound, and then on top of that being able to play EVERYTHING that went into it. Something I can only shake my head at.

Thank you friend! I'm a jack of all trades and the master of none but I guess I get enough of each to make a showing. I'm kinda like what Tony Brown said when asked to speak about the old Nashville session musicians.
He said when I came to Nashville I had plans to be a session player on keyboards. He said after a few sessions there he knew his career was gonna be short lived as a session player so he turned to producing. He said he always thought his musical taste was much better than his ability to play so producer fit his lifestyle best.
Thank you Dale! Always enjoy the wonderful music you make!

Rick Campbell · Post by **Rick Campbell** » 11 Sep 2022 11:16 am

David Mitchell wrote:
Rick Campbell wrote:That's some good work right there. I understand very much all the work that goes into these things. I enjoyed it. Keep it up. I have a couple of things "in the can" that I'm working on between building fences, cutting hay, etc...

Thanks for sharing with us.

RC
Thanks Rick! I always enjoy your one man projects. Wish I could play a fiddle like that. I'm putting that on my practice list. Thanks for listening!

David, that fiddle sounds good. We use whatever tools we have to get it to sound as best we can. You can bet the pro studios do that. With fiddle, it's more knowing what to play at what place in the song. Playing fills is something you have to teach yourself and feel. You can copy licks, but that can get mechanical. Sounds like you've got that figured out. Playing these one man band things is multi-tasking on steroids. Doing a part and simultaneously imagining what other instruments will be playing when their time comes.... all in a way that things compliment one another.

It always amuses me when steel players are so critical of vocal pitch correction software (they call them all autotune) but in their steel rig they have a rack full of signal processor's, delays, reverb, eq, phasers, etc... LOL

Keep up the good work.

RC