An old recording of mine

Gahr

Gahr

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So, I just got this cheap-ass walkman thingy that can convert old cassette tapes to MP3 files. I thought it would be fun to share an original song I recorded sometime around 1995 or so, at the studio we built in my buddy's barn. We converted the cows' stables into a rehearsal room and recording studio. In the beginning we just used a Tascam cassette 4-track recorder, but after a while we bought a digital 8-track machine. A little while later we bought another one and hooked the two up together. This enabled us to record 8 tracks simultaneously and 16 tracks in total.

This is a tune titled "I'll Sing". It' was written by the 22 year-old me, and I guess it is about how we sometimes just need to let go of things in our life.

I play acoustic and electric guitar and sing both lead and backing vocals. A friend named Trond Breen plays the bass and mandolin. The drummer's name is Anders Elle.

As I said, the recording is copied from an old cassette tape, hence there is quite a lot of hum present (beware, @Robert Herndon!:D). I have added a bit of compression and EQ in GarageBand, just so there would be a bit more oomph in the signal.

In the guitar solo after the first couple of verses you can hear a second guitar solo in the background. This is because the tape was just a copy of a rough mix done by my friend who owns the barn (he was engineering the recording).

Sadly I think the original digital multitrack files are lost, but at least now I'm able to burn some CDs and save what's left for a few more years. I have quite a few cassette demo tapes lying around.

And to be honest, I like this song quite a bit. What do y'all think?

I'll Sing
 
Kerry Brown said:
Very nice. I like the live feel of the recording. It sounds like it was recorded in one take even though it’s not. It’s hard to capture that feel.
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Thanks. We played the drums, bass and electric rhythm guitar at the same time, albeit in separate rooms. The drums were set up in the main room, the bass player was in the control room with the bass plugged directly into the board, and I was playing the guitar in the bathroom because of the nice sound in there. The acoustic was also recorded in the bog. Everything else was done in the control room, with the mandolin and guitar solos laid down after all the vocals were done.

Btw., the guitars played were a very nice Martin D28 and an old Gibson ES335 through my Fender Deluxe Reverb II.
 
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Robert Herndon said:
It's quite good!!!!!

Do a 2018 re-make!!!!

By the way...on this type of recording, the noise adds character!!!!
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I'd like to record it again, but the drummer and bass player live in two different parts of the country (Kristiansand and Svalbard, about as far away from as you can possibly get an still stay in the country...), so it's not likely to happen anytime soon. And I would want those two guys to take part if I were to do it.
 
syscokid said:
Very nice and relaxing to listen to. A cross between Black Crowes and Wilco. Guitars sound vintagy and bold. Very cool lyrical style. This is very mature music for a 22 year old.

Thanks for sharing your "oldie but goodie"... :cheers:
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Thanks for the kind words! The Black Crowes was a great inspiration at the time. They played in my hometown in the summer of 1995, and we listened a lot to their first three records, so you have a good point there.
 
I also like it a lot. Well crafted while keeping a raw edge unlike so many tracks put out these days.
I'm brave enough to make a negative comment ... Why do so many singers from countries other than the US put on a US accent when singing. I'd love to hear that sung in English with a "real" Norwegian sound going on.
Examples of being true to national tone.
John Williamson (Australian)
The Proclaimers (Scottish)
 
gasket said:
I also like it a lot. Well crafted while keeping a raw edge unlike so many tracks put out these days.
I'm brave enough to make a negative comment ... Why do so many singers from countries other than the US put on a US accent when singing. I'd love to hear that sung in English with a "real" Norwegian sound going on.
Examples of being true to national tone.
John Williamson (Australian)
The Proclaimers (Scottish)
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Regarding the English: When I grew up I had relatives in Canada. They travelled to Norway in their holidays and we used to meet them in the summer. That’s really how I learned proper English.

The examples you list are different native English speakers singing in their native tongue. If I were to do the same I would sing in Norwegian... This is simply how I speak English, and it would feel extremely unnatural for me to sing English with a Norwegian accent, «Norwenglish» as we call it here.

To my mind learning a language properly is also to strive for a decent accent. It is not necessary, but it sounds better and makes for a better understanding.
 
I take your point regarding how YOU picked up English. I'm NOT saying anything other than I like your song but it could have come from the US.
Quote, "To my mind learning a language properly is also to strive for a decent accent." Who other than Americans think they have a decent accent? If one want's to speak English correctly I think a real BBC English sound is what we all should strive for.
 
gasket said:
I take your point regarding how YOU picked up English. I'm NOT saying anything other than I like your song but it could have come from the US.
Quote, "To my mind learning a language properly is also to strive for a decent accent." Who other than Americans think they have a decent accent? If one want's to speak English correctly I think a real BBC English sound is what we all should strive for.
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Oh, I know what you mean, I didn't take it as criticism:).

I guess the reason so many people sing in American is because modern popular music is generally considered being an essentially American form of music. Not that it IS purely American, but that's the language most people around the world hear when they listen to music. Maybe a people who actually have English as their first language think differently about it, after all, singing in your mother tongue is different from singing in a foreign language. Still, I think the observation holds true for a lot og English speakers as well, many singers put on an American accent regardless.

When I used the term "decent accent" I was not thinking of any particular English accent. I simply meant "decent" as in "something as close as possible to how a native would speak". When I studied English at uni we had phonetics courses where identifying dialects (many American and British ones) was one of the main tasks. It was a lot of fun and very useful in learning the language. Most of my fellow students were either speaking with British or American accents, usually depending on their particular fields on interest in their studies (we had a few guys with Aussie and Irish accents as well). A lot of our professors were speaking "proper" English as in the received pronunciation heard on the BBC, but who really speaks like that in real life (outside of the royal family...).
 
Quote, "Oh, I know what you mean, I didn't take it as criticism".
I was being critical ... in the correct manner, "the analysis and judgement of the merits and faults of a literary or artistic work".
People tend to focus on the faults and not the merits :-(
I did enjoy your work and firstly mentioned the merits, the negative accent comment is simply a personal problem I carry about, it's called national pride, I also like to see it in others.
The BBC English I admire isn't that pompous overdone style from years ago but the style we hear well educated English people use today.
 
I understand. You meant it as criticism and did it the right way. I guess what I meant was that I see your point. I don't necessarily agree, but that's fine. If I sounded lik I was offended, that was not the case. And thank you for the kind words about the tune.

I don't think many Norwegians think of singing or speaking English with a Norwegian accent as having anything to do with national pride. On the contrary, I think most people take a certain pride in trying to speak any language they know as well as possible. And that will include that accent. When it comes to national pride and language here it is more a matter of using Norwegian right and keeping it free of unnecessary English influence when it comes to words and phrases.

As an apropos to the BBC English: There has been talk of using a "standard" Norwegian in the state owned radio and tv channels here. But the consensus is that reporters, news anchors etc. should use their own dialects instead of adapting to a standard version of the language. think this is a good way of preserving the respect for our native language and also a nice way of showing the diversity found in Norwegian. For a country of only 5.3 million people, we have a hell of a lot of different dialects. So when it comes to national pride, it manifests itself in the way we speak our own language, not in our English. You'll find plenty of people speaking English with heavy Norwegian accents here, but not necessarily because of pride.

By the way, here's a prime example of English spoken with an eastern Norwegian accent:

 
Gahr said:
Oh, I know what you mean, I didn't take it as criticism:).

I guess the reason so many people sing in American is because modern popular music is generally considered being an essentially American form of music. Not that it IS purely American, but that's the language most people around the world hear when they listen to music. Maybe a people who actually have English as their first language think differently about it, after all, singing in your mother tongue is different from singing in a foreign language. Still, I think the observation holds true for a lot og English speakers as well, many singers put on an American accent regardless.

When I used the term "decent accent" I was not thinking of any particular English accent. I simply meant "decent" as in "something as close as possible to how a native would speak". When I studied English at uni we had phonetics courses where identifying dialects (many American and British ones) was one of the main tasks. It was a lot of fun and very useful in learning the language. Most of my fellow students were either speaking with British or American accents, usually depending on their particular fields on interest in their studies (we had a few guys with Aussie and Irish accents as well). A lot of our professors were speaking "proper" English as in the received pronunciation heard on the BBC, but who really speaks like that in real life (outside of the royal family...).
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I really love the spontaneity of this work. To be honest, I never considered your ethnicity when I listened. I was magically transported to a smokey bar in the American South for a delightful performance. very authentic!!!

Language is a hobby of mine. I learned Spanish easily, German was also easy and a childhood friend from Germany was a big help....Spanish a little more difficult, Arabic even a greater challenge. Funny, I once worked with an Aussie and I soon found myself picking up a bit of his accent the more time I spent with him. I once introduced a colleague's band in my best Scottish accent (I developed it for a play once) and he claims people still ask him who the Scott was... :-)
 
Thanks. I've got it captured. Is there anything you'd prefer for the Artist Name, Album Title, Year, Genre, Comments, etc? Your song, I'll tag it the way you want it type thing...
 
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