PHOTO: Kentucky 1981, around the time these recordings were made.
In fact, 14 of the songs in this Vol. 1 collection (26 songs) were recorded 1979-1982.
It was an inspirational time when I was learning classical guitar.
General info on these 2-track recordings: The majority of the songs in this collection were recorded into my simple Wards Airline, Model 3669, two-track 7" reel-to-reel tape recorder aided only by a Shure Vocal Master PA unit for reverb. EQ of the classical guitar was always a problem. Ten of the songs, including I Know Ya from Someplace, are recordings circulated to family and friends on gift cassette tapes in 1981 and 82.
In order to get the most out of having only two tracks, I recorded guitar and voice through the same microphone onto one track and then recorded guitar and voice onto the other track. This allowed me to sing a harmony vocal part or play a lead guitar part on the second track. Each take meant simultaneously playing the guitar and singing the vocals all the way through each song since there was no overdubbing or mixing.
Sample song from this era I
Know Ya from Someplace (3:17) ©1979; registered recording ©1982;
classical guitar and two voices. It is a
true story song about running into a past love and it is certainly one of the more gentle of my songs.
Inspiration for the lyrics: While visiting a local bookstore, I ran into one of my old flames from many years back. It was one of those situations where you’re unsure whether or not you want to re-connect.  But seeing her again inspired
me anew and this song was the
result. Inspiration for the music: The instrumental aspect of this song shows my interest at the time in classical rubato-style piano music (playing with an elastic, flexible tempo) after hearing Romantic period pieces and being especially moved by Brahms' Intermezzo Op. 118 No. 2 as played by Czech pianist Ivan Moravec. My classical guitar style was inspired almost entirely by the expressive quality of Christopher  Parkening's playing in his Parkening Plays Bach
(of which I learned nearly all of
the pieces including transcribing two of them, Bach's Allegro BWV 998 and
a gavotte, note-by-note before I knew you could order the music). A few
later influences included classical guitar greats like John
Williams,
Julian Bream, and Leona
Boyd. The
guitar part on this song is essentially 3-part counterpoint (separate
melodies played together) with a few rolled 4-note chords. I enjoyed singing and playing
in rubato style
and performed this piece live exactly as recorded here for nearly 15 years. Technical: This recording was made on May 14, 1982. The guitar is an Alvarez Yairi. Like about 10-20 other songs from this era the recording was made using my simple consumer-grade Wards Airline tape recorder aided only by a Shure Vocal Master PA unit for reverb. The song was recorded on only two tracks (guitar & voice in one track plus unison guitar & voice in the other with a vocal harmony on the chorus). There was no overdubbing or mixing of any kind; however, some tweaking of the wave file was done after conversion to digital format. Apart from EQ, there are a couple of glitches in this digital file which I hope to fix sometime soon. PHOTOS: Left; Kentucky 1981; Right, playing a different song at On Stage #7, May 9, 1981. |
E-mail:
feliks (at) umich.edu
Last updated April 26, 2011. © John Feliks 2009