recording notes- louisiana march 2009

Above is a shot from my Enoch's solo gig last Saturday [3.14.09] i recorded the whole show w/my new Tascam Dr1- which is such a great tool- i can record live shows/rehearsals etc; plug it via USB & stereo cable to my laptop and use it's built in mics as a vocal mic over my Acid [multi-tracks] songs; it even has lines in [2 mini jacks/1 normal jack]. it w/the 8GB memory card, my laptop, and a 1 TB external HD, has brought my portable studio to a whole new level. i might start producing other artists on site- have gear will travel!

i used the DR1 the next morning [Sunday] to record about 11 new Hammond B3 tracks in the house- in Acid- which gives me the opportunity/freedom to chop/cut and paste/rearrange parts into song structure, which i can then sing over, and/or add solos to etc. my original thought was to do a jimmy smith type cd- but then some Traffic/Brian Auger influences creeped in- so who knows what the final result will be; jimmy smith meets traffic/auger in new orleans/the delta on acid? i edited them into song form all sunday night till 7AM, which was cool but exhausting. finishing them should keep me busy for a while. i might do more tracks before heading back to europe; and want to do a trio [B3, bass & drums] this summer... totally live using the DR1- or maybe even direct to dat using 2 room mics. i love old school recording techniques as much as all this new digital.

when trying to move and clean up files on my laptop/hard-drives i discovered tons of solo piano tracks i had recorded last year [and the year before] and forgotten about- with the intention of eventually writing lyrics to/recording vocals over them- [which i transferred to where i could find them!]- some would be great as is- just solo piano- and some definitely lend themselves to having vocals over them. i did a version of the traditional "careless love" [with a few original lyrics thrown in] which fits with the songs i recorded [as rehearsal] for the Celtic Fest:

1. black is the color of my true loves hair
2. scarboroguh fair
3. she moved through the fair
4. the bold fenian men
5. dirty old town

and some older tunes i recorded in studios [which i didnt put on my two solo cds]

1. crazy bout the way i walk
2. st. james infirmary
3. swing low, sweet chariot

so with "careless love" and one or two more tradtional recordings there WILL be enough for a new solo vocal/piano cd of folk/traditional songs - and a solo piano cd, and this B3 cd and so many tracks [mixed trans-grenres: blues with hip hop; delta blues with world type stuff; techno stuff mixed with R&B etc.] -including the projects i began with steve kilpatrick; the DDT project [me, tommy miller, dough johnson] and a project i began with kelvin bullen in zermatt a few years back- [all Acid tracks ready for lyrics/vocals]-this could make for a very busy, productive, and interesting summer!

[c]2009 doug duffey