commercial post: 3 Tracks of "Harvest Moon".

[Talbert St. Claire]

Talbert St. Claire
“Harvest Moon”

Note: Your comments are welcomed.

Tracks were created, developed, and Arranged by: Talbert St. Claire

Sample Tracks:

Track 1- “Shokam”. Shokam in the eastern Indian language means, “lament”. The ideas for this track comes from reading about Jim Corbett. Corbett was well known many years ago for trying to save the Tigers of Northern India from being totally extinct from poachers! Very few understood the tigers the way Jim Corbett did. His strong endurance is a testament that you can accomplish whatever you set your mind to!

Instruments used: Low Whistle – Chieftain NR (tunable) low-D, Indian Tamboura (tuned to Low-A) Shakers, Tibetan Chants (women are chanting about the struggles of Tibetan life) and Chinese bowl.

Track 2- “River Of Gems”. In every recording that I make, I always have atleast one track with a sound quality of playing right at home!! This track is in it’s purest form. There are no effects of any kind on the whistles, just raw playing. I actually prefer this sound over all else! It starts off with the traditional air, “A Stor Mo Chroi”; then followed by the reel, “River Of Gems” to compliment it. In many ways it represents the way that I tend to play at home. This was the sole idea behind this track. I hope that you enjoy its playfulness!

Instruments used: Low Whistles – Chieftain NR (tunable) Low-E flat.

Track 3- “Norwegian Sunrise”. This traditional Slow air comes from a Norwegian blues type music. I have always wanted to record this air in a totally different setting with my own ideas. The reel at the end is actually a “remix” from my first recording, “Tears Of The Forest”! Many people asked me have I ever considered adding a few more elements to this reel on the end of the cd? So, taking that into consideration, this is what I came up with. I hope that you enjoy the “remix” as well as how the track builds up.

Instruments used: Low Whistle: - Bernard Overton Baritone B-flat, Didgeridoo (also in B-flat), African Udu (clay drum).

Additional info: There are a total of 9 tracks with lots of little surprises! Other instruments includes: Uilleann pipes, Fiddle, Harp, Various Low Whistles, Synthesizer, African Jmebe, Bass Guitar, Flamenco Guitar, Indian Harpiscard, various Didgeridoos, Indian Tambouras, Rainsticks, and perhaps a few others. There are atleast a total of 10 dance reels on this cd unlike my first cd which mostly featured slow-airs. I am definitely going after “Rhythm” on this upcoming recording! The c/d will be completed in October & available in December of 2004.

All the very best to ALL and THANK YOU for listening! – Talbert St. Claire

Sample Tracks:

Shokam | River of Gems | Norwegian Sunrise

[glauber]

Who are the kids?

The names of the files don't correspond to the track names in your listings. I thought the hissing was a little distracting; maybe you need a windscreen or different microphone positioning? But maybe that's the sound you're going for. Very good playing, not my style of music, but go for it!

g

[Talbert St. Claire]

Hi,

Yes, the sound from the original recording is extremely well done. There is no hissing or distortions at all. Its very clear. I'll need to fix the sound here because it is distracting even when I listened myself. I'm working on it. Thank You! -Tal

[Talbert St. Claire]

Problem should be fixed.

P.S. Im sorry the picture is so large here. Actually, I did use someone else to post the material for me. I was not there when he posted the material. It's rather large and I'll see if I can get him to reduce the size of the photo. Unfortunately, my knowlege of computers is very minimal. -Talbert


( NOTE FROM DALE: I sized the image down and reposted it. )

[boomerang]

Hi Talbert,
I checked out one track, it took forever to download, thanks for the preview,
You have obvious skills with your whistle playing, I try to feel the mood or message of the music you play, but i have some difficulty with this, guess i am not used to the "style" of music
Personally I would love to hear you play more rythmic or conventional music styles with your own interpretation incorporated,
but this is only my opinion, and not intended to be a critisism
to each their own,
Regards
David

[SirNick]

Thanks Talbert. The tunes popped right up without any problems and sound great! I love the change up at a little over three min. in Norwegian Sunrise. I replayed it at that point a few times and noodled over the top. I sounded terrible but you were great . Thanks again for sharing.

[OutOfBreath]

Talbert,

Thanks for the clips and here are my very non-professional opinions...

Norwegian Sunrise - This is my favorite tune of the three. I love your arrangement and I've always been a sucker for a deep thrumming didg. I find the arrangement and mix levels about perfect and the the break mid-song is well timed. I may buy the CD just for this tune.

Unfortunately, I find the tune very difficult to listen to because of the "fizziness" of the whistle. I'm not talking about the "chiff," that's fine, but the whistle on this track sounds like it was recorded too hot and clipped pretty badly. Initially I thought it might be an artifact of the MP3 compression (and I still suppose it could be) but with a bit rate of 192k there really shouldn't be such noticeable artifacts. Then, I thought maybe the tune had been boosted to too high a level during compression, but a quick check with Audacity shows that the "fizziness" is not on the peaks of the mixed take at all, so the fizziness, if not an artifact of the MP3 compression, almost has to be in the original whistle track before it was mixed.

If the fizziness is in the original track you may have been overdriving the microphone even if you weren't exceeding the dynamic range of the recording medium. I've had this happen when close-miking guitars. This can be very frustrating because the VU meters show an appropriate, or even low, recording level but when you play the track back it is distorted. If this is an artifact of the MP3 compression you might consider using a different compressor because at 192k there really shouldn't be any noticeable artifacts at all. I'd recommend CDex (a free program) and using VBR (variable bit rate) with maximum quality, minimum bit rate of 64k and maximum bit rate of 256k to get better quality MP3s that would probably end up a little smaller than those you posted.

Come to think of it, this fizziness sounds almost exactly like the fizziness I have heard on some NA flute tracks that were compressed using a 128k bit rate - have you compressed these using a 128k bit rate, loaded them back into an editor to reduce noise or something, and then recompressed them using the 192k rate?

River of Gems - This is a very nice whistle tune and you are obviously an accomplished player (far better than I, that's for certain). I especially like the last third of the song where you have the second part mixed in. I wouldn't put this tune on my favorites list but that's simply because I'm not a fan of the low whistle as a solo instrument except perhaps for slow airs. Unfortunately, the tune suffers from the same "fizziness" I remarked on previously.

Shokam - I love laments but I couldn't bring myself to like this track at all. I mentioned above that I like a deep thrumming didg, but whatever instrument is being used to make the high-pitched buzzing noise being panned back and forth all through this track has just made the top of my least favorite instruments list. The mental image I get when I hear this song is of angry hornets flying around my head. I think you were going for a "groan" similar to GHB on Scottish laments but it just didn't come across that way for me. It might have been tolerable if the hornets had been pushed down in the mix during the chanting and whistle parts, but throughout the entire tune the hornets are the most prominent part in the mix. Interestingly, the whistle parts of this tune don't seem to suffer from the fizziness mentioned above (or maybe the hornets just hide the fizziness).

Thanks for posting the MP3s. If the rest of the CD is similar to this (especially to the first two tunes listed above ) it sounds like you've got a winner on the way. If the fizziness is caused by MP3 artifacts, PM me and I'll try to help you clean them up.

[Talbert St. Claire]

Just receive word from my engineer that he really cranked up the EQ as well as the overall compression on all 3-tracks. We do feel that this is where the sound issues are steming from. The changes are being touched up as we speak. However, since this is a problem for most getting clear mp3's. I told my web-designer to remove the music for a day or two until the new mp3's with a better quality sound (until the levels are better adjusted) which I will get him to re-post himself.

His name is Jack Wheeler & he is an "amazing" web-designer & technician. Jack will also re-post the picture himself & make it normal size (I hired someone to handle the posting for me & had no idea that he made it that size).

My web-guy gets quite busy at times so I hired someone else to post all the material for me. But now Jack will see to it himself. I'll post a message very shortly when the mp3's are back up. I do appologize to all for the trouble & inconvenience thanks so much for all your generosity! -Tal

P.S. This cd has lots of groovy reels on various low whistles. Most of the tracks buid up to the reels. Its ofcourse not a trad. album but does have lots of elements that give it that Celtic feel. There is even a few beautiful "Cape Breton" airs & reels that I think you'll love. I learned the Breton pieces from one of the best flute players around, "Jean Michel Veillon! But my arrangements are different.Thanks.

[franfriel]

Hi Talbert,

Thanks for sharing your music with us. I was only able to access Shokam. The other links came up "page not found". But I really enjoyed Shokam...lovely and mystical. I know tons of work and love have gone into the creation of these recordings. And I wish you great success and joy with you new CD.

I'll try the other two links again later.

Peace,
Fran

[Rod Castillo]

Hi, my name is Rod C. I have never posted before, but I have heard Talbert St.Claire's music many times, and I feel compelled to comment on his new tracks. For the reason of what his music has done for me as the listener. Here are some of my thoughts.

Regarding the first track, how can I accurately describe this paralyzing experience. It actually felt as though I was being transported to the part of Asia from where these chants can actually be heard. Talbert's flute took me deep into the jungles of India and made very vivid all the beauty that this region has to offer. However the sadness as well as the hardships that exist in this part of the world was very evident in the music that only Talbert St.Claire can produce so highly. In my own opinion.

Regarding the second track, how soulful and moving it was. I really appreciated the fact that he chose to play it alone and simple. This is a piece that is retrospective and not only reveals what the musician is trying to convey but also makes me aware of what I may be feeling deep within and sometimes the dual struggle which naturally occurs when tying to come to peace with oneself.

Regarding the third track, once again Talbert's playing is as hypnotic as ever, I really love how it doesn't approach cautiously but rather takes hold of your heart or inner soul, so to speack, right from the begining and then sends you on a up and down ride through music that reveals the world and the melding of cultures that Talbert St.Claire is able to do so effortlessly, and as smoothly as the flow of river.

As a musician and artist I feel he is a master and a healer in what he does. I can only testify to what his music has done to my life and how it has actually assisted me in finding peace and beauty in this world where sometimes it just is not so easy to find. I consider Talbert's music to be a navigational tool in this regard. It helps me to remember to sometimes just stop trying to justify my point, stop trying to make myself understood, and to just stop feeding wood into the fire, so to speack. It is much more simpler to listen to Talbert's flute rather than continue to contribute to the noise in this world. We all need to let his music say it all for us. Thank you for allowing me to share this with you.

[Dale]

Enjoyed Shokam. Dead links to the others.

Dale

[IDAwHOa]

I truely appreciated his gesture of providing the "Tears" CD during the Jerry Freeman raffle but found I could only listen to it twice and have not since. I just do not like the style that Talbert plays, personally.

I was hoping these tracks might be a change, but they did not do anything for me either.

If anyone wants the "Tears" CD that I have please contact me and we can arrange a fair postage and it is yours.

[Rod Castillo]

Norcal,

I'm new to this board as I mentioned above but can tell when someone has strong feeling towards another person. Your comment almost sounds like an attack towards Talbert as well as his great music. No offense to you at all. But Talbert's skills are incredible! That's not to hard to see once you hear him play. So good that I can clearly see his music in time on some soundtracks to movies because of there uniqueness, as well as his awesome power to play the flute and captivate the listener.

I'm quite sure that there are many who loved his, Tears Of The Forest cd. Your post makes me wonder if there are more of you on this board that would say such things about someone else with such great skill. On the other hand, I must remember just as I have said above, we live in a stressful world full of trouble. I might add, envy to go along with that.

If I did not have my own copy of his cd I would love to grab that copy!Hopefully, someone on this board who appreciates his skills will have a go at it, and you wont regret it either.

[emmline]

I consider Talbert's music to be a navigational tool in this regard. It helps me to remember to sometimes just stop trying to justify my point, stop trying to make myself understood, and to just stop feeding wood into the fire, so to speack. It is much more simpler to listen to Talbert's flute rather than continue to contribute to the noise in this world.

(emphasis added)

Well "Rod"...then I have confidence that you will take your own advice, put on a Talbert cd, and neither fret nor take it personally when someone such as NorCal expresses musical preferences which differ from yours.

[GaryKelly]

Norcal,

I'm new to this board as I mentioned above but can tell when someone has strong feeling towards another person. Your comment almost sounds like an attack towards Talbert as well as his great music.

:roll:

It wasn't an attack at all. Norcal was simply stating that a) Tal's generosity during the Jerry raffle was truly appreciated, and b) Tal's style and taste aren't Norcal's.

Lighten up. People have different tastes.

... as well as his awesome power to play the flute and captivate the listener.

As far as I know, Tal doesn't play flute. As you can see from Tal's original post, he plays low whistles (and very well at that, imho).