Session CDs--an idea whose time has come?

jim stone · Post by **jim stone** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 9:49 am

Some friends of mine here in Pittsfield recorded one of their
sessions on a digital computer. It turned out well and they
burned a CD and are distributing copies. It's a regular
session, tunes, sets of tunes, some conversation.

Well, listening to it is very helpful, because I can play along
and learn tunes (never could get these people to repeat).
It's almost like being in a session.

This is for me terrific, because I often have no access to
sessions, and it sure improves my playing to have
one to play with. I wish I had more session CDs.
Most Irish CDs aren't so representative of real sessions;
musicians are playing like virtuosos, interpreting tunes,
and so on.

So, is there, or shall we create, a library of session CDs?
Real sessions recorded on CDs that we can sell/buy/steal/
whatever? It would be terrific to have these available
and it sure seems doable. Slow sessions, fast sessions....

You know there are CDs of classical chamber music,
a quartet without a cello, say, so cellists can fill in
the missing part at home. Well, we might have
a missing flute or whistle or....

But perhaps that's wanting jam on it!

What do you'all think, or is this already available?
I like CDs, being a computer idiot. I can
usually find the 'play' button on my
stereo, anyway.

jim stone · Post by **jim stone** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 9:57 am

P.S. One thing I find really helpful on this CD is that there
are breaks between tunes or sets of tunes. It isn't just
a long session presented without a break. So one can
get to what one wants pronto and repeat it too.

dubhlinn · Post by **dubhlinn** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 10:05 am

I live in a session free zone and think this is an excellent idea.

Slan,
D.

djm · Post by **djm** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 10:11 am

I like the idea if it is well recorded, i.e. mostly music versus talking by the punters in the background. Live at Mona's and Music from Matt Molloy's are two examples of this type of recording.

The other thing you have to be careful of is that every session is different. You can't just learn tunes from one of these CDs and expect to be able to walk into any other session. Each local group has their own versions of each tune, as well as preferred speeds and keys, e.g. sessions with lots of fiddles may have more tunes that are in keys not best suited to UPs.

djm

GaryKelly · Post by **GaryKelly** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 10:27 am

dubhlinn wrote:I live in a session free zone and think this is an excellent idea.

Slan,
D.

As do I, in both respects.

fyffer · Post by **fyffer** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 10:47 am

I agree as well, with some supporting documentation:

When my Fife and Drum Corps went to Ireland last year to play in a St. Patrick's Day parade in Galway, about half of us spent 3 nights in Doolin as well, and each night, one of our guys set up his digicorder (with permission from the players), and "produced" a 3 disc set of the sessions that took place during our Doolin trip. The quality is mediocre, but you can hear the tunes well enough to play along. In fact, in one of the pubs (McGann's), the session anchor was Banjo great Kevin Griffin.

Listening to this CD set is my favorite way to remember my trip. (I wanna go back!!)

-Chris

feadogin · Post by **feadogin** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 10:48 am

I learn most of my tunes from recordings I make of sessions (on my high tech recording device, the "tape recorder.") It's helpful if you live in the area, because you are learning the version that you can go and play with those people in your session.

I always cut out the talking, though, cause I'm just interested in the tunes.
I don't think I have heard any recordings of the WHOLE session, with talking, etc. Wouldn't that be like 4 hours long or something?

It would be interesting to hear recordings of the tunes people play in other areas, though. It'd be just like going there, except not.

J.

Montana · Post by **Montana** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 11:14 am

I think it's an excellent idea.
No worries about copyright infringement. Gives remote access to sessions; don't have to waste gas driving miles to a session only to find it has been cancelled for the night (I remember this happened to some chiffer a while back). Helps people learn tunes. I know I really appreciated learning about the BBC Session page so I could learn some more tunes by playing along. But I could use more.
Kinda like a Clips n' Snips that you can carry with you.

Wombat · Post by **Wombat** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 11:21 am

It's an excellent idea. For those who can't get to a session, it's the next best thing. For those wanting to join a session, this would be the best way to learn well enough to join without being disruptive. Finally, for those wanting to play along at a session in a place they plan to visit, they can get the recording and prepare in advance.

I'd suggest using a good quality multitracker and enough microphones to isolate groups of similar instruments if not particular instruments. That way it would be possible to get a nice balance between instruments and even to edit out that guitarist who doesn't know the chords and the bodhran that never quite seems to be on the beat. In making the recordings, it might be a good idea to limit the number of musicians playing on each tune for greater clarity and make sure that semi-competent players sit out while recording. Perhaps if the five or six most important players did the recording, it would be better for learning purposes than if the whole room blasts away.

Since Irish music is played in unison, I can't see much point in the music minus one concept.

Azalin · Post by **Azalin** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 12:21 pm

Like Justine, I've been learning 90% of my tunes from session recordings I made in the past few years. The thing with session recordings is that if you are a beginner, you don't know about the quality of the players involved and it could be a bad influence... but it can't be worse than learning from sheet music and midi files, so if there's no session in your area, then it's a good thing for sure.

I, too, cut the talking and just keep the tunes for many reasons. First of all, I'm just interested in the tunes, and then it's also out of respect for the musicians. I think it's really bad behavior to simply leave the recorder always on because most people don't like to be "spied on" while they're talking, and everything they say goes on tape. also, don't forget that some musicians don't like to be taped and it's bad manner to start taping without asking first.

SteveShaw · Post by **SteveShaw** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 12:37 pm

Wombat wrote:I'd suggest using a good quality multitracker and enough microphones to isolate groups of similar instruments if not particular instruments. That way it would be possible to get a nice balance between instruments and even to edit out that guitarist who doesn't know the chords and the bodhran that never quite seems to be on the beat. In making the recordings, it might be a good idea to limit the number of musicians playing on each tune for greater clarity and make sure that semi-competent players sit out while recording. Perhaps if the five or six most important players did the recording, it would be better for learning purposes than if the whole room blasts away.

Since Irish music is played in unison, I can't see much point in the music minus one concept.

You can make recordings with just one mic and a minidisc that are good enough to be nice mementos, but you're right about have several mics and the ability to do at least some balancing to make a recording that isn't ultimately a pain to listen to. As for the "organising" you suggest - hmm, that idea wouldn't go down too well here. It would be difficult to ask people to sit it out and difficult not to spoil the spontaneity of the music-making by so doing - many people dry up quite a bit as it is as soon as they're confronted with a recording mic. The background noise is another tricky issue. I have a lovely recording of me playing Trip to Durrow - with two of my friends' booming voices as constant accompaniment all the way through! One other issue is the bodhran. Without you realising it's happening the damn thing can cause your whole recording to be over-modulated so that you get that horrible digital clipping at the loudest bits. Keep mics well away from bodhrans - who cares if you don't hear 'em anyway!

Steve

Azalin · Post by **Azalin** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 3:37 pm

SteveShaw wrote:One other issue is the bodhran. Without you realising it's happening the damn thing can cause your whole recording to be over-modulated

Yeah, a bodhran can ruin a session, imagine what it can do to a recording

SteveShaw · Post by **SteveShaw** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 5:16 pm

Azalin wrote:I think it's really bad behavior to simply leave the recorder always on because most people don't like to be "spied on" while they're talking, and everything they say goes on tape.

Point taken. But if you are forever pressing and unpressing the "pause" button you'll unfailingly keep drawing attention to the fact you're recording, and you'll end up making mistakes. I had two hours' worth of recording from one evening which consisted of all chat and no tunes because I'd got my record-pause cycle arse end up!! Just explain that the first thing you do at home is to delete all the chat (you do anyway) and ask them if they agree that this is OK. It's a piece of cake with minidisc. No-one ever minds. I suppose it helps that we're all good mates at our regular session. I can see that the whole issue of recording could be a bit of a minefield in a session with a lot of "strangers" present. Explaining openly what you want to do and avoiding surreptitious behaviour is the key. If anyone objects just put the recorder away.

Steve

s1m0n · Post by **s1m0n** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 5:32 pm

I wonder if the management at thesession.org would be interested in hosting an archive of MP3s of sessions. It's a natural fit.

Ask the uploaders to do a rudimentary listing of instruments and players, and where possible an accounting of tune names or sets.

I think it's a terrific idea.

Let people make their own decisions about recording fidelity and the number of mics they want to bother with.

Add a user rating system or a means of posting comments, and I think this would be a first-rate website.

Azalin · Post by **Azalin** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 11:34 pm

SteveShaw wrote: Point taken. But if you are forever pressing and unpressing the "pause" button you'll unfailingly keep drawing attention to the fact you're recording, and you'll end up making mistakes.

Hehe my mistake have been the other way around. I recorded tracks of 20 minutes and more because I forgot to press "stop". Most of my tracks are really well recorded, I start at the beginning of the set and stop at the end. The problem with my iRiver recorder is that it takes a few seconds to "boot" so I need to time it well if I don't want to miss the beginning of a tune.