Newbie's first tune (MP3)

MichaelG · Post by **MichaelG** » Mon Jan 27, 2003 7:26 am

After finally getting my first whistle, I recorded a verse of "Be Thou My Vision" this weekend. Advice and suggestions welcome.

Also--can my SweeTone D be tuned at all? It plays in tune with itself and that's about it.

<a href="http://www.lccs.edu/~mgowin/extra/btmv01-01.mp3">Be Thou My Vision (278k MP3)</a>

carrie · Post by **carrie** » Mon Jan 27, 2003 8:56 am

Nice job, Michael. How long have you been playing?

Advice: Keep it up!

Carol

andreaz54 · Post by **andreaz54** » Mon Jan 27, 2003 9:11 am

Great Job Michael!! A really pretty tune! I'm a newbie too...6 months and wonder when I'll have the guts to listen to a recording of myself BY myself let alone post an MP3 for all to hear!! Post some more soon for us to hear...well for me at any rate...it will give me courage!!

To the best of my knowledge you can't really tune your whistle if it is a nontuneable whistle which yours is. There may be a way to tweak it though..but I will leave that to others more experienced than myself. The only thing I've ever tweaked was my pet rattie's nose!!

Cheers.........AndreaZ

[ This Message was edited by: andreaz54 on 2003-01-27 10:15 ]

MichaelG · Post by **MichaelG** » Mon Jan 27, 2003 9:12 am

Thanks for the kind words, Carol. I've been playing whistle since last Tuesday; this recording is the result of about five hours of playing time (but years of playing guitar and lots of listening

.

MichaelG · Post by **MichaelG** » Mon Jan 27, 2003 9:21 am

AndreaZ--

From playing guitar, I find that recording and listening to my playing is a good way to improve. You can hear all the little things you do well in addition to the things that need improvement. Give it a go!

On the whistle, a slow tune like this one isn't too difficult. It's the fast stuff (jigs, reels, etc.) that scares me. Like you, I've got a long wayt to go before I'll be ready to offer up a sound bite like that...

RE: Tuning--

I just read Dale's advice on this. I guess I'll just need to get another whistle (or five).

[ This Message was edited by: MichaelG on 2003-01-27 10:23 ]

Redwolf · Post by **Redwolf** » Mon Jan 27, 2003 9:29 am

Very nice! About the only advice I can offer is to work on a more legato sound (less tonguing), but still, that's awfully good for a first recording (you even got a slur in there!).

Redwolf

Wombat · Post by **Wombat** » Mon Jan 27, 2003 9:30 am

That's a very good start Michael. Well done.

Looking at my Sweetone D, and trying not to feel guilty about the less than clean mouthpiece, I think that you could probably make yours tunable by soaking the mouthpiece in fairly hot water, removing it and sanding away the glue that holds it in place. (Others around here know more than I do about this operation, ie, they've actually tried it.) One problem though is that, if it's perfectly in tune with itself as is, but not quite in D, you might find when you tune it that the bell note, eg, is perfect but that it's no longer in tune with itself.

spittin_in_the_wind · Post by **spittin_in_the_wind** » Mon Jan 27, 2003 9:35 am

Cool!! Sounds great! Nice reverb!

And this leads me to another question that I'm sure has been asked before--how does one go about recording these MP3's? I tried a search but couldn't come up with an answer.

Robin

MichaelG · Post by **MichaelG** » Mon Jan 27, 2003 9:45 am

Redwolf: Thanks. Is a "slur" equivalent to a "bend" on guitar or harmonica (sliding from one note to the next)? (Aside from learning how to play the whistle, one needs to add vocabulary as well.

) I'm finding that breathing and tonguing vs. legato to be the most fundamental aspects of learning right now. Lots of practice, right?

Wombat: I've not yet played my whistle w/ a tuner, so I don't know far off it is--but it does seem off to my ears.

Robin: I'll start a new thread on recording.

dk_cameron · Post by **dk_cameron** » Mon Jan 27, 2003 2:36 pm

yeah slurring is just when you go from one note to another without tongueing(that didn't help any right) but you said you played guitar so from one guitarist to another the equivalent of slurring is found in alot of jazz and blues scales like a hammer-on.

[ This Message was edited by: dk_cameron on 2003-01-27 15:38 ]

[ This Message was edited by: dk_cameron on 2003-01-27 15:39 ]

Redwolf · Post by **Redwolf** » Mon Jan 27, 2003 3:04 pm

On 2003-01-27 15:36, dk_cameron wrote:
yeah slurring is just when you go from one note to another without tongueing(that didn't help any right) but you said you played guitar so from one guitarist to another the equivalent of slurring is found in alot of jazz and blues scales like a hammer-on.

[ This Message was edited by: dk_cameron on 2003-01-27 15:38 ]

[ This Message was edited by: dk_cameron on 2003-01-27 15:39 ]

Actually, I said "slur" when I meant "slide" or "smear" (One of those darned "s" words, anyway!

And yes, it's similar to bending a note on guitar...sliding gradually from one note to the next).

Redwolf

michael_coleman · Post by **michael_coleman** » Mon Jan 27, 2003 6:25 pm

Yes, the sweetone can be made tuneable, all of mine are. Like the generations just put them in hot water and pull out. I've found the sweetones don't have very much glue, in fact, I didn't have to put it in any water, I just pulled on it and it came out. I use Carmex to lubricate the mouthpiece. there should be a line on the back of the mouthpiece that lines up with where the fold lines up. Make sure that the line is lined up with the fold, otherwise you will begin to strip away at the plastic on the mouthpiece and it leads to loose mouthpiece. Other than that, it works pretty good for me. Although, the Meg I have seems to be made tuneable easier.

2nd Wind · Post by **2nd Wind** » Mon Jan 27, 2003 8:28 pm

Hey Spittin' in the Wind...this one's for you. This is how an average Joe Shmoe can record his/her own sound file & make it MP3 just using Windows & no software at all. Click on START...PROGRAMS...ACCESSORIES...
ENTERTAINMENT...SOUND RECORDER. From here you will need a microphone... push the record button & whistle away my friend. You can even add Echo & a few minor effects if you like. After you are done recording, in the SOUND RECORDER Window click on FILE & then PROPERTIES. Next click on the Convert Now button. This is where you can choose how you want to compress your sound file. Go ahead & leave it on CD Quality option. Where you see the Format field scroll around until you see the MPEG Layer-3(MP3) option. Select that one. In the Attributes field, choosing anything in Mono will decrease the file size even smaller. If you choose less bits & Hertz(Hz), you can get smaller of a file still...etc. After you are done with your selections, click OK..you will see a pop-up window doing some compressing/converting...then click OK in the next window....then click FILE, Save As, give your tune a name & your all done! Wheeeeewww! I'm done now. You can try experimenting around with sound files to get the best sound/file size that you like. I'm sure there are loads of software out there that is much better....this is just a basic, bread & better method. Good Luck!