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OK, I promise I'll do the slack string thing! By fifth and fourth, I mean the fatter ones, actually - so I think I'll try dropping the third string to C, the second to D, and the first to F#. The song changes key too much to have only one drone. Perhaps I could paste a bunch of separately recorded m...

Wow! What a huge variety of ideas - I can only hope the fellow sees this who said that naive questions don't get enough replies! For those interested, the part is a driving, dissonant melody/bass line played on the fifth and fourth strings. It's structured so that the tonality rises a little, then r...

Hi, I'm working on a recording of a driving fifth-string acoustic guitar part, which is to imply a swarm of bees. When I play it live, it feels and sounds right, but the recording seems to be flat. I've recorded the track twice, panned hard left and right, which sounds 'bigger', but still kind of ju...

Iannis Xenakis, the Greek electronic composer, is said to have put into his piece "La Legend d'Air" tones at the resonant frequency of the (average?) human ear, which of course is not exactly infrasound. Here's a question I have - for these ultra-low frequencies, doesn't the sounding surface have to...

If it makes sound by vibrating the air column within a pipe, the tuning is dependent on the pipe length. Diameter, I believe, affects mostly tone. So, to tune it, you could conceivably take a knife and cut the pipes down, assuming they are plastic. It's also possible that the pipes have some gunk in...

You Are Free has an interesting recording technique I thought I'd mention, given that this is Tape Op and all... On the second (?) song, "Free" (?) (the one that goes "everybody... come together"), it sounds like the electric "rythm" guitar part is looped - there is that characteristic string squea...

How do you all store your various cables? On the subject of coiling, I have been told that by alternating outside and inside with each coil one prevents the multiple wires inside from twisting around each other. Is that your experience? I have often seen this type of coil become tangled, and occasio...

Hi. I'm in NM and I have songs and guitars and microphones!

I've just been in Madison WI playing with some folks and am all into getting a band together in NM, where I'm soon to be teaching guitar to high schoolers.

email me at: btbrock@yahoo.com

This topic has died down, but I couldn't help mentioning my all-time favorite harmony book. I have looked at a lot of Theory books, aimed at both guitar players and general, and never could stand any of them because, I think, they're overly intellect-oriented - all words and numbers. I understand th...