Artist Bio
Influences: Punk infused with soul.
The Dutch Widows just want to make music. It doesn't need to be perfect, or good. It just needs to be finished (although not finished is also OK). There is a plan for 2022, but only a vague one.
He/him.
Songs (20)
| #1 | My Left Foot |
31 Feb 2022 |
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| #2 | It Happens Sometimes |
22 Feb 2022 |
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| #3 | The State You're In |
16 Feb 2022 |
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| #4 | I Saved A Life This Morning  |
25 Feb 2022 |
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| #5 | Failing Glue |
30 Feb 2022 |
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| #6 | Chips and Curry Sauce |
20 Feb 2022 |
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| #7 | PLACEHOLDER for I See You See Me - AcoLoFi#2 Corpse |
1 Feb 2022 |
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| #8 | PLACEHOLDER for We're Sorry (Exquisite Corpse Baltimore) |
1 Feb 2022 |
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| #9 | My Valentine |
20 Feb 2022 |
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| #10 | Mean Spitty Cat |
16 Feb 2022 |
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| #11 | No-one's An Idiot About Art |
22 Feb 2022 |
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| #12 |  Things Are Coming Out Wrong @harryh
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17 Feb 2022 |
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| #13 | The Occasional Rock @harryh |
12 Feb 2022 |
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| #14 | Eccentrically Glad |
29 Feb 2022 |
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| #15 | Over You |
23 Feb 2022 |
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| #16 | Never Talk To Strangers |
17 Feb 2022 |
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| #17 | Holiday (4-way video collaboration - Song 6) @roddy
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19 Feb 2022 |
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| #18 | PLACEHOLDER for Exquisite Corpse Havana |
1 Feb 2022 |
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| #19 | What Have You Done With The Dutch Widow? |
15 Feb 2022 |
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| #20 | That Dopamine Hit Don't Last For Long @harryh
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19 Mar 2022 |
Soundboard
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@octaviankelp Mar 2022
Thanks for your comment on The blind leading the blind, it is indeed a wildly over-driven guitar with a lot of reverb after and before which not usually recommended cos it goes very sloppy but that's actually the fun of it!
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@wolfkier Mar 2022
another GIMME15, maybe?
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@ayehahmur Mar 2022
Oh man! Great to see the pre-orders all hitting the doormats over the last few days. Hope you enjoy it!
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@nancycunning Mar 2022
Thanks, so much, I got it. I like it a lot. I passed mine along.
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@guitarpatz83 Mar 2022
You should have my corpse clip now man! Any probs drop me a message :)
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@nancycunning Mar 2022
I sent you an email to say I’m after you in the 15second corpse game. Mine is [email protected]. Looking forward to hearing yours.
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@wolfkier Mar 2022
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@wolfkier Mar 2022
Thanks for being consciencious. Give me a little bit here to build the rest of the list and see if any/many more come on board...
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@wolfkier Mar 2022
I'll put you 4th on the corpse list. Please take a second to send your contact email into to @guitarpatz83 and expect something from him as early as tomorrow (Thursday) and be ready to kick it on...
Let me know if you need anything else so we can keep this moving along happily.
Thanks again for joining in. This will be fun! -
@wolfkier Mar 2022
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@emkaydeebee Mar 2022
Thanks so much for your lovely comment on Providence!
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@headfirstonly Mar 2022
"This is the Universe. Big, isn't it?" is the first line of Powell and Pressburger's classic film "A Matter of Life and Death" (1946). Well worth a watch if you've never seen it—David Niven in top form.
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@standup Mar 2022
Vic Chesnutt was a loss. I have friends who knew him, but I wasn’t close. I saw him a bunch times, from the early band the La-Di-Das to later in his solo career.
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@berni1954 Mar 2022
Anthropomorphised is the correct term, yes :-)
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@terroratspacecamp Mar 2022
Thank you so much for the listen and comments. I shall repay the favor!
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@standup Mar 2022
No idea if you’ve heard the band Pylon, but they were a highlight of that era and strongly represent the non-REM sound that was going on at the same time. Also there were lots of weird bands ranging from math rock to hippie jams. Very diverse scene. Look up (don’t know how much is out there?.) Time Toy, Mercyland, Kilkenny Cats, Doo Blan Tant. So many others. This is top of my head. Watch the film Athens GA Inside Out if you’ve not seen it. I’m not in it, my band’s not in it, but that was my era! I love REM, huge lifelong influence, but there were lots of bands. And later bands like the Glands. Drive By Truckers lived there for a time but weren’t from there.
Obviously. I could go on and on. -
@standup Mar 2022
Thanks for listening to "Nobody Knew". I know, I just got lucky. I was in the right place at the right time. But living in Athens definitely changed my life, and everything that has happened since was influenced by the music I was hearing and playing then.
I mean, I live in Washington DC now. I have a job not related to music at all. But I've been involved in music every OTHER moment of my life ever since then. Like a lot of us here on FAWM.
I played at various times with various bands in 3 of the 4 incarnations of the 40 watt. With Pete Buck's ex-wife Barry tending bar at one of the smaller versions.
You should visit Athens if you get a chance, its a fun place. The current X-Large-size 40 watt is probably booking music every night of the week still. -
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@brisk Mar 2022
Thanks for that message about the "Son" song! That was pure roboguitar - the Native Instruments Vintage Electric put through the Guitar Rig 6 set up. That's how I did a lot of the guitar this FAWM when I wanted to be quick (because it would take me hours to actually play a lot of this stuff, and it would be to a lower quality anyway). Sorry to hear about the frog-knee dream. We have actual tadpoles in our living room at the moment in a little tank. Aquatic, not military.
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@ayehahmur Mar 2022
And thank you for all your comments this year too. For all the shit that just seems to continue to be going down at the moment, FAWM has been a great place to come and hang out and be reminded that although we are monumentally destructive race, we're also a limitlessly creative and kind one. Which is crazy if you think about.
Apologies for taking up so much of your brainspace!! But thanks again for your kind words about The Moon King. Really appreciated. -
@plushbaby Mar 2022
Hmmm, not sure all of the remaining songs will be recorded, maybe we'll just pop out the voicenotes recordings... but at least half should appear at some point.
I suppose you could call us a band, there are three of us. Sometimes we record together, sometimes in different combinations, sometimes on our own. It's probably easy to spot which is which if you know what to look for :) But then, we've been making music for so long we've kind of seeped into each other's musical handwriting, so there's always a bit of PB there no matter what!
Do you play live? We've done it a few times, but it takes some organising! -
@p3t3h4rv3y Mar 2022
archived :) started rehearsing the songs tonight - looking forward to playing them live - probably in April, march seems unnecessarily rushed, the Midlands is far though
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@stephenwordsmith Mar 2022
A great many thanks for your listening and commenting to PointlessFrogspawn's latest folly. This is the first time it's had anything close to a cohesive theme, so it's a pleasure to see someone engage with it as an end-to-end piece in its own right. I'm glad you enjoyed our mostly impromptu morbid musical!
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@ayehahmur Mar 2022
Hi mate, meant to get back to you about your thoughtful comment on my last convicted witch song. It *is* a quirky law, and I don't really know how it worked as late as the twentieth century before it was nixed. Apparently the act was introduced to specifically prevent people being accused of performing magic and having magical powers - and thereby ended the practice of persecuting women on just about any old pretext. Which was generally a good thing, but I guess it's based on the notion that in law magic isn't a thing. Which makes me wonder about the large numbers of witches etc happily going about their lives in modern Britain, and who'll be entering Wicca or whatever in the Religion box on this year's census. Funny old world, in't it?
And my god yes, fewer men in power would do the world an enormous favour, wouldn't it? -
@vomvorton Mar 2022
I feel like these are all great examples of Guitarists Who Do Good And Distinctive Stuff Without Showing Off which is my favourite type of guitarist!
I think it's natural to overanalyse the month a bit when it's only just over - I keep ending up on a bit of "grass is always greener" thing where I kinda miss my early FAWMs where I would write 14-ish songs that I could actually call an "album" and enjoy revisiting from time to time, but if I was to go back to that approach now I'd really miss the collaborative aspect. And there's just not time in the month to do both, unfortunately! Really the answer to this is "write more songs on my own in other months" but... it's hard... -
@improvyssey Mar 2022
Thank you for all the amazing comments you've been leaving me throughout FAWM. It's been a lot of fun to discuss my various instruments with you; your questions haven't been "dim" at all. I've enjoyed both creating the musical story and seeing your reaction to it.
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@onetomany Mar 2022
Love your stuff - just finished FAWM with my craptacular last-minute stuff last night and now I've finally got time to listen.
You're on my watchlist. ;) -
@brisk Feb 2022
I think you're right - I certainly laughed at the suggestion that you might have said that it was a steaming pile of doo doo, so next time just go for it... glad that you liked it, and glad that you recognise the depth of my passion for Ms Paltrow.
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@brisk Feb 2022
Hmm, interesting.... I think probably we both have very different frames of reference when it comes to arses and fractions thereof...
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@brisk Feb 2022
Ha ha, Goop will go up today - I may have to half-arse the words as I think I've only got one verse's worth... I hope that it isn't a total damp squib!
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@pearlmanhattan Feb 2022
You, my good sir, and amazing with the editing, mixing and musicing! You took all the parts and made a song - a fine song! and the video is great too - love the drum part at the beginning - thanks for a wonderful; collab - lets do some more next FAWM!
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@brisk Feb 2022
have you heard of wombo.art? That's what the picture is from. You just type in a prompt and select an art style, and it produces something weird and creepy using AI. I've been using it quite a lot because I like the effect. I didn't really see much that looked like geology here either.
Glad you liked the song! -
@tunecat Feb 2022
Kudos kudos to you fir getting that video together!! Looks snd sounds great
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@p3t3h4rv3y Feb 2022
Birthday Card sounds like that because I did it on guitar first and then added everything to it, so no solid rhythm!
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@p3t3h4rv3y Feb 2022
Yesss thanks @thedutchwidows FAWM has been a blast - thanks for inviting me :) That high bit on 40x40 is me with the 'helium voice' filter applied. I was going for a Motown 'Lord of the dance' and as usual fell sideways :) Not doing ANY MORE! But I am going to start rehearsing some of these with a band to play live late in March.
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@improvyssey Feb 2022
Yes, there's definitely a change in the sound of the mbira when the stick falls out. It resonates in a different way and connects less with the bottle caps. I can't really describe it either. And yes, I've fallen in love with the taishogoto.
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@tunecat Feb 2022
I’m working on a track which you will get never fear. It will be a zillion times better than the previous. I think the metronome on the grid had slipped
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@brisk Feb 2022
Well, I'm not sure if Goop is going to live up to the hype, but I hope it conveys the depth of my feelings for Ms P...
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@tunecat Feb 2022
Just read it . I will check I wonder if the imported audio slipped or something otherwise it should be on bar 0 or 1 and my audio would be the same as I just solo-Ed it snd bounced it out
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@tunecat Feb 2022
Ok will check email
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@brisk Feb 2022
Ha ha, thanks for asking. Yes - the wind has somewhat gone out of my sails, but I have two collabs that I hope to finish over the weekend, and then I just need one other. There's one that Is basically finished but I hated the words, so it would have to have a total vocal redo... perhaps that's the most efficient choice.
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@tunecat Feb 2022
It’s coming. Only have phone data so a bit slow
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@tunecat Feb 2022
I’ve just sent you an ep track
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@tunecat Feb 2022
Hello re four video — I had got the guitar track and attempted a piano but made a couple of mistakes. I thought I’d be able to do it yesterday but then somehow couldn’t father myself at all to! I think I’ll be able to get done thing today but if I don’t that’s me out. And I’m really sorry . But I hope my little brain will be up to it. Thanks for being so understanding ! Will attempt after first skirmish abs before second
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@p3t3h4rv3y Feb 2022
Pink Picks - it's a good-y isn't it :) The wonder of collab'ing, and that's Socks' first outing (as far as I know). It has given birth to a pick debate too - I'm 60mm Jim Dunlops all the way, but I couldn't find any in the shed and when I was ordering some more my wife noticed the orange tortoise ('tortex') JD ones and liked the colour (add to basket) they (look better and) are actually better for twanging steel acoustics.
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@ajna1960 Feb 2022
'You Suck Me In' has been musicated ! https://fawm.org/songs/134302/
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@p3t3h4rv3y Feb 2022
Sleeping Lions - 4 tracks - the vocal/mic input has way more gain on the 4-track, I was balancing the microphone on a bunk bed ladder to get in near the sound hole of the guitar too :) I had limited time and never came up with a second picked guitar that I was happy with. Drop ins are harder on the 4 track too, and it only has 4 tracks! sharpens the mind :)
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@richaaaay Feb 2022
Seems you have given it plenty of thought and experimentation. One more thing I'll say is that I recently upgraded some mics. I've been amazed at how significant a difference it makes. My recordings are way better than they were a year ago. At the same time though, we're just having fun so does it really matter?
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@improvyssey Feb 2022
"Independence" is probably the right word for what I'm doing there; I don't know another word that fits. I enjoy the challenge of playing two different instruments together. If you want to see other instances of me doing this, I've got a playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLM6O4h-XAq8f86nMpac-d2oBK5QRnCROb
Sometimes, the two (or more) instruments I'm playing together are of the same type (like...two toy pianos, two tongue drums), but sometimes they're not. -
@improvyssey Feb 2022
I'm not wholly sure how the Roland Aerophone Mini works. The velocity sensor probably has to be separate from the notes somehow. You can play with the back pressure as well. Playing the Aerophone is not entirely unlike playing the recorder.
The "dark night of the soul" is a fairly common concept and is definitely where Douglas Adams got the title for The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul. It comes from a 16th-century poem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Night_of_the_Soul
However, my reference is less spiritual and more tropey. The trope in question can be called "The Darkest Hour," and the basic idea is that the main character tends to reach a point where everything is as bad as it can possibly be, everything seems hopeless, evil is about to triumph, etc., etc. The rest of the plot consists of the return from darkness. Relevant TV Tropes page: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DarkestHour -
@richaaaay Feb 2022
I just had a thought...Have you considered recording your acoustic both ways simultaneously? You play once but record using your pickup and a mic. That would give you three options, you could blend the two or use either one individually. Plus you'd get practice with mic'ing too.
I apologize if I am annoying you by offering my two cents, which you never asked for. -
@richaaaay Feb 2022
I would think you could get a good recording with those mics. Hard to know why it’s sounding boxy.
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@richaaaay Feb 2022
What microphones do you have? And do you eq your tracks?
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@plushbaby Feb 2022
Thanks for listening, will check that band out! Also will return to return the comments when there is a bit of time - nice work on getting all 14, good luck for the final week of FawM!
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@p3t3h4rv3y Feb 2022
I was thinking about BugFish while I put up a fence panel today.. it was my birthday on Saturday and my friend posted some old Up Balloon Up pictures - very nostalgic
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@p3t3h4rv3y Feb 2022
robotic is right! but I'm amazed it shone through, I was going for an Einstein a go go, kind of thing but as usual it went totally wrong :)
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@mariekevinkmusic Feb 2022
Thanks for listening to Cunnicularii.
It is a true story. Her sister stuffed dead animals up her privates and for a while the doctors believed her. The poor woman... You can safely Google it as long as you Google "The woman who gave birth to rabbits" and not "woman, vagina, bunny" or other such dangerous combinations. -
@tunecat Feb 2022
Thanks for your comment regarding groove like mad abs you’re welcome to nick a section! I would be honoured and intrigued to see what came of it!!
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@ayehahmur Feb 2022
Definitely worth tinkering with again!
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@ayehahmur Feb 2022
Hey, you get a special badge for making it all the way to the end! Glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for letting me know. Makes my day to hear that. There's a lot of years and tears in that book (it wasn't a skirmish write by any means :D ).
And yeah, no Bobby Ewing moment - resets aren't really my thing, which made choosing how to end Queen of Clouds an interesting challenge. But no spoilers. -
@vomvorton Feb 2022
There is indeed a lesser-formanted harmony vocal, good ear! Could probably be a bit higher in the mix actually...
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@p3t3h4rv3y Feb 2022
Shed 1 Walnut Tree 0.
Thank goodness, that's the Hit Factory right there.
I am going to try and do the same 'different guitar' trick with the Epiphone 335 tomorrow :) Then I'm on the IOW for a couple of days and I'm going to take an old BOSS digi-4 track and a microphone and try to do a song over there with a steel strung acoustic. Thanks for your continued patronage it's very much appreciated. -
@wolfkier Feb 2022
Thank you, my friend. Short answer is yes. If you want a longer answer let me know and I'll write you an email. :)
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@ayehahmur Feb 2022
Hey! I'm more than happy for folks to post anything on my soundboard, especially when its something as nice as your note about The Moon King. Lovely to hear you're enjoying it, and I hope you continue to all the way to the end. There are hopefully a few surprises in store. And there's plenty more nonsense in Queen of Clouds too, if you decide to take the plunge with that!
But come on, you've three songs (at least) to finish off this FAWM. Priorities! -
@brisk Feb 2022
Yes, writing it in January (in the 20s, I promise) and then ACTUALLY ADMITTING to doing so is pretty stupid really. My weak excuse is that I wrote a whole bunch of songs in the ten days before FAWM started, and essentially peaked too soon - which is good because my personal life has gone south a bit. I'm going to sit on the rest apart from Goop, my lovesong to Gwyneth, which I will post as my 15th. Or maybe my 16th. Maybe I have to get to 15 now.
Anyway, glad you liked this one. It was me straining to be all Ben Foldsy/Bob Dylanny, whatever. Its always weird hearing an English person trying to do an American character piece because that's what songs have to be when you're being all singer-songwritery. -
@sorby69 Feb 2022
Thanks for the nice words about "Valentine" Mike! Hope you're well & having a good FAWM
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@improvyssey Feb 2022
Re. the hammered dulcimer and humidity: the problem is not just that it's made of solid wood; it's that there are a lot of strings, all metal, and that the soundboard is quite large. The tension of the strings puts the soundboard under a lot of pressure, and lack of humidity or sudden changes in temperature or humidity can result in cracks. I've been doing my best with both case humidifiers and a room humidifier, but I'm struggling to keep the humidity out of the danger zone, and clearly, I've dried out the instrument too much. This summer, I'll have the opposite problem.
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@emkaydeebee Feb 2022
Hey, thanks for appreciating my stitching! I really enjoy doing that. And for your comment on Feeding Time, much appreciated!
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@robynmackenzie Feb 2022
Hey thanks for your comment on my skirmish song! Tbh it was actually a cheatypants skirmish because it took me a couple of hours to record/mix after I wrote the song.
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@p3t3h4rv3y Feb 2022
No slight on the Midlands, I just thought they were American?! Check out the Neo Wave album, Cheerleading or Pixie Pixie just sublime, James Broad was a genius. Thanks for your continued support :)
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@improvyssey Feb 2022
Re. the injured hammered dulcimer: I've found a repair place that will fix it (most luthiers won't, as it's not a guitar, and apparently, only guitars ever need to be fixed), but I'm not sure how much they're going to charge. It doesn't matter; I just want those cracks stabilised. It seems my attempts to keep the instrument properly humidified have not been vigorous enough.
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@redlady8029 Feb 2022
Thank you so much for commenting on the "Best Man"
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@p3t3h4rv3y Feb 2022
Oh alright it's Pamela Anderson - there's an explicit romp all about her and Tommy on Disney+ at the moment. Parental advisory stickers all over it.
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@p3t3h4rv3y Feb 2022
astounding! I'm just about to listen to 'Cars' again as I can't remember what it ended up like, it was a scramble. I'm glad you didn't immediately suss the inspiration for the song as I tried to hide it - although as I strained to write verses it became more and more obvious.
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@radioovermoscow Feb 2022
Thanks! Nah it doesn't sound like Sparks now but the chorus literally had the melody of Funny Face until I tweaked it a bit, haha
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@sunfire Feb 2022
Thanks for commenting on Cupid Slayer. Glad you enjoyed it.
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@jamkar Feb 2022
:-)
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@smokeyjoe5804 Feb 2022
Thank you for the kind comments on my songs! "Fine & Natural Night" and "Doesn't Pay To Drive Around a Train" were fun to write.
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@bethyrose Feb 2022
Thanks for trying to give Oh Aunt Flo a listen! I appreciate you letting me know the link wouldn't play... I updated it but you never really know with those things! Hope you're having a great FAWM :)
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@paulharrison Feb 2022
Thanks for your comments regarding my Point of VIew song!
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@resonut123 Feb 2022
Hey, No Problem on Tambourine recording tips!
Basically no EQ'ing- so pretty much the OLD wooden tambourine, MXL-991 microphone and about 40% Plate Reverb applied. -
@resonut123 Feb 2022
Thanks for the nice comment on my song: Sauntering.
As far as the tambourine sound, it was an actual wooden tambourine recorded with an MXL – 991 microphone with quite a bit of plate Reverb on it. -
@brisk Feb 2022
Ha! You've got me totally - Talkie Walkie is a favourite of mine, and I was thinking about Cherry Blossom Girl just yesterday, I bet that stabby synth thing is cribbed from that. But I don't care! Glad you liked it. Thanks so much.
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@improvyssey Feb 2022
Hi again! Re. the hammered dulcimer: one thing that makes it easier is that the bridges are colour coded. The strings that would be the white keys on a piano go over white bridges, and the strings that would be the black keys go over black bridges. It takes a while to get used to, but eventually, you mostly start hitting the right strings a lot of the time. Mostly.
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@improvyssey Feb 2022
Hi! To answer some of your questions:
1) This is a fancy version of the stylophone, with lots of extra dials and knobs. I've twiddled the settings so that I get an echo.
2) I knew I wanted "Hesitant and a Little Too Certain" to sound a little unsure, and I knew the mbira would help with that, but I didn't plan the exact feel of the piece. That just sort of emerged from both the instrument itself and the needs of the story.
3) The mbira is basically the kalimba taken back to its origins. "Mbira" is the name of a family of Zimbabwean instruments; a kalimba is a type of mbira, but it was developed by Hugh Tracey, an ethnomusicologist from England, who based it on the mbira nyunga nyunga, a 15-note mbira. My mbira has 24 notes (I think it's a mbira nhare), and the keys are organised quite differently from the keys of a kalimba. Tracey also made his kalimba to conform to a traditional Western diatonic scale, and he built the resonator into it by giving the instrument a box body.
The type of external resonator I'm using is based on a calabash, though mine seems to be made of papier-mâché instead. Basically, because the mbira is just tines attached to a board, it doesn't have much resonance. If you play it outside the resonator, you can't really even hear the tones the low tines are tuned to. Inside the resonator, the notes become clearer and louder. They have less sustain than the notes of the kalimba, but that gives the mbira a percussive feel the kalimba lacks. The bottle caps add to the percussive feel and also, as you've noticed, buzz in sympathy with the notes, particularly the low notes. Some mbiras also have bottle caps attached to the board itself. You can get kalimbas that try to replicate the sound of the buzzing bottle caps with a chain across the tines.
Fun fact: I've tried playing a kalimba inside the resonator, and it sounds pretty cool. It gives it an entirely different feel. -
@p3t3h4rv3y Feb 2022
R4 and R6 those are the go to stations on the Roberts DAB in the kitchen. It's a miserable day out today and at time of writing this 12.40 I don't have a clue what I shall write today, which I suppose has been fairly true throughout.. we shall see
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@plushbaby Feb 2022
Good to see you again this year! Always appreciate your listening, have a great rest of fawm... we're a bit behind this year!
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@brisk Feb 2022
Oooh, I've never heard of that before, it sounds up my street though "really dense" (according to an amazon review) might be a bit of a barrier to entry. I'll stick it on the list though. Thanks.
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@brisk Feb 2022
ha ha - no, I didn't read it as a passive aggressive attach on my pianoroll prowess! However, it did make me go back and listen to it, and it is funny that it doesn't sound totally bizarre flipped round. I tend to find that flipping things in pianoroll often leads to stuff that fits, at least partially. It's weird.
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@brisk Feb 2022
If I'm going to be completely honest (and I try to be once every day) then I had forgotten about the drums going weird... the reason for that was because I reversed them as a placeholder, with the intention of making them fit the music a LITTLE bit more... I'll see if I can give them a bit of a listen later and see if I can make them a tiny bit less weird... thanks for the comment though, I thought the words were really cool too.
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@vegansongs Feb 2022
Thanks so much- 10 x10 as a skirmish was actually really fun to do!
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@improvyssey Feb 2022
The baglamas has six strings arranged in three courses. They're tuned in fifths. The two strings at the "top" (i.e., closest to the player's face) are both tuned to D, but an octave apart. The two strings in the middle are both tuned to the A that is a fifth above the lower D. The remaining two strings are tuned to the D above that A, in unison with the second string and an octave above the first. It's tuned just like a 6-string bouzouki would be (there are 6-string and 8-string variants), but an octave higher. It's essentially a tiny bouzouki that's easier to carry around. And yes, the sound is surprisingly powerful.
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@improvyssey Feb 2022
The behaviour of adults in fantasy adventures has always fascinated me. In my one published novel, the adults were inattentive by virtue of never being around, but if I'd been allowed to publish the sequel, the inattentive-adults trope would have been subverted in a big way. I do think it's mainly a way of keeping the focus on the kids by hand-waving away what would, in real life, be a big obstacle. It's easier to go "Adults don't notice magic" than it is to explain why three preteens are somehow capable of hiding the literal elves from the people they actually share a house with.
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@improvyssey Feb 2022
Re. the autoharp: yes, you've got it. The strings are (mostly) chromatic (there are a few missing tones at the bottom of the range); the buttons control a series of felt-bottomed dampening bars. Really skillful players can make the melody notes more apparent than I'm doing there; the trick is not to hit any string higher than the melody note you want. The autoharp is basically a modified zither.
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@improvyssey Feb 2022
Hi...thanks for listening! Re. some of your questions: 1) The taishogoto is a Japanese instrument, but there's a very similar Indian instrument, the bulbul tarang. I'm just sort of playing the instrument in my own way, but I wouldn't be surprised if the sound I was getting is similar to the sounds in Indian music produced by the bulbul tarang. The typewriter keys can definitely be used percussively. I always like it when an instrument offers opportunities for percussive elements. 2) The technique I'm using on the harp was introduced to me by my teacher, but as far as I know, it's generally used fairly sparingly, whereas I have a tendency to build whole pieces around it. I also occasionally use a metal chopstick to produce this kind of sound.
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@ampersandman Feb 2022
Thanks for taking the time to listen and comment – much appreciated!
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@improvyssey Feb 2022
Thanks for your comments! Re. the recording: I'm just using my smartphone. I've done nothing to the audio; the only editing I've done to the video is to trim a few seconds off the beginning and end and add a title. I may not be the best at the whole recording/mixing/mastering deal.
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@emkaydeebee Feb 2022
Thanks! Sorry to be a pain - I know how eager I am to hear ones I've taken part in, so would like to avoid a 10 day delay if possible for everyone else's sake as much as mine!