This tune was written by Michel Ferry. https://youtu.be/Ux3pRK-d-K8
Well played! I didn't know this tune. The discussion on The Session website is fascinating - people bickering about all sorts of things for ages, and then the composer pops in and says hello!
Thanks Dennis, it certainly is well played considering how cold my fingers were! I was up there for a couple of hours braving the elements to get you guys a couple of tunes! There’s snow on the other side of those logs. The sun has actually just set, hence the light on the trees. Yes I remember the thread years ago, cant find it here and an external search engine cant find it either. Whatever. Yes, apparently Michel Ferry is/was one of those famous people who does/did just turn up at sessions. X: 1 T: Farewell To Chernobyl R: reel C:by Michel Ferry M: 4/4 L: 1/8 K: Dmin D3F ADFA|DFAF GFED|A,3C EA,CE|A,CEC c=BAF| D3F ADFA|DFAF FGA=B|c2Gc EcGe|fedc d3c:| d2fd gdfd|d2fd gfec|d2fd gdfd|e2ef edcA| d2fd gdfd|d2fd gfeg|a4 afef|e2ef edcA| d2fd gdfd|d2fd efec|d2fd gdfd|e2ef edcA| Adfd Adfd|Bdfd Bdfd|cege agfe|fedc dBAF||
A lovely tune, Simon, and very well played. I am amazed by the quality you manage to get on your outdoor videos; are you still using the Boya mic on your phone? Do you do much post-recording engineering on the soundtracks before posting them?
Well played, Simon. I like that the mic picks up your foot as well. And you've got the French forester look going on as well!
Thanks Gents. Yes I used my Boya microphone with a five meter cable. The microphone is just behind the rock in front of my left foot. I placed it on the rock pointing upwards. One issue I had here was that my iPhone 6 on a tiny octopus tripod that I was using for the other tunes ran out of power (at sunset) so I had to strap on the iPhone X behind the iPhone 6 using a bicycle inner tube. The picture quality was better but I set the gain on the iPhone X a little bit too low. After a couple of hours playing out in the snow I played this one quite quietly so it's easier to hear the extraneous sounds like for the little finger tapping on the mandolin, body shifting sounds and the grating sound of the boot stomping. I think next time I will try it with the microphone placed about 4 metres away, assuming there is very little sound from the environment. Then during post production I increased the volume using BandLab by sending it through their one-click mastering process. At the same time I added three drones which were very difficult to manage because the settings for those were almost zero. They were G, D and Bb. The Bb and D were the most sinister sounding. With the Bb a bit louder. Bruce, that may look like a French foresters outfit but it's actually Ukrainian! In order to accentuate the trees above which look as though they're on fire in the sunlight, I increased the saturation, vibrance, highlight, and brilliance on the video, hence the resulting un-Ukrainian colors. It's a Ukrainian hat too, but I didn't think it would look good with a mask.
Very nice Simon! You are a brave one! Freezing for your art!
I think next time I will try it with the microphone placed about 4 metres away, assuming there is very little sound from the environment. Oh, no! The environment sounds and the foot taping are part of your outdoor performances.
Despite the obvious freezing temperatures, you play relaxed. Браво Simon.
All the sounds add to the pleasure of the tune performed.
I agree, John. Those low notes really speak too. Very nice.
Well, it's been a long time since I have been to this site but I dropped in and found one of my favorite tunes. Well done Simon. Very enjoyable. My fingers would definitely not move that fast at that temp.!
Great playing of this tune, Simon. I had mentioned to my teacher about playing outdoors in the cold and he said I would really damage the mandolin if I did that. So I'm hoping your cold is a different cold than here and your octave survived. I have had to take down all the instruments from the wall and put them in their hard cases with humidifiers. Outside is cold and dry, inside is warm and dry. can't win.
Much appreciated Lady and Gents. And how nice to hear from Robert! (I still play Sarah’s Mandolin -a lovely tune many thanks) Ok more environment noises and I’ll wait till it gets really cold next time (snow here next week). Glad you enjoyed those dreadful drones guys. (I love it!) That was a flattened seventh among the three notes). Yes Ginny it certainly is tough going for the octave, I re-tuned three times but the Sun was quite hot, or at least warm and air was freezing. Lucky to have had almost no wind. (Very slight breeze rising up the valley at low level).
It has been quite a while since I have been able to do any recording and it took a while to re-learn how to use my recording software (old age has a few limitations) but here is my run at this great tune.
Sounds wonderful Robert! Your fingers certainly had not to relearn how to play the mandolin.
Beautiful! I really like the hesitations, chord progressions and crescendos. Nice tone, everything. Really well played Robert and good to hear tunes from you.
Two very nice recordings of a great tune -- I had forgotten about this one but need to learn it and try it myself! Simon: the octave sounds great, cold or not, lovely drones harmonising withe melody playing. Robert: great tone and sustain that builds up for a really big sound. What instruments do you play here? Martin
Very nice arrangement and combination of instruments…all played very well.
Thanks everyone. It was fun to get to do this again. Martin - The instruments were: Mandolin: Collings MTO Lead Guitar: Martin OO28 Rhythm Guitar: Gibson J45 Studio Bodhran: McNeela 16" Rosewood Tuneable Bodhran
I hope, Robert - that we will see and hear more from you soon. I miss your music. Really enjoyed this video.
+1. Great to have you back, Robert!
Great job there, Robert! Fine mix and good balance of instruments.
What a joy to hear from you, Robert. And what a good-sounding recording you presented to us!
Great to hear you Robert! Sounded confident to me!! Hope to hear lots more!
Totally missed out on this. Simon sitting on a stone in a month with "r" in it, with the capo frozen to his OM - that's what heroes are made of. And Robert with a fine clean sound on all instruments and especially complex harmonies on guitar. Thanks gents for the treat.
Enjoyable recordings from both of you. Thanks for sharing.
I know how to deal with rocks in the winter, I’m sitting on my ski mittens Bertram!