Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Topics - Matt

Pages: [1] 2
1
Harmonica Internet Resources / New music from our band.
« on: May 01, 2019, 11:41:26 PM »
Our band has a new CD out in a few days. Here's a sample, a new song called 'Welcome to my World'. Hope you can find time to have a listen.

https://www.reverbnation.com/bluescorp/song/30687425-welcome-to-my-world?source=artistMusic

2
Harmonica Internet Resources / Jason Ricci interviews Rick Estrin
« on: December 29, 2018, 06:16:36 PM »

3
Harmonica Internet Resources / Elevated Jam Tracks
« on: November 20, 2018, 07:07:23 AM »

4
Harmonica Internet Resources / Here's our band's new song.
« on: February 21, 2018, 01:40:13 AM »
We have released our latest 'single' titled 'Something Going Down'. You can listen to or download the MP3 for FREE.
The song will be available on the major streaming platforms within a week or so.
Thanks for listening and thanks to HarmonicaBoogie.com for being a part of my musical journey.

Click here to listen to or download the MP3 for FREE.

For the harmonica part:
Hohner Marine Band Crossover
Turner 254 shell with a Shure CM element.
Kinder Anti Feedback Device
I used two amps; my Series III Blues Junior (with non-standard pre-amp tubes) and a VOX 5W class A tube amp.
There were two mics on each amp, one near the grill around mid-cone, the other about six inches off the grill (pointed at the opposite mid-cone point).
In the end the sound of the Junior forms most of what you hear in the harp part as I found the VOX too thin. But there is a little of the VOX in there still.
We also took a direct line recording from the harp mic but didn't use it in the final mix.

Blues Junior preamp tubes: V1 - ECC832 / V2 - 12AY7/ V3 - 12AY7
Blues Junior Speaker: Standard 12" Eminence made for Fender.

5
Harmonica Internet Resources / Been in the studio again...
« on: February 06, 2018, 09:59:13 PM »
I have been in the studio again lately as we build up material for our band's fourth album. This time we are recording and producing one song at a time to completion. Our next song release titled 'Something Going Down' is being polished-up now and when it is ready I will post a link here to a free download.

Thanks all for your interest and support.


*Bluescorp is also playing once again at the Blues On Broadbeach festival this year. If you can make it to that festival, look me up and we can get a beer and chat about harps.

 

6
Harmonica Internet Resources / Sandra Vazquez
« on: September 16, 2017, 12:02:53 PM »
Sandra jammin' on this video. She has really matured as a player over recent years.

https://youtu.be/J4v_CDhH3G8

7
Harmonica Internet Resources / Jason Ricci Workshop [video]
« on: February 28, 2017, 04:12:37 AM »
Jason Ricci's Master Harmonica Seminar at the Bean Blossom Blues Fest 2015

https://youtu.be/mkkyzTovJ1c

8
Recording Tips & Tricks / T5 DAW software now free.
« on: December 28, 2016, 04:53:19 PM »
Tracktion has released this software for free as they seem to be moving on to a newer product. I thought maybe some of our members might like to give it a try. While I haven't tried it yet myself, it does look quite comprehensive.

https://www.tracktion.com/products/t5-daw

9
Misc. Conversation / Blues On Broadbeach
« on: May 18, 2016, 05:14:46 PM »
I'm playing Blues On Broadbeach again this year with Bluescorp. If you are around Australia's Gold Coast this weekend you can enjoy all of the bands for free. This is one of the best festivals in the country. Hope to see one or two of you Aussies there. We will be performing on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. If you are interested in catching up over a few beers and talking harp, just come up and say hello.

Cheers.

10
Gear Lust / The 'presence' control on your amp
« on: January 14, 2016, 01:43:13 PM »
Here's a handy article from Fender about the presence control. Many amps don't have this feature, especially smaller amps. Some harp players have this set really low because they don't want too much treble in their sound, but presence doesn't work quite the same way as the treble control and there is good reason to consider it when experimenting with your amp settings. While treble is not altered at different volume settings, presence is effected by the volume level. With a bit of trial and error you can add some 'bite' to an already dark harmonica tone without letting it get too bright.

http://www2.fender.com/experience/tech-talk/presence-control/

11
Gear Lust / Interchangeable reeds - harmonica repair.
« on: September 09, 2015, 11:15:25 PM »
I noticed some time ago, to my disappointment, that some harmonica reeds were not interchangeable with other reeds of the same pitch. For example, I want to replace my 4 draw reed on an E Special20. The 5 blow reed on the D Special20 is the same note and pitch (Gb/F#), but after removing a 5 blow from an old D harp I noticed it was much shorter than the 4 draw on the E harp and therefore not suitable as a replacement. I was hoping to butcher some older, broken harps to repair some of my better ones of which I had blown out a single reed. I resigned myself to the fact that butchering older harps of a different key to replace reeds on a newer harp was not possible. But I was wrong.

As with many things in life, further investigation can bring a deeper understanding. I'm sitting here three years later and I decide to revisit the issue. I identified all the harps which use a Gb/F# reed and started to compare these reeds to each other to see if there was any that were similar - and there it was. Although the 5 blow from the D harp wasn't the right reed to replace the 4 draw on the E harp, I discovered that the 6 draw from an A harp was exactly the same reed. So I removed a 6 draw from an old A harp and after augering the hole out to fit the miniature bolt that would fasten the reed into place (the factory-fitted rivet is of a smaller diameter than the bolt, and so the hole needs to be carefully enlarged to accomodate the bolt), I also gently augered the corresponding reed plate hole to almost the same diameter, then tapped a new thread into the reed plate hole. I used a drill bit (hand held, no drill) to gently remove any tiny dags of brass caused by the augering process. I fitted the new reed and attached the tiny nut which fastens the tiny bolt into place. After aligning the reed perfectly in the centre of the reed plate slot, I gave it a quick tune up. Job complete. One E harp back from the dead, $43 saved.

While the harp was in pieces I took the opportunity to give all parts a thorough clean and sterilisation. Then I modded the cover plates with a small ball pein hammer, folding the rear edges to open up the back of the harmonica for better sound projection, increased volume. Total work time: 45 minutes.

I have yet to go through all possible reed exchange possibilities, and will probably do so as the need arises on a per-harp basis. If you want to work it out for yourself you could use Hohner's PDF which links to a shopping cart on their site. Scroll down to the 10-hole Diatonic Standard Richter Tuning section, click on the reed hole of the harp you want to repair and the reed(s) (set of five) will be added to the shopping cart. Now click on your potential replacement reed from another harp and it will also be added to the shopping cart. You can tell by viewing the shopping cart whether the second item is the same product as the first (the quantity of this item will now be '2') or if it is unique (a completely different product will be added to the shopping cart, giving you two items at a quantity of '1' each).
You can keep adding similarly-pitched reeds and going back to the shopping cart to see if the reed is the same as another one or different. I have checked this method with the physical reeds themselves and it is valid. If you can't find the page on Hohner's site where you can order single reeds and other components, here it is:
http://www.hohner-cshop.de/en/Downloads/

*I use the Hohner Harmonica Instant Workshop Toolkit which includes all tools and parts needed to remove the reed rivets, auger and tap a new thread, align the reed correctly, securely fasten the replacement reed to the plate, and tune the reed. It also contains maintenance gear for chromatics including slide mechanism oil and replacement windsavers and glue to attach the windsavers.
Additional tools I use are a cheap set of automotive feeler guages and a magnifying headset so I can see what I am doing.

12
Harmonica Internet Resources / Jason Ricci Solo Harmonica : 2015
« on: September 07, 2015, 07:42:58 PM »
Jason showing us why he is one of the best harmonica players of all time.

https://youtu.be/kwz91zllFvU

13
Harmonica Internet Resources / It Is What It Is
« on: August 18, 2015, 10:44:08 PM »
Here's a video our band made recently to help promote our new CD. It's not a really professional production but it's the first step towards making better digital promotional material. More will follow over the next months, hopefully including some kind of mini-doco vids rather than song clips. I don't at all like being in the limelight, let alone the spotlight, but for the sake of having any sort of career in music at all I'm just going to shut up and get on with it.

This is the title track from our new CD, it's a slow blues in the key of E called 'It Is What It Is'. Thanks for listening.

https://youtu.be/RT-GpAlJ3FU

New Album available on iTunes

14
Misc. Conversation / We just released our new CD!
« on: April 24, 2015, 12:57:20 AM »
Our new CD titled 'It Is What It Is' has just been released. Digital copies are available from i-Tunes and Amazon, and digital or hard copies from our band web site.

If you would like to preview the new album please check our web site: http://www.bluescorp.com.au/.
If you like what you hear, please support a starving musician and grab a copy! Our last album 'Don't Wanna Be Famous' is also available for purchase. If our music is not your cup of tea, thanks for listening and keep on harpin'!

HarmonicaBoogie.com certainly played a part in getting me to where I am today and I am going to keep on pushing myself towards becoming a better player and musician, as I strive to reach a standard on a par with my harmonica heroes and mentors.

Kind Regards
Matt

15
Misc. Conversation / Playing harp on TV
« on: March 26, 2015, 11:31:25 PM »
Recently our band was fortunate to be filmed for a local TV program which was doing a story about the venue we were playing at. We had no delusions of fame and fortune from this exercise, but thought it might at least help with promo and marketing of our new CD which we are finishing off. The program hasn't aired yet so I don't know how much band footage they used.
A week ago the promoter of a major blues festival which we are playing at contacted us saying they were going to do some TV marketing for the festival. As it turns out the same TV program is recording the segment for marketing and they (the production crew) asked for us to be featured along with two other artists (they already had footage of us and they liked our sound). We agreed of course. I have just returned from being interviewed and filmed for the show.

Everything was going well, Andrew and I were talking up the festival and local bands, as you do, and discussing blues music in general. Then the producer decided that the novelty of the harmonica was something the story should focus on in a bit more detail. Uh-oh. They wanted to film inside my harp case and have me explain why there was so much gear in there and why I needed so many harps (I typically carry about 25-30 harps, two bullet mics, a long and a short cable, two pedals, two patch cables and a 4-way power board, I had included my chromatic as well, thinking its larger size might work better visually for TV). I told them that looking inside my harp case was a little bit like peering into my sock drawer (fearing what items apart from my music gear might be lurking in the nooks and crannies - there might be literally anything hiding in my harp case!). So I pulled out my black and chrome JT30 and that seemed to take their attention away from my harp case. So I got a chance to promote harmonica on TV, by talking about vintage mics, different harps, and different blues genres. I hope I did a good job and whet people's appetite for this instrument, though I really can't be sure how well I portrayed harps or harp players. I guess I will find out when the show airs on May 10.

Then something scary happened - they asked me to play 'something' for the camera. Shit. Don't get me wrong, I play well enough not embarass myself, but being put on the spot like that did get the nerves tingling. While this show is a local production, it rates fairly well and is broadcast over a wide area. Lots of people would see and hear my harp. I could just feel the eyes and ears of every harp player with television access scrutinising my every note!
Anyway, I choose a Marine Band Crossover in C and played a generic run with a 4/5 double stop with some agressive vibrato, then threw in the obligatory warble for the kiddies, and did a scalar run down to the root and then rolled off to the 1 draw. That seemed to satisfy them , but to me it was awful. So I told them I would have another go and this time I played only slightly better. Bugger those nerves! I think I still did alright, generally speaking, even if it was far from my best. Most viewers will probably think it is great but harp players might know better  ;)

After the interview was over and the cameras were packed up, the produciton crew kept firing questions about harmonica at me. Is it hard to learn? How much does a good harmonica cost? Where did you learn how to play? How long have you been playing for? etc, etc. There were five or six people in the discussion. So out of all of this the point that is perhaps most significant is that people everywhere are still fascinated by this little powerhouse of an instrument, and our humble tin sandwich still carries an air of mystery, and novelty, and genuine intrigue for a lot of folks. I was sure that the boom in harmonica popularity which seems to have been sweeping the globe over at least the last three to five years had dispelled the myths and mysteries, and that most people knew a lot more about harp than ever. Apparently this is not true, and there is still a huge demographic of ignorance about the amazing music the harp can create.

I'm grateful for the chance to promote harp to a wider audience, and I sincerely hope I did all of us proud, even if I might have played better for the camera under calmer circumstances. Live and learn.

Pages: [1] 2
anything