Ray Legere - Ready To Jam CD Review

Ready To Jam contains 16 Bluegrass standards performed by nine local new Brunswick singers - Jean-Marc Doiron, Serge Doiron, Francis Cormier, Vincent Cormier, Frank Doody, Gerry Richard, Dominic Cormier, Emile Robichaud and Paul Hebert.

Ray Legere played guitar, mandolin and fiddle, Russell Sawler played banjo, and Terry Poirier played bass. I can't believe how tight this CD is.

In the liner notes, Ray says "this CD was recorded with the hopes of capturing some of the 'fire' and excitement of a live jam." I believe the "fire" was captured!

AlthoughI've heard every song on this CD a thousand times over, and you probably have too, I can reccommend this CD without hesitation. The vocal arrangements are fresh and the musicianship is second to none. I can honestly say I thoroughly enjoyed every cut on the CD. One of my favourite tracks is Paul Hebert's version of Down The Road.

The following songs are included:

1. On My Way Back To The Old Home
2. In The Pines
3. Honey You Don't Know My Mind
4. Pain in my Heart
5. Down The Road
6. Dark Hollow
7. Don't Give Your Heart To A Rambler
8. Cryin' Holy Unto The Lord
9. Hold What'cha Got
10. I Just Think I'll Stay Around
11. I Ain't Broke But Badly Bent
12. Little Maggie
13. Bury Me Beneath the Willow
14. Salty Dog Blues
15. Banks of the Ohio
16. It Won't Work This Time

An accompanying instructional DVD is in the works to go along with this CD as well as tablature. If you're ready to jam, buy this CD! For more information, visit Ray Legere's web site.

Rogersville Homecoming Bluegrass Festival - 2006

I just got back from the 2006 Rogersville Homecoming Bluegrass Festival - it was great! I wish more people who claim they love Bluegrass music, but have never attended a festival, would take the time to attend at least one. You don't know what you're missing! I was a little surprised with what I thought was a relatively small turnout for Sunday afternoon, considering the lineup of bands on hand.

The lineup was very good this year, comprised of Rhonda Vincent & The Rage, Don Rigsby & Midnight Call, The Spinney Brothers, Ray Legere & Acoustic Horizon, True Blue, Timberland Express, Blue River, Gospel Connection, Janet McGarry & Wind River, and Eddy Poirier & Fern Maillet. Of course, the highlight of the festival was Rhonda Vincent & The Rage.

Rhonda's first show was a little disappointing for me - not because the band performed badly, but due to the sound not being up to par. It seemed the group had intended on using three condenser microphones, but resorted to using only one due to poor communication between Rhonda and the audience. It appeared Rhonda thought two of the mics weren't working, when in fact they were fine - maybe the monitor feeds for the mics in question weren't working? I'm not sure what the confusion was about. The end result was that Josh Williams' voice could not be heard doing the harmony on all of those great Gospel songs - a critical part of the set, in my opinion. Being familiar with all of the songs in the set, I knew where Josh's voice should have been, and believe me I was straining to hear any trace of Josh - I resorted to reading his lips.

Don Rigsby & Midnight Call, and the Spinney Brothers each had very good performances. Then there's Ray Legere and Acoustic Horizon; in my opinion, these guys are every bit as good, and a whole lot better than some of the biggest names in the Bluegrass business - and I'm happy to say they are from New Brunswick. What can you say about the musicianship of this group that hasn't already been said? They're awesome, and that's all there is to it! All of the other "local" bands had very good performances as well.

The festival ran an hour late, concluding at 7:00 PM, but believe me, it was well worth sticking around for. Rhonda Vincent & The Rage put on a spectacular show. This time 'round, each member had their own vocal and instrument mics, so there was no problem hearing the vocals or an instrumental break, when it was time.

Rhonda's last show was very moving, evoking a large range of emotions, from laughter to sorrow. After performing The Last Best Place, the band received a standing ovation, which brought tears to Rhonda's eyes, and mine as well. What can I say? I'm a softy.

Other than the mix-up with the sound of Rhonda Vincent's first show, I must say the sound was very good. It seems almost every one of us has something negative to say about the sound at a festival or concert, including myself. One of my biggest complaints in the past, has been that you can never hear the banjo - an instrument that you'd think would cut through everything, but I could even here the banjo nice and clear. My congratulations and thanks go out to the sound crew at this festival. Job well done!

More Tweaking, When Will It Stop?

Warning! This post is another one of those technical ones, where I talk about improving the sound of my banjo.

I'm one of those that like to tinker and experiment - I like to know why things work the way they work! And when I get into something new, I don't want to know just a little bit about the topic, I like to get into it deep. Such is the case with my banjo. It's not enough to just try to learn how to play it; I've got to know why and how it makes the sounds it does.

When I hear a great sounding banjo on a CD, I want to know how much of that great sound is from the banjo itself, how much is because of studio work and how much is from the talent that's playing it. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you already know that I recently had a chance to hear a Huber Lexington banjo up close; in fact, I got to try one out. That's when I learned just how good some of these banjos really sound.

This thirst for knowledge leads me into my experimentation phase. So, here I am again, tinkering with my banjo, looking for that elusive "perfect sound." At the very least, I want to get the best sound possible from it.

Just three days ago, I posted an entry titled "Banjo Head Audio Spectrum Analysis." In that post, I stated there were two prominent notes where my banjo head seemed to be resonant - F# and A#. I also came to the conclusion that, because the A# note was slightly louder, according to the audio spectrum display, the head must be tuned to an A# note, and therefore needed to be loosened because I want a G or G# note.

Experimenting tonight has revealed the two resonant notes (F# and A#) are only present when the resonator is installed. With the resonantor off the banjo, only the F# note is present. This leads to the question, should I tune the head with the resonator on or off the banjo? You might think with the resonator on, since that will be the final configuration when playing the banjo. However, since the resonator needs to be removed in order to tighten the brackets on the tension hoop, and since Steve Huber tunes with the resonator removed, I decided to tune with the resonator off. This means only the cavity made from the pot assembly and the head covering the pot, is involved in tuning. The extra air space provided by the resonator is now out of the picture.

I remember worrying when I installed the new head, about over-tightening, and possibly tearing the head. I have already tightened this head several times, so I'm wondering just how much further I can go without ripping it. As it turns out, the head must have stretched some over the last few weeks, because I found all of the bracket nuts securing the tension hoop to be on the loose side - not sloppy, ready to fall off loose, but certainly looser than I left them the last time I made an adjustment. Having tightened the head several times already, discovering the loose nuts surprised me. It's not like it should have been obvious - the head itself was not sagging.

I have tightened the head once more. At this point, the head is tuned somewhere between a G and G# note; probably closer to a G# note. It sounds pretty good to my ear. I'm using Ron Stewart's Huber Lancaster on his A Bluegrass Banjo Professional DVD from Acutab, to compare the tone of my banjo, which by the way, is a Deering Deluxe.

At this point, I am very happy with the sound of my banjo. I think it's the best its ever been, exhibiting lots of brightness and lots of volume. I may very well be at the point where I'm getting the best sound possible from this banjo!

Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder - Instrumentals

Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder have just released a new CD called Instrumentals. It features 11 tunes, all written by Ricky Skaggs.

The tunes range from traditional Irish tones to jazz and classical, to bluegrass. By and large, the CD is dominated with an Irish sound. One of the tunes, Crossing the Briney, is 7 minutes long - a tad too much for my liking.

I'm finding it very difficult to get into this CD. While the musicianship on all of the tracks is outstanding, as is always the case with anything Ricky does, there's just a bit too much of the Irish sound for me. If you are a fan of Irish music however, you'll love this CD.

By themselves, I don't mind any of the tunes; in fact, some of them are kind of neat - I just can't listen to the whole CD at once. There are a few tunes that are on the bluegrassy side of things, so that makes me happy. I have a feeling this is one of those CDs I'm going to learn to appreciate more and more as I continue to listen to it. My favourite tune on the CD is one called Missing Vassar.

If you're looking for an all-bluegrass CD, this isn't it, but the CD certainly lives up to its name - Instrumentals!

At the time of this writing, CMT.com has a link where you can listen to full-length high quality tracks of each tune.

For a limited time, you can order Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder Instrumentals for only $11.99 with free shipping to the USA and Canada at SkaggsFamilyRecords.com. Now that's a deal!

An Ear Opener!

I decided to record myself playing a couple tunes on the old 5-string - Gotta Travel On and Cumberland Gap. The initial reason for doing this was so I could hear how my banjo sounds to others, in terms of tone and sound quality. I actually thought I was sounding pretty good on these tunes, but that was before I recorded myself! Now, I know better, and my ears have been opened. I didn't realize just how poorly I play!

I figure if I sound pathetic on tunes that I actually thought I was sounding good on, it must be downright painful for people to listen to the tunes that I know I'm not doing very well on.

There are two ways to use this experience. I could be pessimistic, and let this discovery consume me, which is what I would normally do. I always knew I wasn't quite on par with Earl Scruggs, but I was a little disappointed, nonetheless.

I could choose to go the optimistic route this time around, which is what I think I'll do. I'm going to use the recordings as learning tools to point out my weak points, like poor timing, and incomplete sounding slides and pull-offs. According to the recordings, I need a lot of work in a lot of areas. Rather than dwell on the problems in a negative way, I'll try to correct them through focused practice sessions.

Another disappointing experience - I guess life is full of them!

Banjo Head Audio Spectrum Analysis

This post may not be of interest to most, but for those of you interested in the science behind trying to make your banjo sound its best, read on.

There is a technique for tuning banjo heads that involves striking the head with a hard object such as a metal finger pick or your fingernail, and then listening closely to the tone produced after the initial strike. This after-tone is then compared, using your ears, to various notes on the banjo by fretting the high D string at various positions. This technique is demonstrated very well by Steve Huber, on his Killer Tone DVD.

For many banjos, the optimum tone from the banjo will be produced when the head is tuned somewhere between a G and a G# note. Obviously, tone preference varies from one person to the next, so the G or G# note is just a guideline, but considered a good place to start.

Tonight, I took some audio samples of my banjo in an effort to determine exactly what fundamental note the head of my banjo is tuned to. I wanted to see if the spectrum agreed with what I thought I was hearing. In order to reduce the error count, I took several samples, analyzing each one for similarities and differences.

I learned a lot from my experiment. The first thing I learned is how difficult it is to read the spectrum due to the large number of harmonics produced. To get a feel for how the spectrum is displayed, and how to interpret it properly, I took several samples of the middle G string note first. When I was satisfied I knew what I was doing, I took samples to determine where my banjo head was tuned, using the head tapping method described above.

From what I can tell, my banjo head appears to be tuned to an A# note. This corresponds to what I was thinking all along - that my banjo may be a bit too "ringy," although the amount of ring is not dictated by head tightness alone. At one point, while tightening the head, (when I first installed it, not during this experiment), I thought I had the banjo sounding really nice, but then, I pushed my luck and tightened the head a bit more.

You may think it an easy task to distinguish one note from another while listening for the predominant after-tone during the head-tapping process, but in actual fact, it can be very difficult. After analyzing the audio spectrum samples, I used my ears and the head-tapping method to see if my spectrum analysis agreed with what my ears were telling me. The answer is, I think they agree, but I'm not absolutely 100% sure. I heard two notes that seemed to be about the same intensity: an A# note and an F# note.

There are several overtones that occur when the banjo head vibrates, which can be seen in the audio spectrum waveform. This makes it very difficult to determine which note is the fundamental note of interest, but again, I think it's an A# note.

If you look at the image at the top of this post, you will notice two notes of significant amplitude. The first note is an A# (B-flat) and the second note which I failed to label, is an F#. This picture seems to correspond with what I was hearing. Even though the image shows the A# note to be louder than the F# note, to my ears, the F# note was every bit as prominent. So, is the head tuned to A# or F#? Well, because the graph indicates the A# note is more prominent, I'll say the head is tuned to A#; however, if I didn't have access to a spectrum analyzer and had to use my ears only, as would be the norm for most people, I may very well have thought the head was tuned to the F# note.

In any case, it looks like I'll be doing some more tweaking. I figure by the time I'm finished, I'll probably have another torn banjo head to add to my collection, but hey, look at all the stuff I'm learning!

If you'd like to do some playing of your own, the software I used for recording the audio samples was Goldwave version 5.14 from Goldwave Incorporated and the spectrum analyzer capabilities were provided by Transcribe! by Seventh String Software.

New Strings

In my last post, I made mention that I was unhappy with the tone being produced by my banjo. Just the week before, it was near perfect! Obviously, something changed. I said I would let you know how the banjo sounded after I replaced the strings. You may recall me saying the banjo sounded out of tune even though the electronic tuner said it was right on the mark. Well, I've replaced the strings and the banjo now appears to sound in tune.

When strings become oxidized, and after they have been repeatedly stretched from tuning and bending during play, they start to produce more overtones than they do when thay are new. As Ron Block says, they lose their "snap." In particular, I always notice the third string (G) seems to go "dead" before the rest. Several people have told me that they experience more problems with the B string, including Cia Leigh Cherryholmes.

This time round, I put a set of lighter strings on the banjo because they were the only banjo strings in stock at the music store. The smaller string guages tend to be brighter than the medium strings I am used to. The lighter stings also have a different feel to them, not only on the fretting hand, but on the picking hand also.

Right now, the banko sounds "in tune" but it is a bit on the bright side and has a little more "ring" (as in, listen to that old banjo ring) than I like. I do like bright, but this may be a bit too bright.

I think the banjo head needs to be loosened; however, now that I know where most of the stretching occurs during the tightening process, I'm not really comfortable with the loosening it. If it needed more tightening, I would be fine with that.

Before I touch anything, I'm going to make an attempt at determining what note the head is tightened to. Steve Huber, on his "Killer Tone" DVD, shows how to tune the head to a certain note. With my banjo, I seem to have difficulty discriminating between notes, so I'm going high-tech. As Steve demonstrates, I'm going to tap the head with my finger picks while muting the strings, except, I'm going to record the audio produced. Once I have an audio sample recorded, I'm going to analyze the audio with a spectrum analyzer. I'll let you know how successful I am.

Good Practice, Bad Experience

On June 25, I wrote about the excellent practice session I had the night before. I talked about how I had good tone, good timing and how comfortable my finger picks were. Two days ago, I had another one of those really good practice sessions. I had practiced for approximately 4 hours, with at least 3 hours where I was very pleased with my playing.

The next day, (last night) three friends and I got together to do a few tunes and I couldn't do a single thing right! To begin with, I wasn't satisfied with the sound from my banjo which is a major show-stopper for me; when things don't sound right, I tend to have much more difficulty. I don't know why, I'm very quirky; at least that's what I've been told from time to time.

I don't know if the extra ringing and overtones I was hearing last night were due to the strings going dead or not, but it's where I'll start trying to make corrections because they haven't been changed since July 3, which is a little long. Closely related to dead strings is the fact that I couldn't seem to make the banjo sound like it was in tune, regardless of what the electronic tuner indicated. I first noticed an objectionable difference in the sound of the banjo at the last Bluegrass Friends jam session, which was held outdoors. At the time, I thought it must have been due to the outdoor acoustics, but now I am questioning that idea. I'll let you know how much of a difference new strings make after I replace them, tomorrow.

I can't lay all the blame on the banjo when I know most of the problem lies within. My timing was off, I wasn't picking the strings cleanly, I was missing notes, my right hand wasn't anchored properly, my left hand wasn't fretting cleanly (oh, I forgot, I always have that problem!) and the list goes on and on. I just couldn't get anything right!

At this little get together, I didn't expect to "tear the house down" or anything, but I thought after having such a good practice the day before, on the very same tunes, I might at least be able to get through the tunes in a manner where they would be recognizable. Aside from everyone agreeing that it sounded like the banjo was a bit out of tune, (even though the electronic tuner said it was spot on) everyone said they thought my playing sounded okay, but I certainly wasn't hearing it that way. Sometimes people just don't want to say things they think may hurt your feelings.

I haven't had the banjo in my hands at all today - I think last night's experience has made me a little afraid to try it.