Mighty Dark

[Jim Broyles]

My second (first bluegrass) attempt to get something down with my new Zoom H4.
Copley cedar top acoustic electric through a Zoom GFX-3 for EQ
Hofner Contemporary Series Beatle Bass - direct to H4
Fullerton Gloucester mandolin via H4's mic.

Mighty Dark (http://www.zshare.net/audio/607407280e436830/)

[Charley wild]

Sounds great! I love how you can move from single note to tremolo and back so smooth! One of my favorite songs also.

[Jim Broyles]

Thanks Charley. It's pretty lame playing, I think. It's more nerve-wracking doing a home recording than you might think. I was having a hard time getting a decent mix. When I listened on the H4 it sounded okay but the bass disappeared on the upload to my computer. The first chorus came in too soon after the intro and I wanted to do more chopping for the final chorus. I deliberately strummed the open chords because in Monroe's original version of this song, he hardly chopped at all but rather mostly played a tremolo backup line throughout the verses.

[Charley wild]

Oh, I think you're being too hard on yourself, Jim. I love the tone of your mandolin! Especially the bass. There are couple of passages that really bring out that bass tone. Really pretty.

[Skip Kelley]

Nice work Jim! You pull good tone out of your mandolin!

[Jim Broyles]

Thanks, Skip. I think one of my E strings was a hair sharp.

[MikeEdgerton]

That's great but you need some vocals in there. Where's Bill when we need him?

[mdlorenz]

I've been tinkering w/ the idea of buying a digital recorder... How you like the H4?

[Jim Broyles]

I've been tinkering w/ the idea of buying a digital recorder... How you like the H4?

It was a long learning curve for me but once I figured it out it's pretty easy to use. The metronome feature, which you can set to give you a click track, was a pain in my neck because it kept resetting to the defaults because I didn't know how to do a recording, but I finally got it. The software that comes with it is a DVD, but my computer no loner has a DVD/RW so I could not use it, but fortunately you can go to the Zoom web site and download drivers. It's a pretty cool little recorder once you get the hang of it.

[Andy Alexander]

That break will also work on Say Won't You Be Mine.

[Jim Broyles]

Pretty hard to improve upon Mr. Lambert's break.

[Bernie Daniel]

Jim Broyles: My second (first bluegrass) attempt to get something down with my new Zoom H4

That sir, was simply outstanding! Fantastic break!

[Jim Broyles]

Thank you, Bernie. I'm going to try another Monroe song soon. Any suggestions?

[Charley wild]

I have, Jim! How about "On and On"! Not a great melody line but I sure love that song! Of course he had Jimmy singing lead and Rudy on banjo. A great combination!