"Antiquing" Django Recordings

cbwim

Tried something interesting tonight. I've decided that if I am ever going to learn how to play Django's music that I better do it now before I get much older (I'm 57). I have a great guitar (Shelley Park #250), an old Epiphone practice amp, an iPod with the Amazing Slow Downer, and a new tool - a Boss RC-30 looping pedal.

Lately I've been feeding into the looping pedal slowed down Django recordings and playing rhythm along with them. Tonight I tried something different and used the "lo fi" effect for playback on the looper. What comes out on the speaker sounds like what I imagine Django's music sounded like on period short wave or AM radios. I'm able to line out from the amp through the headphone jack and record the resulting audio on my Mac.

So the net result is making the audio quality worse perhaps - but it serves to simulate what some of this may have sounded like when the music was new, and heard over radios in the 30s and 40s. Its interesting to hear Django's music in this new old way. I'm wondering if some of the quality of the "Le Pompe" style was compensating for the limitations of the recording and audio equipment available back then. The process I use tones it down just a bit.

I'll try to post a sample in the next few days.

Casey

anthon_74

I actually started a post awhile ago seeing if anyone had tried to create gypsy jazz play-alongs that had that old recording sound. I personally like the slightly grainy way the old django recordings sounded better than the new polished way the modern gypsy Jazz recording artists album's sound like.
Seemed few people agreed with me though.

Archtop Eddy

Post the goods Casey. Love to hear what it sounds like! AE

cbwim

I headed up to the mountains today to see the sun and get above Seattle's foggy and smoggy air inversion. Glorious sun, and warm, in the 60s at Hurricane Ridge and I got a good hike in the snow and worked on my tan. And tonight I have a full plate.

Thus I'll work on some recordings in the morning and post these on Monday. Besides some Django, I will sample some parts of play along tracks using this process. I'm intrigued by that idea.

Casey

cbwim

Here is an example of a Django recording rendered with the above described process. I'se a Muggin'

cbwim

And here is a short example of a modernly recorded backing track rendered with this process. I just used a portion of it which I captured while streaming. The original source is the free sample playalong of Minor Swing on the Rosenberg Academy website.