WEEK TWO Updates: Main Thread - Following the Path to Tárrega
Alright, welcome to WEEK TWO of the Main Thread for this challenge! 
Where is the Week 1 thread?
Find the Week 1 thread here!
Please use the following format when commenting (feel free to copy & paste!)
- One thing you found easy:
- One thing you found difficult:
- (Optional): a video of you performing it!
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Here is Maria Gavota, which needs some polishing in a few spots.
On to the next piece --maybe an easy one, or more demanding one like Danza Mora. Stay tuned...
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Olalla Thanks Olalla!!
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Blaise Laflamme Thank you Blaise!!
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Barney Superb, Barney! A very different take, but I like it a lot. It was less rhythmic but much more lyrical. Your contrasts in tone color were outstanding. Great work!
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Eric Phillips Thanks Eric!!
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Barney What can I say? You are a concert performer
, very good
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Barney Great! Your apoyando scales have a great power and that's contrasted by the shaping superb execution of the main theme! You go for a more lyrical interpretation which I really like, although my impression of Maria is a litlle bit more naggy, haha! Very good job on this one, and as Guiseppe pointed out, maybe there's a small church where you can organize a little concert once we are allowed to do that stuff again!
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Giuseppe Gasparini
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Giuseppe Gasparini Not quite,but it’s great fun. Thank you Giuseppe for you kind words.
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Martin
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Martin Thank you Martin! "Little concert"--HaHa! I never played Classical guitar in public. The last time I played guitar for an audience was when I was a teenager with my rock band at church dances and college sororities. I find recording myself (thank you again for teaching me how!) has great benefit, including a little "stage fright" practice. Sharing these clips and comments with our friends on Tonebase also is great fun, and helps a lot.
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Martin Hi Martin, With your sound engineering knowledge, do you think this recording (Horrible quality, of course) of Francisco Tarrega playing Maria may be genuine?
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Barney bravo!!!
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Vilio Celli Thank you Vilio!!
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Barney Hey Barney, wow! Great piece, great sound and musical taste: Congratulations
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Thomas Thanks very much Thomas!!
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Barney I think I'll pass on getting a Romanillos guitar! It would be interesting though to try one. You would really want to hear a huge difference!
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Barney I suffer greatly from stage fright and I only play in noisy environments. Hahaha! I am also finding recording myself of great benefit.
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Barney that was such a pleasure to listen to. Very beautiful! Thank you for sharing
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Debbie Thank you Debbie!!
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Barney Dear Barney, may I ask you, which Micros, Guitar and strings you use to get that beautiful recorded sound? I know, the fingers are the key
, but maybe the equipment could help us a little bit ....!? -
Thomas Hi Thomas, I'm using a 1964 Jose Ramirez (AM) Cedar guitar with RC Recital (MT) nylon strings. The Mics are a pair of Line Audio CM4s (ORTF) position driven by Scarlett2i2 interface. I add a bit of ambiance with Nimbus Reverb. No other editing or effects.
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Barney Interesting, I will dive in a little bit! (I'll do a denoise and let it run through a digital footprint analyzer and see if it's maybe just a spotify recoring that got roughen up a bit, haha). I am not a specialist on wax cylinder recordings, but the technique was invented in the late 1870s and became commercially available 1889, so the timeline might add up there! Would be amazing, but then again, I don't how to verify that. Supposedly, this is recording was published in the volume 12 of "Segovia & His Contemporaries, Vol. 12: Tárrega, His Disciples & Their Students" by DOREMI publisher some years ago.
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Martin Wow, if it is real that would be amazing to give us a brief sound sample of "the guy" who started this on his Torres guitar.
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Barney Hey Barney, that must be an outstanding guitar! And your setup fits it perfectly
Do you prefer ORTF over simply two parallel Mics? I use the Zoom H4, but soon I would like to purchase a pair of Mics; then I have to decide, how to place them….See you soon with our next recording! -
Thomas I am new to the recording process, so relied on Martin's recommendation for a quality microphone at reasonable cost; He also suggested the ORTF setup, so I went with that and have not yet tried other methods. You guys are saying it sounds pretty good, so guess I'll stick with it for now. The guitar is typical of the Ramirez sound for a Cedar top, but is weak on treble sustain (my opinion), and is a bit difficult to play.
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
