Madman’s Diaries OM 25 Footnotes - Don't Come Lookin & Masters of War

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OK as is customary once the Open Mic video has been posted and available to the masses, its time to share my dry runs of the two songs I did at OM25.

Happy to say that these were rather less ragged and did not have that extra adrenaline release that has a tendency to make you screw things up. Though I did managed to fluff a few lyrics on the Dylan offering.

Both of these were recorded an hour before the sound check, after a number of days trying to resolve latency issues between OBS and Zoom - which has got a lot worse than it used to be and now unusable for live show recordings.

First is Don’t Come Lookin by Jackson Dean - not Brown as I announced at showtime, Doh !
Then Mr Zimmerman’s reflection on the arms trade from 1962, nowts changed.

Expect this will be my last OM of the year, as it was a tough job prepping for this alongside the BLIM Course work, learning more in 2.5 weeks than I would in the same number of months. Something has got to give and after the live performance, that’s the one to go.

But I will take a theatre seat when I can and just enjoy the show, sans pressure.

:sunglasses:

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Great performances Toby, although I really enjoyed the live versions and think you’re being rather hard on yourself there.

That’ll be a real shame Toby … but entirely understandable - there’s a lot of BLIMing in our future!

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Hi Toby,
That was great, very fast and easy to #%$beeB%$#up …but you don`t :sunglasses: :clap:…2e has a nice great strum vibe like the Golden Earring can have
:clap: :sunglasses: :clap:
I missed the OM again, was ready for a while but made a UTC+1 error. 8 o’clock turned into 9 o’clock haw did that happens??? no more jikes from me to old people :blush:…I think …I hope…

Here but it was so bloody hot that I had to go outside again quicklyat 8:02 and by the time I got in it was later than it was supposed to be has been for me in a long time…but still freaking warm and just laying in a sort of
lethargy state with a fan on my face in bed …( so hoping Brian don`t read this )

Greetings and a nice share :sunglasses:

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I find these technically better, but that live performance adrenalin brings energy as well, which was great in your OM performance. As a pure performance/entertainment, I would rate OM better due to that. :slight_smile:

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I also think you are being a bit hard on yourself.

Confessedly, I slept peacefully through song 1 but the beginning of song 2 woke me up. “What is that angry man singing about masters and war?” … "Ah, Dylan " … “No wait, it’s Toby”

It might not have been technically perfect. But technically perfect is always boring. And there was so much energy about your performance that sleepy me managed to listen until the end :slightly_smiling_face:

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Hi Toby,

I very much enjoyed both offerings here, what a great groove and vibe. Especially during the Dylan one I felt the energy behind the message. :sunglasses:

As unfortunately, I missed the OM due to the fortunate event of a good friend’s wedding, I’ll have to catch up with the recording later during the week. Your dry runs are an excellent appetizer for the same and reading the comments, you are probably a little hard on your own performances (as we all are our own worst critiques), so I’m really looking forward to the OM versions, too! :smiley:

That’s a shame, but all too understandable with the loads of BLIM coming along in the upcoming weeks and months. The more we have to look forward to OMs in 2025! :sunglasses:

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Hi Toby, both your performances are highly energetic and very consistent in Rhythm with a strong voice that fits in very well, I much enjoyed the listening. From what I can read I might have missed the ‘playing live vibes’ but I rarely can spare one hour or more for listening to an entire OM so I’m happy to find your recordings in the avoyp section as well.

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I recently felt that all the performing started to get in the way of my practicing, and I told so to a friend of mine, a professional jazz musician.
He told me that this is just not true and I should keep doing both.
Though it’s hard for me to totally agree with him, I’m going to do what he says.
Just saying, maybe you shouldn’t quit the OMs…

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Hey Toby

I hope you are doing fine mate even thought summer 's not really decided to really show yet.
Don’t be too hard on yourself, your covers are not bad at all there are some really good points there : your rythm is quite good and consistent. And I think you made some nice progress on vocals too.

One suggestion I could offer (and I have heard Justin talk a lot about this in his lessons about doing cover by oneself) : 1 vox + 1 acoustic guitar can be boring if we play the tracks as it is on the recording : you might want to work on some dynamics : for exemple on your second cover here, maybe some time you should change your rythm pattern on your guitar : maybe like just stress the 1 beat and let it ring for the whole measure ; or maybe try some palm mute on some section …

You have to decide what you want to do of course, these are only ideas to illustrate my points (might not work all the time).

Take care of yourself mate. And never give up :wink:

cheers

Kev

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@TheMadman_tobyjenner i second what Alexey says Toby. The show must go on and we’re all waiting to hear those BLIM blues so please don’t stop OMing.

I thought you did great and it would have been extra hard going on last.

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Blimey been neglecting replies but loads going on at the moment, with family arriving soon for their 4 week “vacance”.

@mathsjunky Thanks for that Paul. We are our own worse critics but having run through the set twice and error free, waiting my turn, it was annoying to fluff up. If I don’t analyse and see what went wrong, I won’t improve, so no doubt I’ll keep on beating myself up, rightly or wrongly.

@roger_holland Hey one these days you’ll get the time right but there was some last minute confusion on this one. Now if we are talking Radar Love I’ll have to spin that up for a comparison to old Bob, been a while since I gave it a good listen. Thanks for the comments.

@Boris1565 Thanks Boris, understand where you’re coming from and appreciate that.

@JokuMuu Sorry to disturb your slumber :rofl: And its a long song to stay awake to and I always think of Dylan’s version as one of his typical dirges so it needed some ooomph. But imho technically perfect with attitude would have been better. Check Dean Jackson out, he’s a good listen.

@Lisa_S Thanks for taking the time to listen Lisa and yeah they are two good songs to get into groove wise and need a bit of wellie as we Brits say !

@Silvia80 Thanks Silvia, have to agree finding a couple of hours to back track on the OMs is never easy in our busy lives but at least you missed my little imperfections. At the end of the days between these and the OMs its still me a computer screen and a camera. You’d think it would all come out the same. One day maybe.

I get you on that Alexei but it takes a while for me to learn new stuff to a level I’m happy to perform with. With Unit 1 its been three things to learn, if you include the melody and two songs. All will need attention and polish for some time and next months, there will be another 3 to learn and add to the mix. So bringing in songs for an OM is going to increase the work load and I have the family over for a month as well. As in life somethings have to give. So sticking to plan A for now but never say never. :wink:

@Cagn Bonjour Mon Amis ! Ca va ? Yeah what the heck has happened here, sans ete for sure. And yeah I am doing fine and living the life of bliss in good old Manche !
Was pretty happy with these two, it was the Open Mic performance that went off script :rofl: Two good song for checking your rhythm out for sure and thanks for the comments on the vocals, they’ve come a long way in the last couple of years. Thanks also for the suggestions and something to bare in mind. Certainly doable one the first song but the rhythm does change about a bit as I tend to go with the flow and doubt I have ever done it the same twice. Masters is more of a challenge as I wanted to stick to the original Dylan brief but add some attitude with the vocals. Bob’s original is one long drawn out dirge and its the same all the way through, so I thought if it worked for him … anyway thoughts have been filed for future reference. Always appreciate you feedback. Take care, biz !

@rorystrat Appreciate that Peter but the BLIM stuff will be a while before any of it is oven ready for “live” performance or any kind for that matter. If I can apply it to a bit of Mr G who knows something could be in the pipeline but as we are just coming out of the 30s it could be some time. On the going last thing, its normally my preferred slot and easy to engineer when I have been organising in the past. So I am no stranger to being tail end Charlie but for me the wheels fell off a little this time but glad everyone else seemed to enjoy it and at the end of the day that is all that matters. Cheers !

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Hi Toby. The others have said it all. I agree with the comment that the ‘live’ version had a feeling and energy to it that the other version lacked despite it having a few fluffs. I also agree that you’re being a bit hard on yourself.
Well done.

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Toby, Mr G was quite fond of a bit of 1930’s Blind Boy Fuller’s blues too:

Also Big Bill Brroonzy

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Don’t Come Lookin’ was terrific, Toby. Absolutely loved the rhythm playing. Guitar tone is amazing, what have you added to it?

Masters of war equally good, I’d say. Thanks for sharing these.

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It’s actually very poetic that this song woke me up given the lyrics, the relevance and all.

I can imagine many songs to which I would not like to have woken up instead.

… And yes, I will check that Jackson guy :slightly_smiling_face:

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Hey Toby! Sounded great to me. As others have said, don’t be too hard on yourself. We got to see Jackson Dean in concert a year or two ago. So I especially enjoyed DON’T COME LOOKIN’.

I’m glad you are enjoying the BLIM Course and are learning so much. Such a great opportunity for you and all those taking part in it.

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Nothing too special John. The T-Bucket was pushed through the POD Go and a preset I jad set up for acoustics - using a Line 6 Elmsey amp model, emphasising mids and with 4x12 Park 75 G12 H30 cab and Retro Reel modulation pedal, plus a 10 band EQ pushing the mids again - trying to get a warn wholesome tone.

Thanks for listening.

Whole lot more going on in the original DCL so it was a pretty basic pare back and run !

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Hey Pam he’s a new discovery for me thanks to Spotify but soon as I heard it I knew I had to cover it. The original is a little slower but it felt like it needed a bit of a romp, especially without the rest of the band ! Good fun to play for sure. The OM version of DCL was ok imho.
Masters has been in my head since the mid 60s so no reason to mess it up but live is live !
BLIM has been an interesting time though early days, certainly intense and challenging but that should make it pay dividends if you get stuck in, blood sweat and fears ! :rofl:

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I think the only place making real music these days is Nashville…

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Late to the party, I’ve been blimkered lately, so a bit behind on things. You remind me of an older version of me, always hard on myself. Both were pretty good mate but I’m dying to hear some who covers from you. It’s about time you that you did my generation.

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