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Still Life


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Description
This is from my Bucket cassette-only release recorded in 1994-1995 by Brian Doser. It was recorded on 2" tape but I only have a cassette player now so I recorded from the cassette into Peak and with SoundSoap I made this digital version. One of my extremely folky late-night musings.
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Song Stats
Hits: 653
Comments: 19
Fans: 14
Plays: 55
Downloads: 46
Votes: 2
Uploaded: Jan 10, 2009 - 11:23:12 AM
Last Updated: Jan 10, 2009 - 11:23:12 AM Last Played: Jul 21, 2009 - 04:03:13 AM
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Comments
apb said 315 days ago (January 10th, 2009)
Awesome Jim ..

.. cleaned up very nicely this .. and a great song, so well worth the conversion and sharing.

Sometimes the guitar part reminded me of "The joker" by Steve Miller Band .. but .. folkier.

Sweet lyrics and great performances on the vocal and guitar.
Check out my latest song called Misplaced
kassia said 315 days ago (January 10th, 2009)
life
This is a sweet sweet song. A heartfelt performance - so glad you were able to convert and clean this up. I love the lyrics and your vocals are perfect. I'm such a sucker for a good voice and a guitar. Love this. Thanks!
Check out my latest song called Deep Majesty
Feter said 315 days ago (January 10th, 2009)
Still Life
what s better than cosy late night singing ..for some reason the feel
reminds me of Donovan ..it sound so bright for a tape ?!! wonderful
how you dealt with it to let it sound so clean and there in the middle
so awesome ...the guitar just wonderful wonder what you were using ?.
thnx alot for sharin such gem !!!
Jim Bouchard said 315 days ago (January 10th, 2009)
The same guitar
I recorded this with the same guitar I've had for years, my Guild G37 blond guitar. I think I was using a cut capo, that's a capo that's been modified so that it leaves some strings open, it's possible to do some unusual fingerings that way. I honestly don't remember as it was a long time ago. This was a song that I didn't play live much, but it was inspired by my wife's paintings, as she is a great still life painter. The song art is her painting of a blue bucket. Thanks for your compliment!
Check out my latest song called Weather or Not w/awigze
Elevator_Funk said 315 days ago (January 10th, 2009)
hmm...
I would've never known this came from a cassette tape. It sounds great!
Check out my latest song called Post Nasal Drip
jiguma said 315 days ago (January 11th, 2009)
All things considered ....
.. regarding the recording and age of this one, it sounds bloody good. You sound about 15 years younger Jim!

The sound is incredible - one of the loudest posts you've done I suspect ;)

Good one!
Neil
Check out my latest song called Lost In Translation (w Mike Watkins)
Jim Bouchard said 314 days ago (January 11th, 2009)
Loud?
Maybe yes, but not peaking. I probably increased the gain a bit too much when mastering this, but I didn't compress it much and it's solidly out of the red. It's just the sort of song seems like it ought to be quieter. It's been so long that I can be at least that much objective about it.
Check out my latest song called Weather or Not w/awigze
jiguma said 314 days ago (January 11th, 2009)
:)
Just joking Jim :)
Check out my latest song called Lost In Translation (w Mike Watkins)
michael2 said 314 days ago (January 11th, 2009)
jim
really great tune. your voice sounds really nice. i like the phrasing you're using. guitar sounds nice too, never heard of the cut capo before but may have to try that out. thanks for the tuneage.
Check out my latest song called Behind Enemy Lines (w/Bud and Particle Dots)
Jim Bouchard said 314 days ago (January 11th, 2009)
cut capo
there was a couple guys using those in the coffeehouses round about the time I recorded this and it's sort of a neat trick. If you use one of those clamp-on capos, Kyser works really well, you can chop off the end and grind out a space in the inside so that you can play in a DADGAd tuning without having to re-tune the guitar. Then there's also things like playing behind the capo that you can do, little fancy stuff like that. I wrote a couple songs that used cut capos but I haven't used one in a while. I did start something the other day but nothing got recorded.

And sure enough, there's a web page: http://www.bos-capos.com/instructions.html
Check out my latest song called Weather or Not w/awigze
Alimar said 314 days ago (January 11th, 2009)
It never ceases to amaze me
You have such a versatility in the genres you choose. The volume is loud, yet not distorting. Guitar has a wandering playfulness with serious overtones. Vocals are honest with a Dylanesque appeal. If you ever get your hands on the new Meldyne,you can get in there and tweak individual notes in chords, and any vocals that need to be fixed. Great sound for the source, and what you have done to make it digital ready.

Alimar
Check out my latest song called Wingiggle [The I Keep Losing My Place Mix] v3
Jim Bouchard said 314 days ago (January 11th, 2009)
hmmm...melodyne
Well, maybe. I do cringe at my pitch at times here since I am obviously trying to sing on pitch but not quite hitting it all the time. But I was going for a pure emotion here, and this was done more or less live, but I think I would probably try to hit the notes a little more on pitch if I was to re-do. Maybe not use some effect, but just try to sing better. But I am 15 years older and I don't know how successful I would be. Your comment on the overtones on the guitar is right on the mark, since wandering playfulness was what I was going for. Thanks for the comment a lot, LMR!
Check out my latest song called Weather or Not w/awigze
rsorensen said 314 days ago (January 11th, 2009)
love that guitar
had me right from the intro. love the 'in the room' sound of this. actually reminds me of some of eddie vedder's solo stuff. great vocals, great song
Check out my latest song called Keep Your Chin Up
Jim Bouchard said 314 days ago (January 11th, 2009)
That in the room sound?
That was the room, I think. This was recorded in a great little home studio for acoustic music, lots of nice woodwork, a wood floor, a couple of open spaces with archways and little odd corners to make an interesting sounding room. There is some sort of reverb processor but most of it was the room and the placement in it. My buddy Brian Doser was the master at this stuff. I just set up and played. Thanks!
Check out my latest song called Weather or Not w/awigze
Komrade K said 312 days ago (January 13th, 2009)
A joy to listen to
Gorgeous guitar work - good to hear your introspective folky side get an airing again. Seems to me that the sound quality has benefited hugely from having an analogue source.

KK
Check out my latest song called Ye Mariners All
bronco said 308 days ago (January 17th, 2009)
Great Conversion
This shows us the earlier Bouchard had all the tools he later applied to digital. The excellent innovative acoustic guitar accompaniment combined with good songwriting, compositional skills and heart-felt vocals. Instead of a snafu this is a snarg(situation normal all really great). Thanks for giving us an insight into your earlier stuff!
Check out my latest song called Strange Feeling
Estella said 296 days ago (January 29th, 2009)
Mmmm...
Love the lyrics...

"composed in your dream"

"it's STILL life"

A beautiful piece.
Check out my latest song called Este Momento
Jim Bouchard said 296 days ago (January 29th, 2009)
thanks!
This was written with my then fiance, Andrea Tamkin, in mind. She is a painter that paints a lot of still life paintings. The picture of the bucket that is this song's song art is hers, and she painted it specifically as cover art for my cassette album. She's really a wonderful painter and a wonderful person and tends to go sleep early while I stay up late. It all works out quite nicely.
Check out my latest song called Weather or Not w/awigze
TobinMueller said 269 days ago (February 25th, 2009)
Late night music
I love your comment about Andrea going to bed early and you staying up late, much like Suzanne and I. This folky style of yours is by far my favorite. So honest, so authentic, such a natural truth and wisdom. I agree with Alimar about tweaking pitch, and the new Melodine can change pitch of a note within a chord or a vocal within a mix, kind of amazing. Maybe Alimar will test it for you when he purchases the upgrade. But nothing gets in the way of my enjoyment of this recording. It is masterful in non-nostalgic love, in guarded comfort, and a sense of how stillness can save a life even when each moment is so achingly transitory. A fabulous track.
Check out my latest song called Forge A New Life (MJRF)
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Name: Jim Bouchard
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I have been playing music a long time. When I was growing up my brothers had a band called the Regal Tones which was quite popular in our little town in upstate New York State. They got bitten by the music bug and later went on to found the p... [see more]

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