Turntable Tuneage Tips
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Artist:
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(Lawdy Miss Clawdy,Baby What You Want Me To Do, Heartbreak Hotel, Hound Dog, All Shook Up)
One of Elvis early publishers was a woman named Mae Boren Axton , (who co-wrote Heartbreak Hotel for Elvis). Her son Hoyt is featured here.
This next song of his seemed appropo to encode up after I dumped some dough into my new computer compatible turntable toy.
This track is off a somewhat rare LP that Hoyt released first as "The Balladeer" in 1962, and was was reissued in 1963. The LP is supposedly recorded live at The Troubadour, although on the reissued version I have the audience is pretty durn quiet if there is one, and I understand they were erased from the mix. On the LP he is accompanied on some songs by young Roger (aka JIm McGuinn), then of the Chad Mitchell Trio, and later founder of the Byrds.
Hoyt was great singer/songwriter, and is far too underated in my opinion considering the volume and chart impact of his work. He heavily influenced John Kay of Steppenwolf, and that band later did some of his songs, notably The Pusher.
The song I posted here was a big hit for The Kingston Trio, and Hoyt actually reaped little from the song's success due to a bad contract. The tune eventually appeared on 3 Billboard charting albums but Hoyt made a mere $800.00 from the song
*..."I was just a kid with a guitar living in a car... How could I sue when the whole point of the song was how I didn't give a damn about a greenback dollar?*"
Hoyt Axton - greenback dollar ( don't give a damn about...)
Here's another great 60's era cut, one that is a Kinks cover, from a classic 60's garage rock band... Chocolate Watchband - I'm Not Like Everybody Elsedig those... more in the coming weeks...After my last post an observant Mogger by the name of Jpompa asked me what is the deal with my new ION turntable, and if the software is complex...So I decided to give her what I think is the basic jist on this dealio... and am reposting it just in case anyone is listening, or curious or whatever...The ION turntable is just a basic lightweight, belt drive turntable… I had a supposedly much nicer Bang & Olufson but I wasn’t getting good laptop recording results with the basic preamp I had purchased. The ION , with a simple flick of a switch, offers a line level output or phono level option, so depending on your equipment , that’s key.(I use a BOSE 5 .1 Surround system at home and like many newer audio devices, it didn’t even come with a phono input. Phono inputs send signals at a lower output level, so a preamp is needed if you are going to send a phono signal up to a line level.)Anyhow, by the time I looked at replacing my preamp equipment & throw in a Bang & Olufson needle, I was well over a $150 with no guarantee it would be much better for mp3 conversions. The ION is a lightweight, kinda cheap device, but uses a standard cartridge replacement, so it will be cheaper to replace needles for me as well.The ION software you were hearing about is just Audacity, which is a freeware open source audio software. I myself am already familiar with it, so I find it to be just fine for most of my needs.It works on a basic timeline, which is a familiar interface if you’ve ever used Pro-Tools, Sound Forge, or any other audio recording applications. Common video programs & animation software like Premiere, Flash , Vegas Video etc all use timelines.I generally record the discs off the turntable on the basic timeline, then amplify the signals, redo some EQ & boost the bass & eliminate clicks through the effects settings.I just get the tracks sounding somewhat acceptable, then export as MP3 at 160 kb, which seems fine considering they are old dusty 7”s for the most part. I then delete the project file, which saves disk drive space, but means all my full quality master audio settings are lost. Oh well, I still have the 45’s and can re-encode if I really needed to I suppose.There are other apps available for purchase out there if needed, some that will sense breaks & apparently will break up albums into individual mp3 tracks. Audacity is not made by ION , and is included with the ION turntable along with a demo version of something else. I suggest downloading the newest version of Audacity off the web anyway… open up any sound file, play with it, and if you like it and can use it, then go for it.The only thing great about the ION is it seems to be the only USB enabled turntable out there…I got mine at Urban Outfitters for $150 plus tax, but I’ve seen some websites that seem to offer it for less, as low as $120 new ( plus shipping and the obligatory delay in instant gratification that entails).
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