Four Strings and the Truth

Ain't Gonna Rain No More

2008-09-06T10:32:00.001-07:00

CBC radio interview from New York Ukulele Festival 2008

2008-04-13T11:58:00.000-07:00

While I was down in New York at the New York Ukulele Festival, Mimi Tompkins from CBC radio interviewed me for The World This Weekend. Here is the entire ukulele feature edited from the CBC podcast archive. The show was broadcast on April 12th, 2008.

http://www.manitobahal.com/twtw_20080412_clip.mp3

Little Box of Sadness (the making of)

2008-03-28T08:27:00.000-07:00

Hi folks. I've been getting alot of questions about my recording techniques lately so I thought I'd put a summary up here about how I made my latest uke collection Little Box of Sadness.

I'm a real believer in live music so I wanted to capture the energy that a live performance gives and at the same time make sure that vocals were clear, licks on the uke could be heard and actually moved the song along. So I started with the idea that the basic rhythm of the song and the vocal had to be recorded in one pass. That way I could reproduce it live with minimal technology.

I started with a Risa Acoustic Tenor Uke. This has become my "go-to" uke for just about everything. I tune it G C E A with the low G that a tenor is good for. It is fitted with planetary geared tuners and a piezo pickup that makes it great for live applications.

I pumped that uke into a Yamaha pre-amp designed for acoustic guitar. It's called the AG-STOMP. It's not made anymore but in it's day it was one of the best microphone modeling simulators out there. It simulates 8 different microphones and allows you to mix between the direct pickup sound and the effect which lets you decide the character of your instrument. It also has programable gain, eq, feedback reduction, compressor/limiter, chorus, digital delay and reverb. Plus it can program up to 33 different instrument patches.

From there I go into a Boss RC-20XL loopstation. The loopstation lets me sample up to 16 mins of CD quality audio and play it back as I play overtop of the previously recorded part. It also has a rhythm guide that acts as a primative drum machine. So after making sure my uke sounded good, I arranged the music and found a way to create a basic "groove" track that would play under everything. This usually involved a simple rhythm, basic time in the same the key as the song. Imagine strumming a G chord in the right tempo and you get the idea. Then I played with overdubs and the guide track setting until I felt the groove was just right for the song.

At this point I fired up the recording console which for me means CUBASE LE (the free version) and my Tascam US-122 USB digital/audio convertor. This box allows me to capture two channels of audio (at the same time) and send them to my recording software. This is all I need for at home. There are versions that allow for up to 8 channels at once but I don't imagine I'll ever need that in my home studio. I plugged the RISA Uke line (uke-Ag-Stomp-Loopstation) into the US-122 as well as my Apex 435 Gold Diaphram mic. (btw the total cost of this recording rig is just over $200 - CHEAP!!!!)

When I finally felt confident with the arrangements and the sound, I pushed record. The basic track and vocal was recorded and in most cases the uke solo recorded at the same time as the rest of the music.

At this point I began to do overdubs. I used my Godin A6 Ultra as a faux bass for some of the tunes, on others I had a real live bass player with an upright bass play. I added an old broken tamborine and in some cases a cardboard box along with claps and support vocals. The result is a home grown uke project that sounds full and interesting.

I hope you enjoyed this little breakdown of my home recording techniques and feel free to ask me any questions about the process or the equipment involved.

Got Uke?

2008-03-01T14:15:00.001-08:00

Damn! Boy goes to Montreal and gets tattooed!!! Check out the new ink!

Spring Ukulele Festivals

2008-02-26T12:01:00.000-08:00

Oh my what an exciting spring I have lined up. In April I will be heading to three different ukulele festivals.

April 3-6 - New York Uke Fest (www.nyukefest.com) along with uke players from around the US and the globe. Here is the schedule of performances;

THURSDAY
J. Walter Hawkes, Emcee

Uncle Zac *

Dreamboat

Hal Brolund*

Evy Mayer* and Triboro

Des O'Connor

The Ukulady

Pre War Ponies

FRIDAY
Ali Lexa, Emcee

Lil' Rev*

The Kennedys* present Stringbusters

Les Chauds Lapins

Thomas Allander, The Swedish Ukulele Man

Gerald Ross* and Friends

Elvira Bira

Moth Wranglers
LD Beghtol & Chris Xefos, with other folks

SATURDAY
Spats White , Emcee

Rose Turtle Ertler*

New York Ukulele Ensemble

John King*

Melvern Taylor* and the Meltones

Agent 99

SUNDAY
Heather Lev, Emcee

Ali Lexa

bedroom community

Sweet Soubrette

Ron Gordon* and the Hokum Hotshots

Tim Sweeney*

Jen Kwok

Bosko and Honey

Then on April 8th I fly off to Stockholm for the Stockholm International Ukulele Festival. I'll be performing along with;

Scheidenbach (Russia)

Yan Yalego (France)

Bastardos Sympaticos (Finland)

Ukulelezaza (Belgium)

Thomas Allander (Sweden)

Bengt Nordfors (Sweden)

Marcus Roos/Ukulelesolen (Sweden)

Hot in Hats (Sweden)

Elvira Bira (Sweden)

Knuttes Trio (Sweden)

Then finally on April 14th I'll be heading to Helsinki for the Spring Ukulele Fever. Hosted by the Finish Ukulele Network (FUN). The other performers include;

Sepi - The father of the Finnish ukulele-community. The one and only Sepi!
Ukulele Igor- Finland's latest promise to the ukulele world. One man and his Resophonic ukulele.
Yan Yalego - The very first performance in Helsinki of the unique Ukulele-troubadour from Marseille.
Scheidenbach

Ceilidh follow up

2007-10-31T05:58:00.001-07:00

Here I am teaching my ukulele blues workshop. This was the BBQ secrets workshop where we discussed using various chords up the neck to spice up our playing of the blues.

In my hands is my brand new RISA tenor uke that I aquired just before the ceilidh. I gotta tell ya I think RISA really hit a home run with this one. It is loud and resonate. Full of bass and yet still sounds like a ukulele. I've been wanting a tenor for sometime now and I have to thank Tim Sweeney for making it easy to buy his unused tenor.

Tonight I get to play uke at the Rusty Snail in Peterborough ON with Washboard Hank. We'll be playing murder ballads and other spooky songs. It should be a real blast.

Got Ukulele?

2007-10-12T11:43:00.001-07:00

The 2nd annual Ukulele Ceilidh is on Oct 25th - 28th in Liverpool, NS.

The 2nd New York Uke Fest is on April 3rd - 6th.

What do these two have in common? Manitoba Hal that's what. Yup I'll be heading to New York in April to play at the New York Uke Fest along side the best ukulele players in the world. I can't wait! It's been along time since I was in the big apple. The last time was in 2001 at the Ukulele Hall of Fame Expo 2001. I remember being a little nervous about travelling in the city by myself. Foolish I know but I'd never been anywhere soooooo big in my life before. This time will be better I know.

2nd Ukulele Ceilidh in Liverpool NS

2007-09-28T09:48:00.000-07:00

I'm getting excited about heading east again to the lovely southern shores of Nova Scotia to play at the 2nd Ukulele Ceilidh. This event features some of the best ukulele players in the US, Canada and the UK! And everyone of them is convering on Liverpool for an unforgetable weekend of ukulele obsessed joy.

This time around I'm giving two workshops. Blues Basics for Ukulele and Canadian BBQ Secrets - How to cook on your ukulele. It should be fun. Plus I'm hosting a jam night at the Mersey Pub for any and all ukulele players to come out and strum the night away with some good beer. Should be great.

Ukulele Club of Winnipeg

2007-09-28T09:41:00.000-07:00

The Ukulele Club of Winnipeg meets next week on Oct 2nd at Casa Grande. Home of the best pizza known to mankind. I'm really looking forward to this meeting! We get together and play some tunes, eat some pizza, drink some beer (or spirits) and generally have a great time. Beginner's are welcome and encouraged to join us as are more experienced players. Contact Scott Sauder if you would like to added to the uke club mailing list.