Dave's Recordings

December 2022
Mazie Stitt Slideshow
Remembering my mom, Mazie Adamson Stitt, who passed away at age 92 on December 31, 2022. Music is my simplisitic 'Doodling Around in Six Keys' piano composition played by a software synth, followed by a few GarageBand loops, then me singing and playing John Prine's 'I Remember Everything'.

September 2022
The Ballad of Lucy Jordan
A slightly dreary version of a slightly nutty Shel Silverstein song made famous by Marianne Faithful. Nylon string guitar, with my earnest attempt at vocals.

July 2022
Fields of Athenry
Acoustic guitar and vocals. First time I tried playing, singing standing up using a guitar strap instead of sitting down. Nylon string free-style finger-picking and strumming.
Bella Ciao
Clueless electric guitar w/ vocals and synthesized percussion, strings and backup vocals. Sounds a bit like a drunk wandering down an echoey hallway, but it was good fun playing around with this stuff.

January 2022
Cole Porter's Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye
Video of a capella singing to a home-made MIDI backing track. Made during my brief post-post-midlife crisis dramatic blonde anarchist moment. Starts out shaky; gets a little better. The backing track is weird and muddy, but I had fun making it.
Nine to Five backing track
Experimental attempt derived from Dolly's version using the SoundLab AI "voice separation" function. Muddy, a bit of voice still in it. Not a successful attempt, but was fun to try it.
Doodling Around in Six Keys
A MuseScore composition played via Grand Piano synth. It's a bit like when I got my very first Macintosh (around 1985?) and just had to try using every possible font in one document.

April 2022
King Phillip's Spirit Rises
An early version of an original poem. The soundtrack is a composition that uses a Coast Salish tune called "Snake Song". It was sung by tribal elder Jonas Schwan in about 1925, recorded and transcribed by my great-aunt, the early folklorist and ethnomusicologist, Thelma Adamson and fellow anthropologist George Herzog. The tune was published in 1934 in her collection of "Folktales of the Coast Salish", which was re-issued in 2009 and is available on Amazon. I adopted parts of that score using Lilypad/Frescobaldi to create a MIDI file. The pan flute is a synth instrument from an Abelton collection. I am playing the seed rattles (a type of leather gourd I think, on sticks), which are now probably about 100 years old. They were a gift to Thelma from her hosts when she lived with Coast Salish folks (in the Pacific Northwest) for the better part of a couple of years in the 1920's. They were passed on to me from my mother, who was Thelma's niece.

December 2021
Wm. Leavitt, Etude No.2, first_part
Classical guitar exercise practice.

October 2021
Will the Circle Be Unbroken
Take 3; video, nylon-string guitar finger-picking, voice. Featuring my dirty-blonde look in a slow, mournful take on what is, after all, a mournful song.
St. James Infirmary
A practice take of a song I performed at a local music school beginners' recital. Video. Simple nylon-string guitar finger-picking. Vocals include both story-telling (probably too much of that... kind of gets in the way of the song) and singing. Check out my vintage Oat Willie t-shirt and the dramatic black stage background. Very Halloweeny!

September 2021
1st take of backing track for Amazing Grace
Experimenting with synth software. Drum track and guitar. What was I thinking? Who knows. Kind of a mess, but it was fun to do.
2nd take of backing track for Amazing Grace
More experimenting. Drum track and guitar again. Sounds nicer, but still a mess. And I have a hard time hearing how this relates to the song. LOL.

August 2021
Wagon Wheel
Painfully slow, but hey it was well-intentioned! Nylon guitar with picking. Vocals. A little bit of Abelton mixing kept it from being a complete disaster.
Will the Circle Be Unbroken
Take Two. Tried recording multiple guitar tracks. Vocals and picking. Pretty lame. Some Abelton mixing couldn't really rescue this one. But it has a sort of "raw, authentic" feel to it, dontcha think?
Saskan Theme
An attempt at coming up with a theme for my one-day to-be blockbuster sci-fi epic. MIDI-copied guitar tracks re-mixed with sound effects. Abelton mixing. Though the composition is not exactly world-class, this was really fun to put together.

June 2021
Put Your Hand in the Hand
Vocals only. Mixed using Abelton Live. That old-time religion!
First improvisation in C
Six minutes of freestyle instrumental études in C. Amped-up classical guitar. Mixed on Abelton. Don't ask me. I don't remember what I was thinking or where this came from. Kinda goes on and on, doesn't it?
Variations on La Cucaracha
Nylong-string guitar through a Fender amp. Made an effort at the end, if not entirely achieved, to pick up the tempo... By the way "PQ" is my alter-ego in the gaming world and some other online venues.
Red River Valley
Pretty much a mess even after being speeded up x2 using Abelton Live. Amped-up nylon guitar.
I've Laid My Burdens Down
Video, vocals, amped nylon guitar. Just kayaking along, singing mah song. A fun Friday production. Stay for the credits. That may be the best part.
Will the Circle Be Unbroken
First take. Simple nylon guitar free-picking and vocals mixed on Abelton and then using a Dolby Mastering Mix on SoundCloud. I think this is the best version. Maybe sounds the most genuine as compared to later takes.
Let It Be
Vocals only wtih some Abelton mixing. Not Michael Bublé, but I tried. :-) At least managed to stay on pitch. Mostly.

May 2021
Glendale Train
Finger-picky guitar with a Fender amp. Slow and echoey in a fun kind of way. Gets a little better as it goes along. I think. Singing is more or less on-key, with perhaps a bit too much allowance for the vestiges of a sourthern twang.
House of the Rising Sun
Slow, mournful version on a classical guitar using a pick, lots of Fender amp reverb and some goofy Garage Band synths. Wacky "stoned" vocals. Kinda like "Kurt Cobain" sings "House of the Rising Sun" on a bad day. LOL. Goes on and on...
Fields of Athenry
A capella, using a Fender amp with a little reverb and a metronome. A little slow, but not too bad.
Bella Ciao
Vocals only. In English. Pretty good, for me. Maybe someday I'll mix in some percussion or something on top of this one.
Let It Be
Vocals only with some Garage Band synthesizing. Yikes! OK, not THAT terrible. But let's say it... needs work.
Bella Ciao
Video. Finger-picky classical guitar with singing. I like this one, despite a few glitches. :-)
House of the Rising Sun
Video. Finger-picky classical guitar with singing. Definitely not ready for prime time. :-(
Stand By Me
Composed a MIDI score and added a little bit of actual keyboard. Garage Band synths, edits, loops. This was fun and comes across pretty good, except for where it just suddendly ends. LOL.

April 2021
House of the Rising Sun
Loopy "psychedelic" instrumental version. Classical guitar thru Garage Band amp, edits, MIDI, loops, kitchen sink... Sometimes it's hard to be believe I've been stone-cold sober for 20 years. This is still one of my favorite experimental productions.
Big Boss Man
Finger-picking guitar, with vocals. Feels kinda natural since I'd barely praticed at all, just had fun playing around.
Fields of Atherny
Video. Finger-picky guitar and vocals. First take on this song and umm.... clearly needs work. But hey, what do you want, it's free entertainment!

February 2021
Betty and Dupree
Finger-picked guitar instrumental through a Garage Band synth. Revel in that laid-back feeling as you kick back on the back porch with Ol' Slow Hand Dave... :-)
I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man
In an a capella performance that may stop you in your tracks, Ol' Slow Hand Dave channels a New Orleans Blues spirit with a little help from a Garage Band synth and some auto-tune. Oh yeah!
Betty and Dupree
Not as successful, I think, as the previous incarnations of Ol' Slow Hand Dave, this attempt at singing and picking while using a Guitar Band synth, edits, and auto-tune just earns a 'Meh'.

January 2021
Wagon Wheel
Oh! It's that song that everybody knows. You know the one! Rock me Mama! Heh. Not entirely awful, really, for one of this old guy's first attempts at picking and singing. Even managed to come up with a half-decent instrumental break. :-)

December 2020
Midnight Special
My debut! I think this is the first song everybody is required to learn, isn't it?