The Steel Guitar Forum

Al,
Thanks for the nice comments.
As far as the studio goes, I've trimmed down a lot....sold off some guitars, Fender Rhodes and my Hammond B3. The studio only does selected jobs now and then. I now have a very nice hobby studio and spend a lot of time doing the things I did not get the time for previously. Like doing steel albums....Hahaha.
I still have my 48 channel recording desk and various professional outboard effects gear. These are all routed to my studio PC using Sonar Studio Producer software for laying tracks, and mixdown. Most of the instruments are live, except the drums which are live samples which I programme into a track... To get the sound I like to hear, I have to play all the instruments myself.....I enjoy doing that, though.
Regards,
Nic

Nic-Mighty Impressive! All the right equipment, knowledge and you are doing it all very well...al.

Charles has posted my new song for May...its the classic made famous by the great Charlie Rich Behind Closed Doors, ya'll take a listen. Ya know, I just now thought of somethin...if I had Johnny's Cash and Charlie's Pride, I'd be Charlie Rich lol.

Nice work Nic. I too prefer to play all the recorded instruments and program the drum samples. I use the Steinberg Nuendo3 platform. Please check out my new song posting and feel free to make suggestions.

Hi Ray,
Thanks!
Nice playing on Blue Bayou.....quite a few nice ideas there!
Keep up the good work.....Any more where that came from?
Regards,

I just went back over some recordings on Tilley's site. That were done a year or two ago.

Larry Toliver's "Danke a Shoen" on C6. Dated 3-15-07. Very crisp nice picking, with a lot of energy. I used to like that song that Wayne Newton made famous back in the 60's.

Howard Tate's" Beyond the Sunset". Dated 2-23-08. He plays with such feeling on that old classic on E9th. Another song that I used to play and liked.

Lee Tam"s "Red Sails in the Sunset" Dated 5-15-08.We have all played that one over the years. Lee does it on a Lap steel, no pedals, sounds very good nice chords , etc. He makes you think of Hawaii.

There is so many nice recordings on Tilley's Website to hear. I wish I had time to hear them all, but I will try.....al.

Thanks Tilley for posting my latest song "Bar Hoppin'"to your wonderful site....
Thanks again,

Gary

Great job Gary Stenulson on Bar Hoppin, a great West Coast sound on that tune, and Al Marcus you sounded terrific on your song with all those fine sounding chords on a classic song, I listened to David Stewart doing Moon Of Manakoora and that is a beautiful south sea version that reminded me of the first time I heard it in a classic John Wayne movie. Excellent job Ray Leroux on Blue Bayou, you have great tone and fantastic stereo sound on that one. My friend Susan Trujillo is becoming a fantastic sounding steel guitarist with her version of May The Good Lord Bless And Keep You, give a listen to that one. Charles Tilley's website is like a world wide steel guitar conventon, everyone sounds great.

Thanks John for your compliment on my "Bar Hoppin'" tune...Glad you enjoyed it...Also you did a great job on "Behind closed Doors" . Have a great day...And Al Marcus on his rendition of "All The Girls He's Loved"..Yes, Tilley does have a awesome site...

My new song for May has now been posted by Charles Tilley.
I thought to try this Willie Nelson and Julio Iglasio song. It was a big hit in country and pop, a good crossover one. I just had a chance to listen to Jerry Eilander,Nic Du Toit,Vernon Hester,John McGlothlin, all fine recordings, with good sound. A big thank you to Charles Tilley for setting up this website for our songs to be heard. One of the fine features of the Steel Guitar Forum....al.:)

Ijust got a chance to download some new songs for May.
Gary Stenulson's "Bar Hoppin", 5-8-09, Good picking.
David Stuart's "Moon of Monakoora", 5-8-09 Nice Hawaiian sound.
Ray Leroux's "blue Bayou", 5-6-09, very nice.
Mike Headrick's I dont need no Doctor",5-13-09, Good pickin.
Chuck Christensen's "Surely the Presence of the Lord"
5-11-09 Nice tone and feeling on that non Pedal guitar.
Thanks again to Tilley for this great site...al.

Al, Thanks for listening and the reply. I'm getting more used to this lap steel since the stroke. Tilley's site is great, like you said. You can steal more with your ears!! than you can with your hands, people say. Chuck

Thanks for the kind words and taking the time to listen. Ray

Thanks to Charles Tilley for posting my version of this wonderful song.

Regards,

I listen to Nic's music a lot and finally figured out how to listen to his playing. Now I listen for the suttle notes and changes going from phrase to phrase and listen for the unexpected that I didn't hear before. Maybe it's my cardboard ears but I got him figured out now. Also, I must confess I am in love with his wife. I could listen to her singing all day.

I am certainly getting the latest CD

Nic-I liked your "Take me as I am or let me Go". Very fine E9. I especially liked that smooth Great sounding Key Change in the middle of the recording....al:)

Tilley, just put my new song on. "What'll I do". A song that Linda Rhondstadt had on one of her CD's.

I played the First Chorus with No effects, just my old 40 watt Crate amp and my Pro 1. On the Second chorus I used my PE-JR Organ/Phaser, and used the Phaser effect. As I learned from Reece years ago, I used 4 picks on this one. Which one do you like the sound of best, with the effect, or without.

I personally like the clean sounding one the best. I never cared to use any effects, except maybe a little Reverb. Again thanks to Charles Tilley for having this Website for us to hear each other on the Forum....al.

John-I just heard your song "Behind Closed Doors". 5-5-09, Sounded great...al.

Hey, Al,
hanks for your nice comments. Appreciated.
I've listened to your song "What'll I do'..Is that done on a U12? I prefer the second version.....the effect sounds great. The picks also make the melody notes more audible. Lovely playing...... I'll be listening for more of those.

Hi Billy,
How are you doing, man? Long time no hear. Didn't realize that somebody would take the time to try and figure out I think on the steel...... I'll have to watch it, now
Drop me a line....I would like to catch up.
Regards,

Hi Nic. You sound excellent on Take Me As I Am...very smooth playing, I wish I could get as clean and smooth a sound as you have. Al your song What'll I Do sounds fantastic with both versions, I love that chord work you do, it seems to enhance every part of the song...you are a great steel guitarist Al.

Thanks, John

Nic-Thanks for the nice comments, I appreciate it.I agree using the 4 picks does give more clarity to the melody. I usually tend to strum more and bury the melody in the chord.

I played that song on my Sho-Bud Pro 1 S10, but I added to 6 pedals and 5 knee levers. E6 tuning.My first two pedals are the A and B pedals of E9th tuning, but I didn't use them on this song. Two knee levers are whole tone drops. LL Drop the 3rd, RR Drop the 5th. Both together give me the subdominant A6. There is a lot of more uses for these two knee levers, that I wont go into right now.

John-Thanks lots for your comments and good words. I really appreciate it. The Steel Guitar is a great instrument and I am thankful at my age to be able to even remember how to play those old standards. BTW. How are you doing these days, OK?. I liked your playing on YouTube ...al.

Al,
Thanks for explaining a bit about your tuning. Great voicings you get with that setup....you really had me going about what tuning, etc., you were using.
Hope to hear some more, soon.
Regards,
Nic

Were doing fine here in the west Al...we put a few tomato plants out in the fromt yard and the weather here is already in the upper 80s. Next week will mark 2 years that I have lived in New Mexico after living all of my life back in Southwest Virginia. My friend Susan Trujillo is doing great with her steel guitar playing...it amazes me how she has acomplished so much and I am proud of her. She will be sending a new song in , in about 4 days. We hope your doing fine as well. God Bless.

Ray Leroux,
I really enjoyed listening to your new posting. I appreciate that you've put in a lot of hard work to get the recording sounding this great.The overall production is well done, and the steel sound is very good.
....You keep on turning 'em out, and keep us looking forward to the next one!
Regards,