Re: [Harp-L] Out of tune with the guitarist...

[Ken Deifik <kenneth.d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> 20+ cents out of tune with me...

I was once flown to Phoenix to add some harp to a track by the Goose Creek 
Symphony.  The piano in the otherwise excellent studio was in tune but 
sharp, and the band had naturally turned to it when they cut the original 
track.

The harp sounded horrible.

Luckily, this was 1986, and they were using an analog tape machine, and 
they had a variable frequency oscillator.  I suggested that they hook it up 
and slow the tape to where the band was in tune with me, after which they 
could do what they wanted with it all.

Sounded pretty easy, but we never ever nailed a fully in-tune track. Maybe 
now they'd just use autotune, but that really sounds like a lousy idea.

I recently got to hear the track after all these years, a version of My Old 
Kentucky Home, which was sung and played beautifully.  I've asked other 
people if they hear anything funny about the harp, and they claim to 
not.  I hear it, so I presume they are being nice to me, which is luckily 
the normal state of things.