Another good time at South Coast. My voice was good, the sound was good, the Harmony box worked (pretty) good, and a good "crowd", of, mainly, two. I always pass out song lists before we start, to (a) give fair warning of what we're about to perpetrate, and (b) help people call out songs that we actually do know, as opposed to random stuff we don't.
This time, two older ladies actually took it to heart just the way I've always intended it -- they started right away commenting and cooing over this and that song on the list, and almost immediately moved to a closer table to listen better! They stayed tuned in, asking for songs and generally appreciating the music, and even moving even closer when a pair of comfy chairs opened up, and hanging out way past their expected "goin' home" time.
Of course, I wanted to try out the Harmony box, here where I can actually hear what it's doing, and was quite happy with it. I didn't mess with the "room" effects at all (though I should have), 'cuz the initial settings sounded pretty good just as they were. I proceeded sparingly with the harmonies, but nobody cried "foul" when I started using them, though one music-loving gent immediately sussed out what was going on, and how.
At one point, the ladies were whispering to each other and eyeing me suspiciously, and I thought that surely they were starting to wonder about where the "other singer" was coming from. (That, or my zipper was down...) I asked them directly if they had a question, but they were wondering if my guitar played without being plugged in (Huh?). I said that, sure, it works fine, and they seemed satisfied once they'd decided that it was "a six-string, then" (Double Huh?). They never mentioned the vocals, which possibly/hopefully confirms my theory that most people will just hear the harmony as "sweetener", not as some mysterious "other person".
As the night went on, I got bolder about employing the harmonies, and played songs where it was more and more integral/blatant. And despite his initial reservations, Warren didn't seem thrown or distressed by it. (An incidental big upside for him is that he gets to move to the more powerful amp channel, so he gets more headroom to get louder, or "cleaner".)
Towards the end, a nice lady who's seen us there several times before came by, and after a few songs, she asked "What's that reverb? It almost sounds like a harmony." Exactly!
I set up the movie cam and got some decent takes of the box in action. The "poster child" is the Everly Brothers' "Dream", and Crosby, Stills and Nash's "Teach Your Children" shows off the 3-part harmony really well. Check out any or all of:
Dream
Teach Your Children
The Boxer
Sweet Baby James
Southern Cross
Cinnamon Girl
"Sweet Baby James" is an example of judicious use of the harmonies, where they only come in occasionally (requiring me to kick the button accurately -- so far, not so easy). On the other hand, "Cinnamon Girl" is kind of botched up (I mixed up which part goes where, and undoubtedly confused Warren in the process), but it's still a good example of the harmony working well. It's also an example of the danger -- I'm liable to make all manner of other mistakes while I'm trying to work the box. Although in this case, it's no excuse, since it's an "On at the beginning, off at the end" song. I guess I can screw up a song without any help, after all...
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