I listened to the raw sound files again, and it sounded better than I had remembered. I also noticed that my bowing wasn't quite as staccato as I remembered, but that there was a different problem that was exacerbating this impression. In my reels and jigs, I've been playing my quarter notes as an eighth note followed by an eighth note rest, rather than drawing it out the full length. Philippe has definitely commented on this, and now I really understand what he means. This is an easier fix than smoothing out my bowing more generally, and I can implement it immediately.

Anders and I talked on Friday night about the mix. He took the raw files, put them through some EQ, reduced the severity of the pan (the raw files had guitar all in the left channel, fiddle in all in the right), simulated an acoustic space, and burned those tracks to CD, and he says they sound fantastic. He's going in to tweak some little flubs on my part, and I think we'll get a demo tape out of this. I'm really looking forward to hearing it. Next time, we want to record the rest of our sets, and those we don't like from the first recording, and we'll have first cuts of all our music.

To this end, I purchased condenser microphones identical to those Anders brought and a slightly more useful mixer (more analog features, no digital effects), so he won't have to travel with the equipment anymore. And Anders pointed out that my mixer could, when the band is doing a gig, serve as my personal sub-mixer. But this setup will me to record my practice sessions more often, with greater fidelity, so I can listen to them at work. I guess I need to get in the habit of burning CD-RWs for this.

On the topic of our remaining sets, I finished the fiddle harmony for the 2nd time through Nine Pint Coggie, wherein the guitar will take the melody line. The B-part is a mix of harmony and taking an octave below the melody, and the A-part is a counterpoint that contains a bit of a musical joke: the notes of the counterpoint, when put to a different rhythm, are those of the Dies Irae - a favorite musical in-joke among classical composers. And it sounds like it works pretty well. I'm now working on the harmony/counter-melody for My Only Jo and Dearie. I'll also start working up variations for me, and I'll give some thought to what harmonies I might play in lieu of the melody line if we ever get a flautist or mandolin/cittern player.

I started filling out my registrations for various Highland Games contests this year, stymied by the fact that I ran out of checks. It's going to be a busy summer.