30 Jul 2012

Singing “Twist and Shout” at Mises U 2012

Shameless Self-Promotion, Tom Woods 12 Comments

Here it is. I gave this disclaimer on Facebook: I swear these smart phones are out to get me. I think it sounded much better live. My bit of independent evidence (since Tom Woods et al. would just be nice to me) is that some random Auburn U girl comes up afterwards and says, “You’ve been singing your whole life, haven’t you?” I’m not sure what she meant by that, but presumably it was a good thing.

As always, thanks to Fly By Radio for letting me pretend I’m more than an economist once a year.

12 Responses to “Singing “Twist and Shout” at Mises U 2012”

  1. Maurizio says:

    I can’t believe I am saying this, but you have potential.

    • Bob Murphy says:

      Why can’t you believe it, Maurizio?

      • Maurizio says:

        Nothing, I thought you were just kidding but I realized you are singing for real.

        But now I suggest to move on to something more challenging, say Bohemian Rhapsody or something like that.

        • Joseph Fetz says:

          Hey Bob, just in case you didn’t know, I can essentially record the drums, guitar, bass, backing vocals, and keys (including synths and samples) to any song you want. Unfortunately, I am not the fastest at recording it all because of life and the fact that I have to do it all myself, but it can be done.

          Just a thought.

          Though, you’ll have to wait until I finish something that I’m working on with Gene.

  2. Jorge Borlandelli says:

    Have you seen Krugman singing Up Up and Away?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5akEgsZSfhg

    • Bob Murphy says:

      Aww, Jorge I thought he really was going to be singing it. What a tease you are.

  3. P.S. Huff says:

    By economist standards, that was epic. You should challenge Paul Krugman to a singing contest (and Tom Woods should challenge him to a chess match).

  4. Joseph Fetz says:

    Bob, as an audiophile, amateur recording engineer, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist; I must make you aware that different sized microphones, as well as their type and positioning/configuration, can have drastic effects upon what is heard in the final recording. Smaller mic diaphragms will reproduce frequencies far differently than larger diaphragms. Also, smaller diaphragms distort and drop frequencies when they are subjected to large sound pressure levels (they also sometimes introduce foreign frequencies under such circumstances, as well). Further, the dynamic-type mic used to make the field recording of this performance is not nearly as accurate as condenser mic. Normally, distant-micing such as this is done with a stereo pair of both large and small condenser mics, and then mixed to taste.

    Don’t take any criticism on this harshly, because the recording medium that was used did not reproduce the performance accurately (and it is incapable of doing so). It’s a shame that you didn’t make your way to the sound booth at that venue, because almost all sound guys record each input of the show they mix. You probably could have gotten the original mix from the board, in which case it could be presented as a close approximation of what you really sounded like that night (though, the actual sound of the loudspeakers for the PA system and the reflections/sound of the room that the performance took place in would not be captured). Some sound guys even have what they call a “live pair” of stereo-configured mics to capture the sound of the room (for their recordings).

    In any case, I thought you rocked that song, dude. You weren’t out of key, you didn’t get lost in the changes (which can happen easily to a person who is not used to playing with an actual live band), you were entertaining, and you didn’t muck up any of the lyrics. Knowing the amount of coloration that a cellphone mic will add to (and subtract from) the performance, I can say with confidence that you did a pretty darned good job for an economist from Nashville. You certainly opened up and got into it. In the end, music is about expressing emotion to your audience in hopes that they’ll feel it too. Well, you succeeded.

    As long as you stay away from any country tunes I’ll keep listening.

    • Bob Murphy says:

      Thanks Joe. Yeah, my dad (who was not a fan of my Neil Diamond performance last year) said this time I was mostly on key, too. So I got that going for me, which is nice.

      • Joseph Fetz says:

        I’ve often said of my own singing voice that I can always hit the note, but I won’t guarantee that it will sound good. On this particular song, you sounded better than me.

  5. Indulgence V4 says:

    Sound great for that!

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