Barbra Streisand – The Way We Were (A. Bergman, M. Bergman, M. Hamlisch) ~ Erwin Lazaro 109

Okay.  I’m finally making the transition to my new equipment.  I was having a difficult time trying to figure out how to record in this HD – Dolby Digital world.  I’m so used to my seven-year-old equipment.  I kept thinking in terms of the past.  I’m also very comfortable using a microphone for several reasons, I didn’t think about using my natural voice.  Then, a few kind people have commented on my videos and reminded me that I need to use my own voice without effects on the microphone.  Up to this point in time, I’ve been using effects through my microphone only because I felt the quality of the sound while using my SHURE SM58 and the microphone from my old camcorder gave my videos a nostalgic character to the production.  I really enjoyed that particular sound from my simple equipment, especially with the pop standards.  Many people have liked it, as well.  But, a few people have voiced their strong opinions that I’m masking my voice.  I definitely appreciate that opinion and it has bothered me in some ways that I’ve had to adapt my voice for these YouTube videos.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been experimenting with my new camcorder which records in high definition.  And, more importantly, it records in Dolby Digital sound.  The built-in microphone also seems to have a function like a limiter and automatically adjusts the volume of the sound depending on the source.  My preliminary efforts have led to frustration as I tried to use my SHURE SM58 and my house speakers in coordination with this new camcorder.  I know.  This is all dry stuff.  I’ll sum it up by saying that I was trying to use my old techniques with my new video camera.  It didn’t work at all.  The sound was A W F U L.

As previously mentioned, some people have commented about my masked voice.  The light bulb finally lit up and I was inspired to sing without any equipment.  Currently, I'm entirely relying on the built-in microphone on the new camera.  With the added convenience that the new media devices are basically recognized as storage devices when transferring data onto PC’s with Windows 7 OS, it’s so easy to take the SD card and transfer media instantly.  No more wires.  No more software installations.  Windows 7 automatically seeks the appropriate drivers and performs the installation without prompting.  I was so totally living in ancient times, but I’m slowly learning.

I have a list of songs that I’ve been wanting to video tape for YouTube, but I haven’t recorded in months.  On this day of inspiration, I experimented with one song and recorded just by standing next to the camera.  It sounded really good!  Eleven songs later, I went through a variety of musical genres on my list in order to get a feel for the sound capture for different styles of music.  I was shocked.  I recorded all but one of these eleven songs in one take each.  I just kept going and going.  I felt good.  I went with the flow.  It was flowin’ nicely! ;)

As a result, I decided to post my cover of Barbra Streisand’s “The Way We Were” as my first video with the new video camera.  I’m still trying to figure out if I need to make adjustments.  But, for now, I like what I’ve discovered.  I’ll keep an open mind.  If anyone has any suggestions for me, I’d love to consider your opinions.  If anyone’s willing to share any ways to improve my video presentations, I’d love the constructive input.  “Thanks” in advance!

From Wikipedia:
"The Way We Were" is the title song to the 1973 movie The Way We Were, starring Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford. The song was written by Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman, scored by Marvin Hamlisch and performed by Streisand. It won the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Song and also made AFI's list of Top 100 Songs from Film; it was ranked number eight.

"The Way We Were" topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for one week in 1974 and was replaced by "Love's Theme" by the Love Unlimited Orchestra. It then returned to number one for two additional weeks. The song also spent two weeks atop the easy listening chart, Streisand's second single to reach the top of this chart (following 1964's "People"). The track peaked at #31 in the UK Singles Chart in 1974.

A bootleg of the recording sessions exists featuring Streisand with composer Marvin Hamlisch in a recording studio as they perform various takes of the song. One segment reveals Streisand changing the first word of the song from "Daydreams" to "Memories." Streisand's version was listed at #90 on Billboard's Greatest Songs of All Time.