How I Recorded the Effected Chromatic Harps for My Instrumental Love Song “Deeper”

I released my first recorded version of “Deeper” in 2002-3, when I had just started a series of monthly releases of free original pieces for harmonica. The recording of this song that I made for my record “The Lucky One” represents the first time that this piece was played by a live band, and it’s clear to me that the emotional level is a lot higher when real people are playing the music, together. (Duh.)

This piece is dedicated to my wife of 41 years, Patty. The meaning of the song is that love gets deeper over time. (Or not, in which case I guess it wouldn’t last 41 years. Or it would, and that would be bad. But anyway.) Given that meaning, the obvious thing to do in the arrangement for this piece, whose overall form is repeated twice, was to make the second half literally deeper than the first, and I did that by adding two low pitch-shifted harmonicas to the arrangement.

But I get ahead of myself. Let’s talk about the song and the band first. You can hear the complete recording of “Deeper” from my record “The Lucky One” by using the double right arrow on the player below to navigate to the seventh song on the record, at which point you can listen to “Deeper” in its entirety.

Recording Deeper

The Lucky One Band–Mike Brenner on lap steel, Mark Schreiber on drums, and John Cunningham on bass–recorded the rhythm section for “Deeper” in a complete take in the studio, and there are no overdubs or edits for any of their parts on the record. The performance is stripped down and quietly grooving, with plenty of Mike’s trademark lap steel sounds, like the thick, quivering single notes that fill an entire room with emotion.

Seydel Chromatic Deluxe–it’s all over Deeper

I played a Seydel Deluxe chromatic harmonica on that take. I leaned on that Seydel a lot for this record, mainly because its action was smooth and predictable compared to my Hohner CX12, which I used only on “Orphan Black” for its heavier tone. The chromatic was played into an Audix Fireball V mic running into a Digitech RP500, which was configured with a patch that included a Tweed Deluxe amp model and a flanger. As per all the rest of this record, the RP500’s XLR audio outputs went direct to the board.

I discussed with the band the possibility of recording the track with the flanger dis-engaged–on the thought that maybe I might want to try a different sound later–and they generally agreed that it was a better idea to go with the effect. So I did. With or without the flanger, I would definitely have used a patch based on a Tweed Deluxe amp model, one of my favorite Digitech RP amps when I need something to make a smooth, solid platform for an effect. That Tweed Deluxe sounds good with every modulation effect Digitech offers in the RP500, be it pitch or wobbles.

The setup at my feet in the studio when I recorded the melody for “Deeper”

I did not write “Deeper” as a platform for improvisation, and in the studio I stayed very close to the melody for the piece. On the second half I moved the melody up a third, keeping in mind that I’d be adding low harmonized parts in overdubbing.

Overdubbing the “Deeper” Harmonicas

In my home studio, I overdubbed two pitch-shifted harmonica tracks on the second half of the song, using the same Seydel Deluxe chromatic, Audix Fireball V, and Digitech RP500, which connected in this case to my recording software (SONAR X3) via USB. This recording method and chain never fails to produce great-sounding harp tracks (as this record amply demonstrates, of course). The first track FX chain included the RP500 running a patch based on a Fender Twin Reverb amp model paired with a chorus effect, with a Digitech iStomp running the Swing Shift pitch shifter set to an octave down added to the front of the chain. That gave me a warm, clean, low, wide sound for playing the original melody alongside the now-harmonized flanged harp sound. To that I added a third track recorded with the RP500 running the same octave-down-wahwah patch I used to record the sax-ish motif that opens “The Road Out of Here.” On that song I worked that pedal pretty hard; on this one I used long, slow movements of the wahwah pedal to make the sound evolve slowly (and, I thought poignantly) through the long notes that make up the melody.

The end result is a deep, evolving sound filled with yearning and quiet beauty. The individual components of this sound may have appeared on other records–I was using flangers on harmonicas on my records in the 1980s–but the ensemble sound is absolutely new.

Performing Deeper Live: 2 harps will do it

“Deeper” is a simple piece, and you can do plenty of justice to my arrangement with two harmonica players: one to play the flanger lead part, and the other to play one of the two pitch-shifted parts to fill out the low end. (I’d recommend the one with the wah wah.) The sound of the chromatic harmonica is critical to my arrangement, and I’d certainly recommend that both players use chromatics. The one I played was in the key of C, but there’s no reason why a chromatic in a different key couldn’t be used if the player was willing to make the necessary transpositions.

Enjoy playing “Deeper.” I do.