I will donate 1/2 the SBD payout of this song to @openmic.  

Check out @meno's post <a href="https://steemit.com/openmic/@meno/operation-we-are-the-open-mic">"We are the open mic"</a> to learn more about the #ilovetheopenmic hashtag.  Open Mic has recently lost some funding and has had to cut back prize payouts.  This contest deserves community support!  It is one of the best things on Steem blockchain bar none!  

You can make your own post in support of Open Mic under this hashtag and either set @openmic as a beneficiary to the post (described in @meno's post linked above), or, and this is what I recommend, just pledge 50% of the SBD payout on the post to @openmic.  Beneficiary rewards are paid out in SP and come off the total post payout *before* the author reward is split into SP and SBD, so beneficiary rewards actually reduce the total payout value of the post (SBD is worth considerably more than $1 right now so shrinking the portion of the post that gets split into half SBD is not a good idea). 

It has been a while since I last recorded an open mic, so I thought I would just write a quick love song to Open Mic as my show of support :) 

<h2>We Are Open Mic</h2>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCqHH2gCz04

This was basically improvised over a loose structure, I had done a few takes earlier so I had worked out some lyrical themes but didn't have the lyrics nailed down or anything.  I still took the time to write out the particular lyrics I sang on this take, just for you ;)

<h2><i>We Are Open Mic</i> - lyrics</h2>


[Open Mic, Open Mic, Open Mic, Open Mic] x2 (bass rhythm vocal)
[doo doo, doo doo, doo doo, doo] x2 (first and second tenor harmony doo wop parts)

Open Mic I hope you stick around,
I would be so heartbroken if you left me on my own

Open Mic I hope you stick around,
Steemit would be so boring without your lovely sounds

Open Mic you give me just what I need
Steemit would be so lacking without you in my feed

Open Mic don't leave me on my own
I would be so heartbroken if you left me on my own

[We are open mic, we are open mic]x2 (1st and 2nd tenor CHORUS)

[whistle]

Open Mic don't leave me all on my own
I would be so heartbroken if you left me all alone

Open Mic I hope you stick around,
Steemit would be so boring without your lovely sounds

Open Mic you give me just what I need
Steemit would be so lacking without you in my feed


<h4>Cheers to Open Mic!</h4>

<h2>Behind the Scenes</h2>

I tried out a new way of recording myself doing a loop performance and I am happy with the results.  I took a snapshot of the recording setup:

![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmRFhax7P5YvH88jdNRBhbfT6S3Sy3KQSLQBXmjQun4S32/image.png)

I ran a line out from my electro-harmonix looper to one of my monitors, which I angled up to fill the room behind me with sound.  I had an overhead condensor mic to pick up my lead vocals and of course it picked up some of the monitor in the room (yes @markangeltrueman that is the Markrophone in action :)

To actually record the audio I ran a line out from the looper to my Behringer U-phoria computer audio interface, which was also supplying the phantom power for the condensor mic, and ran those two tracks (line out from looper, and the overhead condensor microphone) to my computer to record the audio using Audicity software.  

I panned the looper line out 20% to the left and panned the overhead condensor mic 20% to the right and I think it gives a nice full sound.  I will be using this same setup in the future for looping recording so I wanted to document the process here for future reference :)

Much love - Carl