Silent Night (Instrumental)
Silent Night (Time: 3:09)

On Christmas Eve 1818, a brand-new carol was played at midnight mass at St. Nicholas Village Church in Oberndorf, Austria. It was performed by a choir and backed by a young guitarist Father Joseph Mohr, who had written lyrics for the music. Earlier that day Mohr had taken the piece to the home of a local music teacher-Franz Gruber to have it set to music. Gruber did so, and that evening served as choirmaster for the unveiling of “Stille Nacht”.

Later on in 1859, Episcopal priest John Freeman Young at Trinity Church in New York City published the English translation and slowed down the melody, a version which is common today.

My Approach to Recording Silent Night

Following the Freeman tempo model, for me Silent Night sounds best when it is at a slower tempo. The guitar does the lion’s share of work, and since it was played up-neck it was important not to cross lanes with banjo. To accommodate I used a KM184 on the neck near the joint to pick up a bit of lower register and used EQ during the recording to separate the two instruments.

From Album: An Acoustic Country Christmas, 2014

Composition: Franz Gruber, Joseph Mohr

Performance: Instrumental Version by Paul Ryan

Website: https://www.Ryantunes.com

Song Photo: Album Cover, Sheila Ryan

Recorded at Ryantunes Studios Scarborough Ontario, Canada. Mixed at Steve Sherman Productions, Toronto. Mastered at Minus 3 Audio, Toronto.

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Proprietary: Copyright Paul Ryan, 2014. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction, copying or use of this recording are prohibited by law, and subject to criminal prosecution.

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