Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
At The Back => Time Out => Topic started by: _tom_ on May 12, 2009, 08:22:14 PM
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For a radio project at uni we've needed to record some "live lounge" covers. Got the singer from my old band to come up and the other guitarist to play whilst I helped set up the mics, record it and process it. Its been my first time "properly" recording and mixing a song so any advice would be great. I think they sound allright, the fact that he's a really good singer helps a lot :) The mp3 compression seems to have added a few unwanted artefacts and muddiness but hopefully its not too bad..
http://hc.bloodyvelvet.com/files/254/Sex%20On%20Fire.mp3
http://hc.bloodyvelvet.com/files/254/Maybe%20Tomorrow.mp3
If anyone cares, the mics were a Rode NT-1A for vocals and AKG C1000S for guitar. We wanted to get C414s but they were all out yesterday/today. Recorded through a Digidesign 002/Pro Tools, using stock pro tools eq, compression and reverb plugins.
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He is a good singer indeed.
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The vocals sound good :) The guitar could do with a little more high end- it sounds like it was aimed towards the soundhole/bridge? Maybe try moving it slightly further up the neck- you'll get a bit less pick attack too. Overall it sounds pretty good though- the biggest difference you can make is to use other plugins for the compression and reverb- the protools compressor especially is quite harsh, if you can use another compressor, you'll get even better results :)
Good job though, keep the recordings coming!
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I think the mic was pointed towards the soundhole but was positioned around the 12th fret. We were going to dual mic it but thought it would be best to keep things simple.
I dont think we can use external plugins with pro tools as we only use the program on the uni computers which have restricted access obviously because of viruses etc.. I would never buy it for home use, I much prefer Reaper :P
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Yup cool sounds - is it not better to use a combination of piezo pickup and mic for acoustic recordings ?
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I dunno to be honest. We were going to try that but I dont think the 002 has a hi-z input (if thats even the right thing to use from a piezo pickup) so didnt bother.
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Personally I hate the sound of piezo with mike - I know its the professional way these days but listen to some of the acoustic greats who have been around for a bit like John Renbourn or Bert Jansch and you can tell when piezo's were added to their guitars because they lost the natural sound and became all pingy sounding. Another example was the late great Eric Roche's Guitar Techniques lessons - great playing, but terrible sterile sound cause by the piezo. Its like using a modeller for electric - handy, but ultimately unsatisfying.
Nice playing Tom - If I had one criticism its a bit too boomy in the recording, but that's a matter of experimentation with the mic. Keep on going.
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I like it, very nice cover. Vocals are pretty good too.
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very nice!
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Like both, but I think the second you played more fluid :)
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I like the guys voice. I think recording is a very difficult art and I couldn't pretend to make suggestions and can only give you my opinion of what it sounds like. I think it was a bit middly for my tastes and a bit of zing could improve it. Bloody hard to get a great acoustic tone though so great job. I have a mate who owns a studio and I seem to recall that he sticks a mic pointing at the neck/body joint fairly close and another about a foot away pointing at the sound hole and gets a nice tone. Another thing he has had me play a second track using a capo and mixing that in.