Have been reading this thread with great interest.
Tried to record an acoustic backing track for the wife to sing Joni Mitchell's "Clouds" the other day and really struggled!
I suppose I've been spoiled with PODs and modelling software that make a nice electric sound easy to get.
By comparison, my acoustic sounded boomy and the string squeak was terrible!
I managed to get a better sound via mic placement and tried to negate the latter by actually releasing/refretting the troublesome chord changes, rather than sliding into them.
I also noticed that the act of recording made me take up a "death grip" on the neck, which I'm sure contributed to the squeaking. Easier said than done but trying to relax helped a bit.
Obviously my results are still very poor compared to the standards of the players here and my gear is cheap and cheerful but at least the sound was better than I was getting!
Just in the spirit of "I'll show you mine if you show me yours", here's a bit of the recording. There are two guitar tracks (one very quiet) and a bit of bouzouki over the top (sounds like a 12-string).
http://www.brendanashbrook.pwp.bluey....uk/clouds.mp3
It is the most shattering experience of a young man's life, when one morning he awakes, and quite reasonably says to himself: "I will never play the Dane"
Basher, I wish my Mrs could sing like Joni Mitchell!
You've definitely eliminated the boomy aspect there it sounds quite gentle, which is good going if you are using a dreadnought.
I've now managed to work out the complexities of Soundcloud and got an account. So here's a sample of my acoustic sound. There are 4 different bits recorded with the mic at the 12th fret and GB plug ins for EQ and Compression and a small amount of reverb. Number one is some gentle fingerstyle, 2 is open chords with a .60mm nylon pick. 3 mostly barre chords with a .88mm pick and 4 is some sloppy Gypsy Jazz using a 1.00 mm nylon pick.
No metronomes were hurt in the making of this recording.
I stepped back a touch for the open chords and lost a bit of bass. Anyway, let me know what you think of the sound and ways to improve it. Thanks.
http://soundcloud.com/martin747/acoustic-test
664 - The Neighbour of the Beast
In case people are curious here is a track of me playing acoustic and electric on a Joe Hansson song.
LINKY
Sorry but I don't have the isolated acoustic guitar tracks anymore but you can hear them in the context of the track.
They aren't a main feature of the song though- just some textural stuff so they are eq'ed to be less full than I would have a solo acoustic guitar (obviously).
All the guitars were recorded in my studio which was at that time in Q-Lab in Basel, Switzerland (around 2005).
The acoustics were recorded in the Q-Lab live room via a Neve console.
The electrics were a combination of live amps and Line 6 Amp Farm plugin.
IIRC correctly we used two mics, an AKG C12 was definitely one of them, don't remember the other one- maybe a Josephson C42.
A pair of Groove Tubes ViPre's were the preamps.
EQ was from the Neve console.
Compressor was a Summit DCL200.
Converters were Digidesign 192's.
The drums definitely hit 2" tape but everything else was direct to Logic or Protools.
Last edited by octatonic; 27th November 2012 at 03:23 PM.
Sounds quite nice.Originally Posted by BigLicks67
A bit bright maybe and the squeaks are a bit too noticeable.
Try a de-esser on the track to get rid of them- it can be all you need.
Otherwise try my 'boost, then cut' technique to find the frequencies that the squeaks are at and then cut them a bit.
Or, try micing the soundboard rather than at the 12 fret.
You get less squeak but it isn't as boomy as over the soundhole.
Last edited by octatonic; 27th November 2012 at 02:50 PM.
I find the best recorded acoustic tones are when you combine the sound of a pickup (undersaddle, magnetic, or bug) with a microphone. You get the solidity of the pickup sound with the 'air' of the mic.
Here's an example of recorded acoustic sound I'm most happy with. It was very straightforward: cheap valve mic about 2 feet away with a Schertler Basik 'bug' stuck to the soundboard. Going into a cheap mixer and then out to a Tascam stereo recorder (GT-R1).
http://soundcloud.com/phil-gooch/last-fall
Very nice.
Mellowsun - That's a sweet sound - I just compared it to a track from Pierre Bensusan's Altiplanos cd and considering he has probably 4 mics and a piezo at work you are pretty close. I can input a mic and line into my audio interface but I'd be limited in balancing the 2 signals. I'd have to make sure the balance was right at recording.
octatonic - I'm not picking up anything from the link you posted.
664 - The Neighbour of the Beast
Wow, that's a massive compliment, thank you very much! I love his playing and the sound he gets.
Phil - whats the name of that bloody rag - something sunday, lazy sunday or something, I remember you posted your youtube version - at the same time I was learning it about 3 years ago......(it was a help !!! ta !!)
I thought it was a Woody Mann/ Blind Blake choon...........buggered if I can find it
......"Bertie is pretty much a zen master..................."
Me too.
664 - The Neighbour of the Beast
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