Recording Classical guitar

joro

joro

The Pie Guy
Since I have extremely limited equipment and zero budget for gear...I have been working on technique...mic placement...AC hum removal...etc...

I find nylon strings extremely difficult to record (and sound decent at the same time...ya know?)

Here is my latest attempt...
It is called "Classical2"

it is at Soundclick

Any comments on improving the quality of the sound would be appreciated..
Joe
 
Hey,
How did you record this in the first place? That would help on how to improve it. Do tell the chain, i.e. mics, placement, how many tracks and such.......

P.S. this could develope into a pleasant piece.

Theron.
 
Hi Theron,
I use a (please don't laugh) Realistic mic....4-5 inches away from the 12th fret.....mic in to a Fender Bullet Reverb amp....line out from the amp headphone jack to the line in on my PC's soundcard....
Two tracks...
I used Cakewalk Pro 9.....used the AC hum EQ setting....and cut out some of the empty spaces in the .WAV file of the lead track by splitting and deleting then re-combining before mixdown to a combined .WAV file.....then I used MusicMatch JukeBox to convert the .WAV to a .MP3

The only pasting I did was at the end of the lead track to try and stretch the tone of the final note....it didn't work too well...

I used a Yamaha G-231 Classical Guitar with Martin Nylon and wound steel...it is a pretty old guitar.....new strings though...my Father in law had it stashed under the stairs of his cellar....I sort of rescued it last week....plays nice...ya know?

So....how can I get it sounding better?
Glad ya like it though...ya know?
Joe
 
Tex has a point.
I wouldn't put the git through an amp at all. Why? Try the same mic technique with some time and mic the git directly from sound hole to hard/external mixer (if you have one) to sound card/comp interface. Fuck the amp on this setting. It does no justice to the tone or nuaunce(sp?) of the git playing. You can purchase a better mic for around 75-80 bucks. Grab a Sure SM57 and you've made a huge improvemet to your overall rig. Keep the Realistic and try dual miking on that git. One from the bridge facing the sound hole and one from the 10th to 12th fret facing the same. Listen closely and goof around with mic placement. It sounds (and is) tedious but, in the end you will find a solid map of mic placement that you are happy with and can use in the far future with less experimentation and better results.
Is that just one git track?

Theron.
 
Thanks for the input gentlemen....

It is 2 tracks Theron...

I do have a Numark mixing board (analog and ancient) ...
it says "stereo pre-amp control center DM-1550" on the face plate (another hand me down....like the mic...) and I have tried to use it but, it doesn't seem to push the sound enough....
I suppose there is no avoiding the obvious conclusion.....

I need gear....

Thanks for the mic placement info Theron... I will start saving for a new one..

Thanks again guys,
Joe
 
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