citizenkeith
New member
I'm recording some demos for a friend tonight. He's going to sing and play acoustic guitar at the same time. For him, these will be demos to give to his bandmates so they can learn the songs.
For me, I want to use this opportunity to try some new things. While this will just be a demo CD of 10-12 songs, I'd like to take some time to make it sound like an album. I think the challenge is to make such a minimal performance sound interesting.
I finished a project with this guy last month, and at that time I used an AT4050 in cardioid on the acoustic and a Shure SM7 for the vocal. I don't have the SM7, because that was on loan from a friend at the time. After reading some posts and articles online, I decided I would try the AT4050 on the acoustic again, but this time in a figure 8 pattern. This way I can try to minimize the vocal bleed by positioning the mic so the vocal hits the null area.
Since the AT4050 is my only mic with a figure 8 pattern, I'll need to pick something else for the vocal. I don't have any hypercardioids either, so it's pretty much down to cardioids. I have to choose between an Audix SCX-25 (on loan, and I've never used it), a Rode NT5, an Altec lipstick M20 (probably not since I'll have to crank the preamp too much), a Unidyne SM57, Shure SM58 or some AKG stage dynamic mic. I may switch it up, but I suppose I'll just have to find something that's good for his voice.
Also, my room is really dead. Not much variety possible in that area.
So I figure I'll try stuff like ADT, my trusty Stella oil can reverb, or using my living room or bathroom as a makeshift echo chamber when my wife isn't around. I think the key is not to go overboard on effects, but to just keep things subtle with enough variety to make it interesting. The only thing I have to compare this to would be an acoustic Robyn Hitchcock record, like Eye, I Often Dream of Trains, You and Oblivion or Luxor. A lot of those have additional instruments added, which may or may not be possible.
Any other ideas, tips or suggestions? Like I said, this is more of an experiemtnal/learning experience to me. I'm not charging him since he's a good friend, and I play drums for him a lot. He'll be patient with me and allow me to try different things...
For me, I want to use this opportunity to try some new things. While this will just be a demo CD of 10-12 songs, I'd like to take some time to make it sound like an album. I think the challenge is to make such a minimal performance sound interesting.
I finished a project with this guy last month, and at that time I used an AT4050 in cardioid on the acoustic and a Shure SM7 for the vocal. I don't have the SM7, because that was on loan from a friend at the time. After reading some posts and articles online, I decided I would try the AT4050 on the acoustic again, but this time in a figure 8 pattern. This way I can try to minimize the vocal bleed by positioning the mic so the vocal hits the null area.
Since the AT4050 is my only mic with a figure 8 pattern, I'll need to pick something else for the vocal. I don't have any hypercardioids either, so it's pretty much down to cardioids. I have to choose between an Audix SCX-25 (on loan, and I've never used it), a Rode NT5, an Altec lipstick M20 (probably not since I'll have to crank the preamp too much), a Unidyne SM57, Shure SM58 or some AKG stage dynamic mic. I may switch it up, but I suppose I'll just have to find something that's good for his voice.
Also, my room is really dead. Not much variety possible in that area.
So I figure I'll try stuff like ADT, my trusty Stella oil can reverb, or using my living room or bathroom as a makeshift echo chamber when my wife isn't around. I think the key is not to go overboard on effects, but to just keep things subtle with enough variety to make it interesting. The only thing I have to compare this to would be an acoustic Robyn Hitchcock record, like Eye, I Often Dream of Trains, You and Oblivion or Luxor. A lot of those have additional instruments added, which may or may not be possible.
Any other ideas, tips or suggestions? Like I said, this is more of an experiemtnal/learning experience to me. I'm not charging him since he's a good friend, and I play drums for him a lot. He'll be patient with me and allow me to try different things...
My session has been moved to Saturday afternoon, so I still have time to think this through...