A Little Ditty

[muzeman]

Hi all,

This is a little fingerpicking song I started on today.

I spent 5 hours this morning working on mic placement and eq,trying to get back in the swing of things.
I even used a tape measure and made a map.

If anyone has a minute to give a listen and see how I'm doing,that would be great.
Any comments or suggestions are always welcome.

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/...d=1317&alid=-1

First song.

Thanks,
Pete

[studioviols]

English or metric ?

Dl'ing now ...

[The Ghost of FM]

Pete,

Nice little beginning to something there. I liked the mood of the piece.

Recording notes;

I detected a fair bit of objectionable finger noise. This was high-lighted further buy the slightly out of sync double tracking. I have heard that there are some sprays that can be applied to the strings to reduce this noise without killing too much of the upper end sheen of the strings.

I also detected some breathing from you which, is good, in that we know you are alive! But, you may want to keep a conscious effort of not breathing in the direction of the Microphone.

The overall tone was very clear. The dynamics as well, were kept in check nicely.

Good stuff!

[studioviols]

yes, I too heard the nosehairs whistling in the wind ;-)

But that just tells me you are breathing with the music, yes.

Overall the tones of the guitar are very nice and crisp without being bothersomely crisp. I can turn it up loud, and the really high pickings don't bother me they sound very nice.

I suppose you took a really hot signal off the guitar here.

I say use chickenfat for the string noise ... no ... don't do that ... go vegetarian and use olive oil ...

Seriously, if you don't have really dry hands, fret and left hand sliding string noise can be overwhelming. Really moist hands are great, it's the inbetween ones that make the noise ... I think.

Practicing the release is the key, release fully and move the hand to the next area and hammer the notes with the left-hand several times as a practice technique, out-of-time of course. IMHO

Sounds really dynamite on phones, pure.

[powderfinger]

i think it sounds great pete..........i don't find any of the fretting noise objectionable at all.........i would see what you could do about the breathing though......that's really odd that it picked that up....that's never happened to me before i don't think......

anyhow, great playing......very clean, nice composition too

[Axe4Yahweh]

Nice fingerpickin Pete! I like the vibe of this tune. Great start!!!


CR ><>

[Toki987]

you got the mic angles and pitch set up great to me. The highs/lows, and all notes are clear and distinct. A damned good balance between strings and body to my ears. Maybe just a couple of inches in distance on the neck mic would set the incidental fingering sounds back a bit in the mix, but they need to be in there some cause its natural.

[boydrj]

Very nice, Pete. This sounded good to my ears, and the fret noise didn't really bother me. It just sounded very natural on this end.

Nice little ditty, too. Very good "sleepy-time" music. You could probably put together a whole CD with this kind of stuff on it and it would all sound real good.

The recording sounded very well executed to me.

[twist]

Some pretty clean pickin Pete. I also heard some rustling in the background at the beginning. Aint condenser mics a bitch? Oh well, sound was clear and crisp, I would like a little more bottom.
This kinda reminded me of Leo Kotke!


Twist

[MC Gitarz]

Yeah this is a really interesting little piece o' music. Takes you places you don't expect - that's very cool. I'm not really put out all that much with the fingerboard skids - there aren't that many. But the breathing is an issue. I know that happens to me when I'm really focused on my hand position and I'm bent over too far, glaring at the fingerboard. The condenser thinks that's fair game!!

Nicely executed playing - did you use a click track? 'Cause playing that slowly is tough -at least for me.

I'd want a little more bottom in the doubled parts - I can hear it but I'd want it a little more pronounced.

Pretty music, man!!
Milan

[Joe Recorder]

This may sound a bit off, but I could definitely imagine Pink Floyd playing something like this. Real sweet tune, and I don't think the fret noise was objectionable at all.
Joe

[muzeman]

Thanks very much for the listen guys,I really appreciate it!
I know I havn't been around much lately,you know how it goes.

The Ghost of FM-
I appreciate you taking the time!
This was pretty much an on the spot rough take.
I just threw something together to test my mic positioning and eqing.
I'll definitly watch the noise!

Glad you thought the recording was o.k.,thanks for the listen!

Studioviols-
I'll definitly have to trim those nosehairs!
Glad you thought the sound was o.k.

The signal was pretty hot,I'm still working on it.
Definitly going to turn it down a little.

Tough not to get finger noise,I think Elixers might help some.

Thanks very much,I appreciate your listening!

Powderfinger-
Hey Drew!
Thanks for taking the time,I appreciate the listen.
Going to catch your latest tonight.

The guitar has Phospher Bonze on it,I'm going to try Elixers.
Seem to work better for fingernoise and toneing down the boominess.

I don't know what happened with the breathing,first time for me too.
Guess I was really exerting myself,not much of a fingerpicker.

I don't know if it helps you any,but I spent a couple of hours on the eq with the narrowest q setting trying to eliminate the boominess.

I used the low cut pre filter on this and only cut the eq at 149hz.
It's cut about 12db there,totally eliminated the boominess without effecting the sound much.

Glad you liked the recording and composition,thanks.

Axe4Yahweh-
Hey CR,thanks for the listen bro,I appreciate it!
Going to catch yours later.

Toki987 -
Thanks very much,I appreciate it!

Glad you thought the balance was good,thanks for the helpful listen.
I'm going to try Elixers for the string noise,and move back a little like you suggested.

boyjrj-
Hey Rob,
Glad you liked it man,always good to hear from you!
Definitly sleepytime stuff.

I was glad to see you included Dream on the comp cd,great song!

You still owe me a collab,haha

Hey twist-
Thanks for the listen!
I'm going to try adding a little of the bottom back.
Thin line between too much and not enough,know what I mean?

Leo Kotkey,in my dreams!
Thanks man.

MC Gitarz -
Thanks,glad you liked it.
I tried to throw it around a little,just to keep it interesting.

Have to watch my breathing.

I didn't use a click,your right though.
Playing slow is much tougher than playing fast,especially when you double.

I'm going to add some low end back in,I really cut it heavily.
Thanks.

Joe Recorder -
Hey Joe,thanks for the listen,I really appreciate it!
Glad you dug my little ditty.
Pink Floyd,now there's an idea!


I'm going to let this thread die,I just wanted some feedback on the recording.
Thanks guys for the help,your the best!

Pete

[Gidge]

Very sweet playing.....

there were only a few spots where the finger noise was objectionable (like the one at 00:22).....the background noise (breathing,room noise) was more of a distraction, but still only a mild distraction......

if you record a solo piece with these mic positions, it may become a problem, unless you can hold your breathe the whole time If you are tracking other things on top (drums,bass,etc) I dont think it will be a problem at all......


MIKE

[FattMusiek]

I like this a lot. Sweet guitar tone. Good playing. The reverb/delay (whatever you used, heh) is very appropriot.

[AlChuck]

Very nicely done all round. There is a spot or two where there's a chromatic half-step that I didn't like there where it was, but that's just taste.

And thank you thank you thank you for spelling "ditty" correctly. I think it's first here -- people always ssem to spell it "diddy," which drives me nuts...

[fprod south]

Great little ditty. Nice playing and recording.

The finger noise is just fine with me. The breathing is not. Why is it that the human aspect of having fingers is ok but having lungs (and nose hairs) is not? I don't know. I guess because I'm listening to the guitar and finger noises are just part of the guitar sound. If there were vocals the breathing probably wouldn't be bad either.

[B.SABBATH]

hey Pete, good to hear from you.. nice little diddy.. I'm of no help with the sound.. although it wasn't my favorite acoustic sound, it's still very usable..

I don't record acoustic much, but when I do I always use this http://www.samedaymusic.com/product--GHSMSFF

it quiets the fret noise which is pretty loud in a few parts.. I also use it on electric to slide around the strings more easily..

[Erland]

Hi Pete. great to hear from you. I enjoyed this. I like your draw in of breath half way through.

All the best

Erland

[Khompewtur]

I'm thinkin of main st. in an old town with a couple of locals sitting in chairs in front of the barbershop.

Yeah i didn't think the fingernoise was overly obvious in most spots. I noticed it because it's been mentioned but if you listen to a lot of your favorite albums the string slides are there. You just don't conciously think about them most of the time.

[muzeman]

Thanks Kompy,I really appreciate the listen!

Hey Sam,thanks bro,I tried to PM you,but your box is full.

I PM'd everybody,and was going to let this thread just die,
but since it's still up,I gave the fingerpicking another shot and updated the song.

If anyone has a minute and could let me know if this sounds any better,that would be great!

It's a new song I just started,insted of doubling the guitar,I recorded it straight stereo.
I think that was part of the problem.

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/...d=1317&alid=-1

First song.

Thanks,
Pete

[TripleM]

Pretty sweet sounding guit and playing. Nice little piece of music.

The recording was a bit on the quiet side. To me it makes it a little hard to tell if the mic positioning was optimal. I thought it maybe lacked a little midrange. But that's only a guess. A nice rich low end I thought.

I didn't read every post, but I didn't see where you said what mic you used. That might help too.

Going over it with a fine toothed comb... Heard some extraenous sound at :13. A couple of pops in the :22-:27 range. Something odd at 1:16.

Good to see you post. It's been a while.

[muzeman]

Hey Trip,we posted at the same time!

I just updated the file with another take,if you have a minute.
Hopefully it's a little better.

Thanks,
Pete

[Myx62]

Nice calming tune. The fret noise doesnt bother me. Some clean picking. Good work.
Myx

[TripleM]

Listened to the update.

I liked the sound to this one much better. Still a nice low end, but nicer representation across the spectrum. A louder recording as well. I'd still recommend playing around with mic positions to see if your sound can't still be improved. I'll save this one for comparison just in case.

I'm hearing extraneous noise here and there in the first 25 seconds. Pops - but they sound like natural noises (fingers hitting things they didn't intend to hit). Not a clip or bad punch or anything like that.

A decided improvement.

[muzeman]

Myx,thanks very much for the listen.
Not sure which version you listened to,but thanks anyway dude!

Hey Trip,thanks very much for taking the time again.

I'm going to try and give it another shot tonight,and play around with the mic position like you suggested.

I'm using a small cap out front to the left of the headstock,and a large one pointing down at head height,by the bridge.

I think the ticket is going to be get as close as I can till it gets boomy?

Thanks,
Pete