Ribbon MXL R144 Microphone Preamp?

Geezerhorn said:
Guys:

I'm baaaaaaack. :) :) :) :)

As promised, here is a recent recording on the Ribbon mic, TASCAM pre-amp/USB via Audacity. I think it shows promise.

https://dl-web.dropbox.com/get/If I...AB1wuAn9QjQA6UgSjft3ZtNNTeM0PfelODpVEhDtjJL0w


OBTW again, I am also at a place where I can jack my mic up over the cd accompaniment. I don't need background music to hide behind any longer.

Thank you Hal Leonard and Walt Disney!

Geezer
Click to expand...

Thank you for letting me know that. Dropbox (sigh). I moved the file to a public folder. This link should work:

https://dl-web.dropbox.com/get/Publ...AB7f7FU5HOxgrWOI4RC6Fq9hE9m-Qksa5qteBvIs4ojfw

I apologize for Dropbox dropping the file.

Geezer
 
Nope, still doesn't work. I have a Dropbox account as well...

It says 'you don't belong here', so you likely don't have the right link up. Put in 'Public' folder, then right click on it for the sharing link.
 
Geezerhorn said:
Oh for...

Thanks. Here we go:

https://dl-web.dropbox.com/get/Publ...AB7f7FU5HOxgrWOI4RC6Fq9hE9m-Qksa5qteBvIs4ojfw

Dropbox. Yeah.

Geez
Click to expand...

Dropbox suck. I have been told to use this hoop:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/103725033/If I Didn't Have You.mp3

Sorry for the Dropbox Spam. Hope it was worth the hassle...

Geez

Edit: My impatience last night wasn't with this Forum or anyone on it. I was flustrated at Dropbox last night for raining on my little performance. I made nice with DB - for now and I apologize for the Spam & stuff in the process.

G
 
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That link worked.
It sounds like my suspicion a few posts back was correct. You are recording the live instrument and the backing track through the mic which is one way to do it, but not necessarily the best way.

Forgive me if I'm patronising you (perhaps you chose to do it this way?), but you can just import your backing track into your daw, play it out to yourself through headphones, and record your instrument as a split new and separate track.

That way the backing track and the recorded instrument are 100% separate and you have much more control over blending and mixing.
For example, if you tried to put reverb on the lead instrument right now, it would mess up the whole mix.

The difference, in my opinion will be the difference between a guy jamming to a CD and a guy performing on a CD if that makes sense.

Also, the recording sounds really roomy to me, so you might benefit from closer mic placement or room treatment/portable baffles.

I know that sounds like a lot of criticism, so I'll counter it by saying nice one and keep it up. ;)
Thanks for keeping the thread up to date.
 
Steenamaroo said:
That link worked.
It sounds like my suspicion a few posts back was correct. You are recording the live instrument and the backing track through the mic which is one way to do it, but not necessarily the best way.

Forgive me if I'm patronising you (perhaps you chose to do it this way?), but you can just import your backing track into your daw, play it out to yourself through headphones, and record your instrument as a split new and separate track.

That way the backing track and the recorded instrument are 100% separate and you have much more control over blending and mixing.
For example, if you tried to put reverb on the lead instrument right now, it would mess up the whole mix.

The difference, in my opinion will be the difference between a guy jamming to a CD and a guy performing on a CD if that makes sense.

Also, the recording sounds really roomy to me, so you might benefit from closer mic placement or room treatment/portable baffles.

I know that sounds like a lot of criticism, so I'll counter it by saying nice one and keep it up. ;)
Thanks for keeping the thread up to date.
Click to expand...

Steen,

WOW! I'm such a noob at this. I was all in a tizzy over Dropbox last night. Well, we all start somewhere.

So THAT is how I take my recording up to a HO NUTHA LEVEL. I've got some research to do.

I can play the CD through my headphones while I am playing, of course. And I can certainly toot into the mic. What I have to learn how to do is to put the CD on software as a track and then take my horn recording and lay it on top.

Right now I am using the very, very basic of Audacity. Keeping in mind that I am as unsophisticated as one can be, what software would you rec I use? Cubase? Real Band? Audacity? I have all three of them. What I don't want to do is get myself all jammed up in a pro package that takes a Masters degree to do anything at all on - like I am quickly finding out that Band-In-The-Box is a monster. :) :) :) :)

Maybe I should take it one step at a time, but honestly - one other thing would be quite useful. Right now, I have to record a song a dozen times or more to get the cleanest take I can do. I would really rather record a song in logical sections and take the best takes of those sections to cobble up a complete song. Is that difficult for a noob?

Thanks,
Geezer
 
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Hey Geezer.
I can see why it's daunting, but what you want to do shouldn't be too much of a challenge.

I'm not 100% certain if audacity can do multiple tracks or not, but I think it can.
All you do is put the CD in the computer and import/rip the audio using something like itunes.
Once you have the backing tracks on your computer in wav or mp3 format, you just open audacity and drag one of the wavs/mp3s in.
(Some daws don't do drag'n'drop, so go to file>import audio or whatever it is).

So, now you have your backing track on a stereo track in your DAW.
Create a new track for your trombone, arm it, hit record, and proceed as before except using headphones instead of speakers.

Some people prefer to hear live feedback of their performance rather than sound from the daw/headphones, so experiment with muting your trombone track while you record and slipping one ear of the headphones off. ;)
 
Steenamaroo said:
Hey Geezer.
I can see why it's daunting, but what you want to do shouldn't be too much of a challenge.

I'm not 100% certain if audacity can do multiple tracks or not, but I think it can.
All you do is put the CD in the computer and import/rip the audio using something like itunes.
Once you have the backing tracks on your computer in wav or mp3 format, you just open audacity and drag one of the wavs/mp3s in.
(Some daws don't do drag'n'drop, so go to file>import audio or whatever it is).

So, now you have your backing track on a stereo track in your DAW.
Create a new track for your trombone, arm it, hit record, and proceed as before except using headphones instead of speakers.

Some people prefer to hear live feedback of their performance rather than sound from the daw/headphones, so experiment with muting your trombone track while you record and slipping one ear of the headphones off. ;)
Click to expand...

Steen,

I did a little poking around during my play session this evening. Yes. Audacity will allow two recording tracks.

The songs from the CD I want to rip down are protected. There may still be a way, but for the time-being, I recorded one song through the stereo speakers and into Audacity in mp3 format at a bit rate of 320. So, at least I have a basic accompaniment track. Not the best way to do it, but let's go with that for now until I can figure out how to bypass their protection. Maybe I'll have better luck on another computer and I can take the mp3 file to my studio on a jump drive to import into Audacity.

So then, I open up the other track and get myself ready to play. From what you posted, it sounds like I will be monitoring the recorded backing track in Audacity through my headphones while I am also recording at the same time with Audacity? I can do that with a typical DAW?

Geezer
 
Geezerhorn said:
From what you posted, it sounds like I will be monitoring the recorded backing track in Audacity through my headphones while I am also recording at the same time with Audacity? I can do that with a typical DAW?

Geezer
Click to expand...

That's it, yeah. :)
Pretty much any DAW should let you work like this.

Ideally you'd do that ^ and then make any adjustments you might want (volume/panning/reverbs etc) before exporting or rendering the whole thing as a new stereo wav or mp3.


Geezerhorn said:
Not the best way to do it, but let's go with that for now until I can figure out how to bypass their protection. Maybe I'll have better luck on another computer and I can take the mp3 file to my studio on a jump drive to import into Audacity.
Click to expand...

If you can do that it should make a massive difference.
At the minute your backing track is really distant and has the ambience of your room.
If you can rip it and import it to your DAW instead, there'll be no change to the sound of the backing track at all. ;)
 
Steenamaroo said:
That's it, yeah. :)
Pretty much any DAW should let you work like this.

Ideally you'd do that ^ and then make any adjustments you might want (volume/panning/reverbs etc) before exporting or rendering the whole thing as a new stereo wav or mp3.




If you can do that it should make a massive difference.
At the minute your backing track is really distant and has the ambience of your room.
If you can rip it and import it to your DAW instead, there'll be no change to the sound of the backing track at all. ;)
Click to expand...

Terrific! I'll get back to this thread when I make some progress. Not tonight, though. I'm going to bed relaxed tonight. I mean - like, really relaxed. :) :) :) :)

Geezer
 
Ribbon microphones are soooo sensitive.

Set one up in front of your TV speaker and play the *Sleepless in settle* DVD.



It will cry.
 
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