acoustic fingerstyle mp3's

A

anton

New member
Hey Everyone,

Just uploaded a few mp3's to some webspace of mine.

http://home.earthlink.net/~emeryfamily/music.html


I mostly arrange celtic tunes for solo guitar.

Gear used is a Martin 000C-E spruce/mahagony.


Mics are a pair of MXL 603's. One mic is pointed slightly down at the lower bout of the guitar, right behind the bridge about 18 in away.

the other mic is pointed straight at the 12th fret area about 15 in away. From there the signal goes through my Mbox and into Pro Tools. Gain on the Mbox is at about 75%. I just recorded them and then mixed down to wav. then mp3. No reverb or anything added.

I'm pretty new at all this, but its fun learning.




anton
 
I listened to both. Thought the guitar was recorded well. Playing was good at times ...... and not so good at others. But by and large pretty good picking.

What I'd do different? When you pick.... make sure and emphasise the melody. Sometimes you do... and other times it gets lost. And with celtic music..... nice little pauses go a long ways. Think phrasing.

But it was a pretty good job overall.
 
I listened to both. Pretty good picking my friend. A muff here and there but pretty damned good. I'm guessing that since you're finger picking softly that you have the preamp gain cranked. Even though those mics are cardiod I can hear a TON of the room in the mics (in a bad way). I love this kind of stuff. You're very close.
 
Thanks alot for the comments guys. It helps alot having complete strangers listen to this stuff, cause they hear things i don't catch.

Track Rat:

You are right, i do have the gain on the Mbox cranked to about 75%. I have a light attack, and often it seems like i just cant a strong enough signal into Pro Tools. When mixing down to .wav i usually have the track and master fader up to max just to get the volume level i want.

So how would i get rid of the bad room sound, and get a stronger signal? Would a preamp like the DMP3 help boost the signal before it gets to the Mbox? I know also that my computer is pretty loud, i need to move/quiet it before i do more serious recording.



thanks



anton
 
I think it they sound pretty good. Make sure the computer is behind the mics (not at the side) if you can when recording.

As you move the mics closer to the guitar (6" - 12") it will take the room out of the recording and boost the signal considerably. The result will be less gain needed, less room and computer noise in the recording, and less mic and preamp noise in the recording. Also, the mics will sound more isolated because the farther away from the source the more of the whole source the mic will pick up. Once moved closer, each mic will tend to pick up only what's in front of it (treble and string sound from the neck vs. bass and picking sound from the bout. It's not necessarily better, just a different, more pronounced stereo image.

You might also try xy config about 6" out from the neck joint. It can really sound good but may bring more room into the recording.
 
awsome finger pickin-well done. what sort of guitar are you using-has a great sound. 603's do great job don,t they??
Also the boat rocks:) a bit out of my budget and probably in the wrong hemisphere. man just the thing for a bit of surf/fishing exploration and strummin the guitar.good stuff
cheers mate
 
sounds allright, like the orkney tuning.
Im listening to the guitar not how it was recorded,leave that to the strummers .
 
they sound very good. I think moving the mics closer will solve most of the issues. Take it easy and keep them coming.
Jason
 
sounds good, I usually get pretty good sound when recording but I have to turn the gain way up. I have usually heard that when your recording, you want your levels as hot as possible, and it hitting yellow (almost clipping) is where you want to be, is this true? because i have to turn the gain way up to get there for an acoustic.
 
Thanks everyone.

I am using a Martin 000C-1E. Its an auditorium size body with spruce top and mahogony back/sides. Its one of their more entry level instruments, but has served me pretty well.

I will try moving the mics closer and backing off on the gain. Mic placement with acoustic instruments is tricky business.


thanks for the tips



anton
 
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