External audio interface - scam, or necessity? (intel mac)

  • Thread starter Thread starter pazu
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+1 for using two mics on acoustic. That's my standard way, except I use a stereo pair of SDC mics. Also, rather than at the bridge, I actually prefer a spot half way between the bridge and the sound hole (but angled slightly away from the sound hole. It's worth some detailed experimenting--small positional moves can make quiet a difference in the sound.
 
Jonny, you said "muddy"? Try some hardboard or similar reflective material on the floor around you.

If you already have a hard floor, forget I spake!

Dave.
 
Having re-read the thread, my recipe for better recordings is to save up for some new mics, preferably Small Diaphragm Condensers if you value clarity.

The AKG320B is a dynamic in the same league as an SM57...not bad, but not known for clarity and details. Similarly, the MXL990 is about the muddiest LDC you can buy--the only real use I've found for them is on drum overheads when I want to actually tame the highs a bit.

If you want fairly inexpensive SDCs that I know do a nice job on acoustics, try the sE1A. They have a stereo pair but for guitar, their quality control is good enough that just buying two mics is enough. Indeed, maybe just try a single mic and move to stereo if you want more.
 
mjbphotos my guitar sound seems to be dull, the decay is fast, it doesn't seem energized or exciting, it's muddy, thumpy, sort of lifeless sounding in the recording. Doesn't seem to ring percussively as a collection of strings, in the recording, like I think an acoustic guitar should sound. I'm looking forward to experimenting today. Intended to record yesterday after work, but got sidetracked by a friend with a 12-pack and a bottle of rum, was a welcome distraction but today is about music.
 
Bobbsy said:
Having re-read the thread, my recipe for better recordings is to save up for some new mics, preferably Small Diaphragm Condensers if you value clarity.

The AKG320B is a dynamic in the same league as an SM57...not bad, but not known for clarity and details. Similarly, the MXL990 is about the muddiest LDC you can buy--the only real use I've found for them is on drum overheads when I want to actually tame the highs a bit.

If you want fairly inexpensive SDCs that I know do a nice job on acoustics, try the sE1A. They have a stereo pair but for guitar, their quality control is good enough that just buying two mics is enough. Indeed, maybe just try a single mic and move to stereo if you want more.
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That could be the whole game, simply new mics. But, it is a hobby & for the moment I have got what I've got. There are a lot of hobbies to spread the money around..

I have read a bit about a mod to the MXL 990, thinking of doing that though the inexpensive, upgraded capacitors mod seems out of stock and the other mods cost more than the mic did itself!
 
gecko zzed said:
Here is a video of a typical two mike on guitar set up. Rode NT1 pointing at bridge, and a very hard to see AT853 pointing to 12th fret. Audio is recorded via Firepod into Reaper and replaces the video audio.


Doodling on the guitar
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That is great tone, what a pleasant ditty. I like the feel of the change at about a minute in. Fun stuff! Your gear is working quite well ! :)
 
pazu said:
mjbphotos my guitar sound seems to be dull, the decay is fast, it doesn't seem energized or exciting, it's muddy, thumpy, sort of lifeless sounding in the recording. Doesn't seem to ring percussively as a collection of strings, in the recording, like I think an acoustic guitar should sound. I'm looking forward to experimenting today. Intended to record yesterday after work, but got sidetracked by a friend with a 12-pack and a bottle of rum, was a welcome distraction but today is about music.
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Does it sound ok when you play it? In other words is the recording NOT picking up the true sound of the guitar? If that's the case, ou need to keep experimenting with mic placement - and your position in the room, too. If you need to improve the guitar's tone, try different strings for a start.
 
mjbphotos said:
Does it sound ok when you play it? In other words is the recording NOT picking up the true sound of the guitar? If that's the case, ou need to keep experimenting with mic placement - and your position in the room, too. If you need to improve the guitar's tone, try different strings for a start.
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It sounds great when I play it, I really like the guitar's tone, even with elixers. I play strummy and with my fingers, and I like the sound that happens when I do it live. When recorded, all of the wrong nuances seem to be captured whereas the qualities that I like, are somewhat absent. I think you're right, it must be mic placement and my not trying enough different positions to find it. When I get the best I can achieve, I should be able to run with that. I thought to open all of my windows (hard floor, 6 windows and a half glass door in a 10x10 area that's open at one end for about 40', with a lot of stuff for reflections to bounce off of. The ceiling is angled and 10 - 12'. Walls are drywall unfinished). My only alternative recording space would be outdoors, which is woodsy and fairly quiet apart from forest noise and wind. I could put different strings on it, if I can't get a good tone recorded I'll try that but ouch, just bought these elixers!.
 
Here where experimentation comes in, I may be wrong, but if I want less bottom, put the mics further away from the source. Once you do that, room and noise enters into the picture, but you can probably get a good sound out of your current mics, just have to work with them more.
 
pazu said:
That is great tone, what a pleasant ditty. I like the feel of the change at about a minute in. Fun stuff! Your gear is working quite well ! :)
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Thank you .

The point is that there is nothing too complicated about it.

1 the guitar (with Elixirs) sounds pretty good in its own right.
2 the mikes are nothing extraordinary: a Rode NT1a and an AT853 which I used because they were already set up from an earlier session
3 the mike placement is pretty unspectacular: 853 aimed at 12th fret, nt1a aimed at bridge, both about 30cm away
4 the tune was recorded (44.1, 24) via firepod into Reaper. There is no eq, no compression on the track. There is some reverb because the room is pretty dry.

.
 
gecko zzed said:
Thank you .

The point is that there is nothing too complicated about it.

1 the guitar (with Elixirs) sounds pretty good in its own right.
2 the mikes are nothing extraordinary: a Rode NT1a and an AT853 which I used because they were already set up from an earlier session
3 the mike placement is pretty unspectacular: 853 aimed at 12th fret, nt1a aimed at bridge, both about 30cm away
4 the tune was recorded (44.1, 24) via firepod into Reaper. There is no eq, no compression on the track. There is some reverb because the room is pretty dry.

.
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Well once you're there, there's nothing too complicated about it :) I've spent a couple of hours trying to work out placing mics so that I get decent sound, and I am not there yet. Thankfully I have a lot more suggestions to work through.

Could just be, how I'm playing what I am playing. The akg d320 is doing better than the MXL990, which is picking up heavy tones. Still messing with it. I think it is going to take awhile. I am trying to find an acoustic sound like the beginning of Porcupine Tree's 'Waiting.' Or pretty much any America song. I am on the right track though and thanks to all for helping me to get here. I can tell that my playing is improving as I have become conscious of my palm hitting the strings, misplacement of fingering etc. which was not helping my tone much at all. The discipline of playing in between two mics is helping my control.
edit - best i can get thus far, is the MXL condenser beside and behind the guitar on the bridge side, with the akg at about the 14th fret. Trials continue...
 
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I didn't get there on Friday. I will, though. Got close to a sound that I liked, finally, just by using the akg near the 14th fret at a certain angle. I realized that I hadn't been moving the guitar around much and testing with headphones when I was single-mike-ing before. All interesting. Progress can be slow, some days.
 
In 1991 my guitarist told me, "dude, get the Tascam - Fostex blows." I got the Fostex, and I gotta tell you, the A-A converters on it sucked so bad that all my recordings sounded horrible. Oh wait, that's because I was fifteen.
 
tomlynham said:
In 1991 my guitarist told me, "dude, get the Tascam - Fostex blows." I got the Fostex, and I gotta tell you, the A-A converters on it sucked so bad that all my recordings sounded horrible. Oh wait, that's because I was fifteen.
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Back in those days I played rhythm electric guitar in a ramones-styled band that did covers, all at ramones pace. So dumb, so easy. Nothing like playing quality acoustic guitar as I've moved on to attempt. Back when we started that I was in a hurry and bought a cheap strat copy guitar and a Seymour Duncan tube amp - according to the lead guy, exactly all of the wrong stuff. I still have that amp, just put a new speaker and tubes in it. Rocks! We used to record on a fostex. I thought my recording sony walkman was better. Though, a lot of music was made that way... not sure how much of it ever made it to albums however.
 
DM60 said:
It really depends on you. Once you get it mixed down and turned into an MP3, no. But for the quality pre-amps, phantom power, multichannel for inputs, ASIO drivers (and USB is very stable by the way) you really get a lot with the interfaces. I think you have taken a narrow view of the interface and not all of the other jobs it performs.

I would say this, and this is often stated here, don't spend money until you know why you need it/want it.
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Why mix down to an MP3? PM3 is yesterday's technology and has an associated fee for its use. Let's see a movement toward AAC and its variants. Higher quality as well.
 
The lame MP3 encoder is free to use. I don't think I've ever paid for an MP3 player, except maybe on mobile devices with MP3 built in.
 
jonny deep said:
The lame MP3 encoder is free to use. I don't think I've ever paid for an MP3 player, except maybe on mobile devices with MP3 built in.
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If you download the very useful free MAGIX Samplitude Pro x Silver you get an excellent MP3 (and other) converter that allows the quality to run from the very best right down to low bit mono!

Dave.
 
Some MP3 codecs do require a licence payment but I've never heard of a case where this wasn't included in the cost of the DAW even if you use one of the payable ones.

Personally, I wish MP3 really WAS yesterday's technology--but it's a distribution format and you have to be aware of what your customers and clients need. Alas, this is usually MP3. It's like Betamax was better than VHS but VHS won...or HD-DVD was better than BluRay but BluRay won...etc. etc.

My personal hope would be that, as storage gets cheaper and the internet gets faster, we'll ditch the idea of compression entirely and just used uncompressed formats.

I also believe in flying pigs and have bought several lovely bridges.
 
One practical reason I happen to use .mp3's is that ReverbNation requires .mp3's, & 8MB max per file for the free ver at least. Box.com is a good way to transfer files up to 250MB. I use Adobe Media Encoder for conversions.
 
" It's like Betamax was better than VHS but VHS won."

"Bit" of a myth and generalization Bobbs.. The first (huge!) Sony C7 Beta machines were better picture quality(but not sound) than the early VHS unit but they were vastly more expensive (and a pig to service!).

As VHS improved and Beta became cheaper there was nothing in it. Of course, in UK they had to jump for one system for film rentals and VHS won.

Philips came out with a third rival, the 2000 system with a flip over tape. Worked really well but the die was pretty much caste by then.

Love to get hold of a Beta machine for a month, got a lot of tapes.

Dave.
 
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