Sorta newbie to recording...Here's my setup, just lookin for some basic advice

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ZombieGuitar

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Hey how's it going!

I've been doing simple recordings for guitar lesson videos for a while now. However, my recording method was pretty crappy. I was micing my guitar amp with an AT-4033a condensor mic and sending into an Alesis I/O dock for my iPad. I would then use this app on my iPad called StudioMini to actually do the recording. From there, I would wirelessly send the saved guitar recording over to my PC as a WAV file. I wouldn't do any EQ'ing or anything...I would just simply use that WAV file in my video editing software so that my lesson videos had a somewhat decent non-camera tone. And trying to transfer recordings to my PC using the GarageBand app was a nightmare...so trying to figure out how to incorporate drum/bass backing tracks in my videos was near impossible.

Anyway, just yesterday it occurred to me that I was making things way to complicated for myself, so I ended up picking up a 2 input Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 interface. It made my life 1000x easier already, so now I know how to make videos with backing tracks. Sweet! My question is, do you think that my recording rig is sufficient for what I am doing.

Recording Software: Audacity
Interface: Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 interface
Mic: AT-4033a condenser

Here is a sample of my first video using what I have:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrKtcDUZIcE

What do y'all think?

Thanks
 
As a mere valve jockey and one moreover clinically deaf I rarely comment on people's musical contributions but I found the guitar rather "fizzy"? Lot of top end, those with 20-20 lugs might find it rather "ice pick painful"?

Otherwise I enjoyed the clip. Audacity is a great audio editor, especially for free but not so hot for song building. The general reccy is Reaper but there are others, some free including Studio One and Mixcraft. My fave free DAW is Samplitude Pro X Silver.

Dave.
 
Everything's working - Except, yeah - That tone needs a little love.
 
What are you using for an amp and pedals? AS the others say, need to work on the tone.
 
Apologies! You asked if your present rig was up to the job? Absolutely IMHO.
You might like to try a dynamic mic on the amp instead of the capacitor? (Does not HAVE to be a Shure! There are some very decent $30-50 dymos about these days. Prodipe is one).

You might like to dabble with DI'ed guitar? Re-amping?

Then, as I said, Audacity is a bit limiting but another DAW won't change the sound any.

Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
As a mere valve jockey and one moreover clinically deaf I rarely comment on people's musical contributions but I found the guitar rather "fizzy"? Lot of top end, those with 20-20 lugs might find it rather "ice pick painful"?

Otherwise I enjoyed the clip. Audacity is a great audio editor, especially for free but not so hot for song building. The general reccy is Reaper but there are others, some free including Studio One and Mixcraft. My fave free DAW is Samplitude Pro X Silver.

Dave.
Click to expand...

Cool, thanks for the feedback. It's funny that you mention the "ice pick" sounding screeching tone. When I initially recorded this video, I was thinking to myself "this sounds pretty good"...I was able to make it sound fuller due to copying and pasting the recorded track 3 times, adding some bass in the EQ curve, and using Audacity's "amplify" effect. But as soon as I showed it to my friend, the first thing he said was "That's cool...How did you get it to sound so thin and tinny like that though?"

Haha, that was the exact OPPOSITE of what I was trying to do! He did come over and help me set up my amp to sound pretty good now though, so recording equipment aside, at least I know now that I'm getting a good tone out of my amp.

Tone was never my strong point. I literally have been playing in bands for 20 years now, and I have always went by what my other "non-tone-illiterate" band mates would tell me to do. To me, I never knew the difference.

Massive Master said:
Everything's working - Except, yeah - That tone needs a little love.
Click to expand...

I'm glad I posted here then. Thanks!

mjbphotos said:
What are you using for an amp and pedals? AS the others say, need to work on the tone.
Click to expand...

My rig is a pretty good one. I have a 1x12 B-52 Combo tube amp. My tone junkie friends constantly compliment how great the amp's tone is. However, when I made this recording, I had my volume down too low on the amp (I don't wanna p*ss the neighbors off). My buddy came over, and turned my gain down, volume up, and dialed in my EQ on my Boss GT-100 processor pedal...Now it sounds completely different. I'm thinking that probably had a lot to do with it.

ecc83 said:
Apologies! You asked if your present rig was up to the job? Absolutely IMHO.
You might like to try a dynamic mic on the amp instead of the capacitor? (Does not HAVE to be a Shure! There are some very decent $30-50 dymos about these days. Prodipe is one).

You might like to dabble with DI'ed guitar? Re-amping?

Then, as I said, Audacity is a bit limiting but another DAW won't change the sound any.

Dave.
Click to expand...

Ya, I'm starting to see where Audacity is lacking, the more I mess with it. It does the job, but I know that there are some convenient features that it lacks that other programs probably would have (like a scrolling mouse wheel!). I've been hearing about this Reaper program, so I'll take a look at that too.

Regarding the dynamic mic...from my research I'm seeing that most people use a dynamic instead of a condenser. Possibly that may have something to do with the issue too?

I also understand that mic placement has a lot to do with everything too.

So much information to take in!!!

Anyway, thanks for the replies everyone!
 
If you find judging "tone" difficult you could try to train yourself?
Most DAW software has a Real Time Analyser function (Sam Silver certainly does! Spanking metering!) So, you take a clip of something your "unimpaired" friends tell you is good (or maybe someone here will give you something? I wouldn't have a Scooby) You run that through the RTA and you will SEE how the spectrum looks. Next you can use an equalizer (again, good one in Sam!) on you own stuff and get the pictures to match.

Of course! The "Purists" will say "use your ears!" But we all had to learn and a picture's worth.......?

Dave.
 
Aw shucks! I was just going to record your clip to play with and it's gone!

Dave.
 
Gotcha...I will do some reading on Real Time Analyzer. Thanks for the tip!

I was taking a look at the Sam proX program. It looks awesome for sure, but I don't think that I need all that for what I'm doing. Plus, it would be a whole new program for me to have to learn. I may upgrade to the cheaper option like Reaper or something. For now though, Audacity does the job. Ever since I got this little interface that allows me to plug my guitar into my computer, I've been doing nothing but reading and spending money!
 
Ok, attached is a "sum of the peaks" of most of the clip.

You can see I think that there is a lot of energy in the 2-3kHz "presence region (where I still have some hearing) but there still a lot of signal up in the 5kHz range. There is also a dip at 400Hz'ish, not sure what that means but it IS around instrument fundamentals?

Now, I am NO! Mixer but suspect that is not a good result?

Dave.
 

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That is awesome!

You definitely have taught me something major here about EQing. Thank you for that!

I made a newer video today, using my newly adjusted amp tone (basically my friend just turned up the master volume, turned down the gain, and boosted the lows using my GT-100's EQ...so the guitar signal is being sent into the mic pre-bass boosted). Aside from adding some reverb, and using Audacity's amplify tone for certain sections, I didn't do any EQing or anything.

Here it is:

Pink Floyd – Time (Solo Demo)

I'll have to play around with this Real Time Analysis (at least Audacity's version of it).
 
It's early - and without the original to reference, Imma still go with this one "not hurting" as much. :thumbs up:
 
Cool...that's good to hear.

I just downloaded Reaper yesterday, so now I just have to learn it. Seems like a great program though, especially for the price.
 
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