EH Pre amp samples using XLR outputs

  • Thread starter Thread starter Walter Tore
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Walter Tore

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I am playing the russian river acoustic festival saturday, and don't have a current acoustic cd, so I went to work yesterday recording with 3 EH preamps, and I got it all mixed and ready to go today. I like the challange of making a complete cd, begining to end, in 24 hours, while working my regular day job. Here are some samples

they ripped off the old bluesmen
health care blues
jump start my battery
the world is falling down
trying to die with a good heart

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pageartist.cfm?bandID=157137

I am interested in any feedback about how to bring the acoustic guitar up more in the mix. I play just like you see in the soundclick picture. The guitar, drums, cymbal, voice, harp, are all withing inches of each other. The guitar mics are about 3 inches off the guitar, and still pick up a ton of voice, harp and drums. Thank! Walter
 
Hi Walter,

Concidering you're doing all these things at once, the mix ain't bad at all. What exactly do you want? I think the balance between the sources is fairly decent. How do you trigger the drums? In the picture I see a hihat, a snare and a kick, how you you play all of them at once. I don't actually hear a kick in Health care blues and the ripped off bluesman song so am I corrent in thinking you don't really use the kick that much?

Can you explain what you don't like about the sound? Perhaps you want to have more control (less bleed) over each source? That would be very tough if not impossible in a live act like this. But really, I don't think you're doing all that bad. Good quality recordings simply take time and you need control, which in your case would probably mean tracking one thing at a time.

After all, blues is about dirt, and dirt is easy to get in a short time.
 
Halion said:
Hi Walter,

Concidering you're doing all these things at once, the mix ain't bad at all. What exactly do you want? I think the balance between the sources is fairly decent. How do you trigger the drums? In the picture I see a hihat, a snare and a kick, how you you play all of them at once. I don't actually hear a kick in Health care blues and the ripped off bluesman song so am I corrent in thinking you don't really use the kick that much?

Can you explain what you don't like about the sound? Perhaps you want to have more control (less bleed) over each source? That would be very tough if not impossible in a live act like this. But really, I don't think you're doing all that bad. Good quality recordings simply take time and you need control, which in your case would probably mean tracking one thing at a time.

After all, blues is about dirt, and dirt is easy to get in a short time.[/QUOTE


thanks for listening! I play the kick and snare together, via a double kick pedal that I modified. That pedal is on my left foot. I eq'd out much of the kick drum. It tends to dominate the sound. The high hat is on my right foot. I guess I hear so much overdubing stuff, I want my sound to be that pure, but in reality, what you say is true. I am just a simple, live sound. Tracking one thing at a time, for me, would be like walking backwards, up the side of a wall. No can do. I have spent years in studios as a player, but never paid a lick of attention to the recording end of things. Over the past 2 years, I have been messing with learning to record my music on my own. I have no technical abilities, and just turn dials, till it sounds good to my ears. Being a beginner on this end of music, I get self doubts, like, if someone who really knew how to run this gear of mine was at the controls......... Thanks again! Walter
Click to expand...
 
Walter..

here's what i think....the hihat is a bit too present...and the acoustic..you seem to want it more present, but i would think that the acoustic is actually right, the rest is just too upfront...you may wanna experiment with mic placement a bit more...as usual the songs are excelent, and the sound just keeps getting better..ill have my EH preamp in a month or so..cant even track anymore till i have it...i refuse to! :rolleyes:

anyway, in my perspective, there's no reason to fret over this, as your sound (dunno if you noticed) is much more "interesting" than what you had with the ART pre...i think its fuzzier in a good way...more saturated i guess, and it gives a lot more caracther, i now think that your sound is the way its supposed to be...i found it a bit too clean before...but now there's a lot more air going on, so thats very good. It would be cool to know where you mic your stuff...from here i don't think you're getting a phase issue or anything...its just a matter of different mic positioning i guess...the bleed you're getting is fine i guess, cause thats what you're going for...but i think the hihat is fighting with the other stuff for space..try mic positioning or simply turning the hihat volume a tad down in relation to the other stuff in the mix..
 
hi diogo: Thanks for that feedback. I use 4 mics to record, 1 on the voice/harp, 1 on the neck of the guitar, 1 on the body of the guitar, and one as an overhead. I agree, the high hat is too loud. I think I will try putting some duck tape on the cymbals. THe problem is, being all done live, the instruments and me are all real close. Thanks! Walter
 
huumm...

here's what i would do Walter..watch the gain staging in the mics that might be picking up more bleed...and def bring that hihat down in the mix...it sounds good but its way too loud...im not sure wether or not its a presence issue (if it is you could do what you're saying with the tape and all), but i doubt it..instead of doing that experiment with the gain, or simply bring it down in the mix, it should be ok...i wouldnt fret over the rest Walter, but thats me and im listening through crappie computer monitors...it sounds good from here!
 
diogo said:
huumm...

here's what i would do Walter..watch the gain staging in the mics that might be picking up more bleed...and def bring that hihat down in the mix...it sounds good but its way too loud...im not sure wether or not its a presence issue (if it is you could do what you're saying with the tape and all), but i doubt it..instead of doing that experiment with the gain, or simply bring it down in the mix, it should be ok...i wouldnt fret over the rest Walter, but thats me and im listening through crappie computer monitors...it sounds good from here!
Click to expand...


I am not sure what "gain staging" means. Are you saying I find the frequency of the high hat on the eq, and bring it down? That is the only way I think I could bring it down. It bleeds heavily into the guitar mics, when I record acoustic. When I record with my electric guitars, I put the guitar amp about 6 feet behind me, and face it away from me. That works alot better for the bleeding. THanks! Walter
 
I would just change the mic placement so that the hi-hat in the OH mic is less prominent. You could also try eqing out some of that high end shrillness from that particular channel. Otherwise, nice sound.
 
Walter Tore said:
I am not sure what "gain staging" means. Are you saying I find the frequency of the high hat on the eq, and bring it down? That is the only way I think I could bring it down. It bleeds heavily into the guitar mics, when I record acoustic. When I record with my electric guitars, I put the guitar amp about 6 feet behind me, and face it away from me. That works alot better for the bleeding. THanks! Walter
Click to expand...

Walter, simply dial down a bit of gain on the pre thats capturing the high hat...dont dial so much...try less. i think thats what gain staging means (the amount u use), but dont quote me on that ;)

u could also eq some of high end out like you and rectechmic said..that might work..but besides that, i would still try to make the high hat a tad less present...its taking over the mix. otherwise you're there, no need for other worries. it sounds very good (from here - computer speakers)...the bleeding you're getting is just fine, and the mix is quite "together"...thats what i think anyway, but i really like your stuff so im a bit biased. everything sounds just fine, just try making the high hat no so much in your face...i would try to use less gain on that particular pre, or simply push the track volume knob down when mixing the song on the software you're using (try this first)...eq some high end out, but i would avoid that unless the other stuff doesnt work at all.
 
thanks for all that info diogo! I will mess around with it. I am also thinking of putting a blanket over the snare and high hat, with a mic under the blankets. It is fun messing around, trying to get a good live recording! Walter
 
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