Feedback on 12-string recording - please

[billv]

Been working on getting a good 12-string sound and would greatly appreciate any feedback from forum members. Here are the particulars:

Mics - AT3035 and Oktava MK012. Oktava pointed at 12th fret about 18" away. AT at a height of 4', angled down in front of the bridge at a distance of 2.5'. AT panned right 20%, Octava panned left 20%.

Processing - Decreased frequencies below 160 hz by 2db; Added some limiting to control peaks; added some of Audition's Studio Reverb for ambience.

Please ignore the performance. My focus was on getting the sound, so I mostly played around with an improvised version of a song I am working on. Also, there are a few pops in the recording. I occasionally get them from Adobe Audition when recording 24-bit tracks. I suspect that the root of the problem are my old hard drives. i am upgrading to new SATA drives in the next week or 2 and will re-optimize my system.

Here's the tune:

The file is pretty big (~8MB). Wanted to keep the bitrate fairly high for quality's sake. Let me know if the size is a problem...

Thanks for any feedback or suggestions, good or bad, that you may have. I've gotten a lot of great information from this forum, and I truly appreciate any comments!

Bill

 

[David Katauskas]

Other than some minor clipping, it has a great sound. Very full and rich. My guess is that you are playing in a treated room?

 

[Jack Real]

Hi

Very nice playing and recording. I've enjoy listening to it.

Nice work,

Jack Real.

 

[billv]

Other than some minor clipping, it has a great sound. Very full and rich. My guess is that you are playing in a treated room?

Actually, I recorded this in my ancient basement. I did hang a "memory foam" mattress pad up in a u-shape, placed the mics in the middle, and sat facing into the U. The mics then did not get much reflection behind them, but got some ambience from the wall behind me.

Bill

 

[hoursonend]

Actually, I recorded this in my ancient basement. I did hang a "memory foam" mattress pad up in a u-shape, placed the mics in the middle, and sat facing into the U. The mics then did not get much reflection behind them, but got some ambience from the wall behind me.

Bill

Sounds like a very cool idea, will listen the clip when I have the time

Stan.

 

[boomtap]

I like it, nice work. Is it clipping, or is that just my lame laptop?

I would listen to this again and agian which is something I don't do alot, but it really holds your intrest even as a solo insterment.

 

[billv]

I think you all are correct in detecting some clipping. It did get a bit hot when I banged on the guitar... I'll pay closer attention to it when I do the "real thing".

 

[Dogman]

Other than some pops from the clipping, as David stated, it does sound like you captured the sound well. It's very full. No background noise. I like the tune also.
Ed

 

[Neeps]

Other than the clipping it sounds good to me... and some nice playing too... got any more?

 

[xfinsterx]

Im under the impression it is nearly impossible to screw up a 12 string recording.

Just for fun me and my buddy Dave tried it once!

Its sounded good with a 57 through the board, it sounded goodin a dead room with (shudder) a kick mic! (ok not good, but certainly not bad)

So again....Im under the impression it is nearly impossible to screw up a 12 string recording.

-Finster

 

[billv]

Im under the impression it is nearly impossible to screw up a 12 string recording.

Just for fun me and my buddy Dave tried it once!

Its sounded good with a 57 through the board, it sounded goodin a dead room with (shudder) a kick mic! (ok not good, but certainly not bad)

So again....Im under the impression it is nearly impossible to screw up a 12 string recording.

-Finster

That means there's hope for me to get a decent sound the next time I record!

 

[billv]

Other than the clipping it sounds good to me... and some nice playing too... got any more?

I am hoping to get some more finalized performances recorded in the next several weeks. I'll post 'em when I get 'em.

Bill

 

[XLR]

Hey, nice playing Bill. Good sounding guitar and recording. And the mattress/reflection thing is smart.

it is nearly impossible to screw up a 12 string recording

After recording lots of guitars I'd have to say that I think it's VERY easy to record ANYTHING badly, heh-heh. I suspect Finster has a kind of "recording guardian angel" who tweaks mic positions, etc when he's not looking to prevent him from tracking anything badly - so don't listen to him on this one.

Thanks for the mic positioning info... that's always interesting to know when listening to a gtr track. I've noticed that with mic's positioned similarly that time-aligning the tracks sometimes is beneficial and sometimes doesn't matter... so I'm curious if you time-aligned them on this one.

Tim

 

[ecktronic]

Yeah nice sound. I like the string sqeaks, they remind me of Ben Harper.
Nice playing also.
Ive heard that using a wooden floor or wooden sheet below the player can add nice reflections but i suppose you might need really nice room acoustics.
Some heavyish compression at around -3dB threshold could help stop clipping at trackin and also retain the dynamics.

 

[Nakatira]

I`m impressed, both by sound and playing.
the clipping is mentioned so I wont say much.

But other than that its really well recorded, it sounds nice and relaxing to me.

I always have a hard time playing the 12-string, but you seem to do it with a breeze.

cheers mate

 

[billv]

Yeah nice sound. I like the string sqeaks, they remind me of Ben Harper.
Nice playing also.
Ive heard that using a wooden floor or wooden sheet below the player can add nice reflections but i suppose you might need really nice room acoustics.
Some heavyish compression at around -3dB threshold could help stop clipping at trackin and also retain the dynamics.

Good thoughts on the compression. I suspect that I may have overpowered the mic pre. Next time, I will make it a little less hot.