First posting of my recording attempt

[Oldwood]

I read the big mic thread and gave the lessons a try-out. I recorded a Blues jam on my laptop. I used four strategically placed mics into a Mackie mixer, then to my USB external sound card. I would have liked to have had four (or more) channels going in so I could adjust levels afterward. I will next time. I had a hard time mixing because the volume of the music was making it hard to hear my headphones. I should probably get noise canceling headphones. Anyway, if I get some comments maybe they'll help me improve next time. I'm the guy on the quiet guitar on the left side.

Little Angel

 

[XLR]

Great band. I'm listening on a laptop since it's early AM and can't fire up the studio speakers yet without waking my wife, so I'm not hearing the low end yet.

The recording gives the feel that you're there in the club having a good time, but got the table next to the drumset. Excellent guitar, vocals, harp. The recording's good enough that even though it's 7 mins long it never lost my interest.

Drums are overpowering the mix. Singer sounds far away, like it was mic'd from the PA? It's still clear though.

Raw live feel. Nice job.

Tim

 

[Oldwood]

Thanks Tim. The vocals were indeed recorded through the PA, I had my KSM27 on a table right under one of the PA speakers, pointed up at it. Kind of a Vocal/room mic. I had an SM57 on the kick. The kick has a closed front, so I miced the back. Other than that I had two cheapo dynamics in an xy config in front of the stage.

Next time I'll have my Firebox and tower computer so I'll get four channels goin' in. That way I'll be able to adjust the levels after I get it captured. I should get some better headphones too.

I listened to all the songs I recorded so many times, parts here and there, and didn't realize it was that long. I guess I shoulda just cut out a sample and posted that.

Anyway, thanks again for listening.

 

[XLR]

Just listened on larger speakers in my studio. Had listened before on my tiny laptop spkrs that act as a high pass filter and now that I can hear the lower part of the spectrum that drumset really takes over the mix. There’s also some general mix buildup in the 250-350 Hz range to my ear, as tends to happen so easily. I’d imagine those things would be difficult to control w/headphones near the stage in a 2 track mix, especially if you’re playing too. Your approach of tracking 4 channels next time and mixing later is a good idea.

Good job with the setup you had.

Tim

 

[Oldwood]

Thanks again Tim. Yeah, it was hard to hear, plus when I was playing I couldn't make any adjustments. I had my amp up on a chair and was standing right in front of it, so it sounded ok at the time.

I emailed the song link to the other guitar player, and he liked the way it turned out, but had the same remarks about the drums and my guitar being too quiet. We'll see what happens next Thursday.