First Time Recording Classical Guitar Critique?

Nice job overall! :D It's nice to hear from other fellow classical guitar players. :cool:

One of the true challenges of classical guitar, as you know, is that you are TOTALLY exposed. There is really NO room for error, and nothing to hide behind. Your performance, though not totally flawless, is really very good. It doesn't sound like a very easy piece. What is it?

The recording sounds nice. It covers a very wide frequency range... some very low stuff (deep tones on the bottom strings) and fairly crisp highs on the top strings. You get a nice balance of warm and crisp on the middle and high strings. The reverb is judiciously applied. I recently bought a pair of the ECM8000's myself, and have found that controlling the sound of the room is more challenging with these mics than many others, as they are VERY omnidirectional. You don't seem to have any unpleasant room sound in your recording.

My only criticisms are pretty small, really. There is a hissing throughout. I don't know where it is from, but it is quite possibly an issue with setting gain levels at some point in your chain. A quick search on the net suggests that it probably isn't a problem with your pre-amps, or anything like that.

Also, and this is just personal preference, perhaps... I like the A and E strings to be very crisp and bright sounding. Your guitar, in this recording, has those strings sounding more warm, but less defined than I like... like maybe your strings have seen better days. (maybe not, though, as the tone is okay - not dead sounding... it's just not as bright as it could/should be - maybe it's the guitar or the recording??)

... just wondering, too.... what did the track sound like without compression? Did you really need it? Maybe the compression is guilty of losing some of the crispness of the bottom strings?

What kind of guitar are you using? What kind of strings are you using? Personally, I like the D'Addario Pro Arte J46 Extra Hard Tension strings... the bottom strings are very bright, crisp, and well defined on a nice guitar.

Keep up the good work!

Chris
 
The hissing is coming from the ECM8000's I'm afraid. I A-B'd them with my AT4033 and there isn't any noise from the 4033 but the 8000's are full of hiss.

Oh well, the price you pay for the price you pay!
 
Hmmm...... I'm a little suspicious about that. The mics themselves shouldn't hiss, I don't think. I don't, however, know what to suggest as an explanation for them hissing, and not the AT4033. How did you A/B them, exactly?

Anyone else?

Chris
 
1st classical guitar piece I've heard on this forum so far.Nice tune...goes along well with the Lord of the Rings DVD I've been watching on continuous loop.Very nice but too short!Good sound to the recoeding too,A little hiss but that doesn't take away from the song or the recording.Good work!:D
 
W.I.S.C. - thanks for the support. I'm returning the hissy ECM8000's and getting an AT4040 to match my AT4033.

As for A-B'ing the 8000's I set up one mic at a a time in the exact position and exact everything. The results were "astounding" <g>

Score:

Audio-Technica 4033 - 1
Behringer ECM8000 - 0
 
Maybe the ECM8000's and the AT4033 REQUIRE different settings for optimum performance..... just a thought. I've used an AT4033, but I don't own one to check it out.

If you do a search on this BBS for the ECM800's, I don't recall anyone else complaining about them hissing, and some VERY professional and credible people (ex. Harvey Gerst) have made some VERY positive comments about them. Maybe do some more research and experimenting before you rush out to the music store....

I don't recall mine hissing either, but I'll go give another listen and double-check that.

Chris
 
Chris, yeah, I just did another A/B test and yep, the ECM8000's are the cause of the hiss. I guess they're probably OK for drum overheads but for demanding silence like a classical guitar, they don't cut it. I wish someone would've warned me but hey, maybe I'm the person warning everyone else! <g>

bbZ
 
Sounds great from here,didn't even notice any hiss.
It will sound bigger an warmer with the AT's I'd think.

Nice playing,what kind of guitar is it?

Have a great New Year,

Pete
 
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