Maybe the dumbest questions ever...

[NYMorningstar]

I didn't get a chance to listen but from looking at the picture I would just fold the bottom pillow and place the mics right on it hanging off the end a little so you will capture the floor reflections too. I'd also switch the orientation you play in(end to end, not side to side) to have the long part of the room behind you.

When you get your mic stands play in front of the curtains. That may also sound pretty nice or maybe stand up that mattress in the corner and try that. Experiment... Aside from room treatment, the biggest improvement in my sound came from changing to Rhode NT5 condensor mics.

 

[Monkey Allen]

why no stereo bar? It seems to work pretty well. Do you ever use your c-2s for anything else... ever use just 1 instead of a stereo recording? I've actually used them on vocals and i thought it was ok...

Yeah sometimes I use just one. I think I never used the stereo bar because...well...I never really saw what good it would do. But I understand now. It's in Australia right now...anyway...hey could you link me or post some of your work with the C2's? I'd like to hear.

I didn't get a chance to listen but from looking at the picture I would just fold the bottom pillow and place the mics right on it hanging off the end a little so you will capture the floor reflections too. I'd also switch the orientation you play in(end to end, not side to side) to have the long part of the room behind you.

When you get your mic stands play in front of the curtains. That may also sound pretty nice or maybe stand up that mattress in the corner and try that. Experiment... Aside from room treatment, the biggest improvement in my sound came from changing to Rhode NT5 condensor mics.

I saw some Rhode NT5 was $220 or thereabouts...and then the matched pair was $400 odd....is the $220 just for a single mic??

I intend to buy maybe some AKG small diaprahm mics...but I'm not sure what model yet. I'll certainly experiment with location and mic placement when I get my stands.

 

[WhiteStrat]

Aside from room treatment, the biggest improvement in my sound came from changing to Rhode NT5 condensor mics.

Me too--in the same order. Before dealing with the room, I don't think I'd have noticed the difference in mics. So I'm glad I did. Then I moved to the Rode NT5's and just love 'em.

 

[Monkey Allen]

WhiteStrat...care to comment on the acoustic 30 second demos I posted?

(Or anyone else)

 

[NYMorningstar]

I saw some Rhode NT5 was $220 or thereabouts...and then the matched pair was $400 odd....is the $220 just for a single mic??

The $220 would be for just one and $400 sounds about right for the matched pair. I use a pair for overheads on drums, wind and/or acoustic instruments and a large diapragm condensor for vocals.

 

[Monkey Allen]

Man that's some heavy dough to roll for a set of microphones...they had want to sound pretty amazing. I guess no point in using them unless you had a good space to record in.

 

[WhiteStrat]

Man that's some heavy dough to roll for a set of microphones...they had want to sound pretty amazing. I guess no point in using them unless you had a good space to record in.

FWIW--eBay goes down to $300 for the pair (new to slightly used) and I paid just over $200 for my pair. Once you decide you want something, you just have to be patient and start sniffin' around...

 

[Monkey Allen]

Then with ebay you have the whole quality control aspect to worry about. Either way...new mic's are in the mix for me shortly.

 

[tojo]

hey Monkey Allen, here's a song of mine I recorded entirely with the C-2s. I'm pretty sure I used one of them for vocals too just for the fun of it. This is really just a fun acoustic version of the song so I messed around a lot. Let me know what you think of the quality of the sound (i don't mean like the quality of my voice otherwise I'd be setting myself up for some real criticism haha

anyways here's the link if you want to check it out
http://www.lightningmp3.com/live/file.php?id=15221

 

[Monkey Allen]

Hey tojo...those acoustic tones sound great to me...a very pro and clean sound...that's what I aspire to...something of that quality. Nice song too tojo. Any more?

 

[tojo]

really? They sound good? I just slapped on my acoustic thinking I'll make a fun acoustic version and do what I feel like for one of my songs...

thanks!
oh i've got lots more songs but not many have been done with the c-2s... would you like to hear some drums that were done with them? (its the drums from the electric version of the song i already posted)

 

[Monkey Allen]

Sure tojo...although I will never get into the realm of drum recording, I'll have a listen.

What other mics do you have?

 

[Erockrazor]

Allen, the tracks sound good. I don't know exactly what you dont like about them. Your playing sounds good to me. I might use a thicker pick. If youre strumming by the bridge, try strumming above the sound hole.

I thought the track with the bass rolloff sounded the worst. It was all pick and treble action. I like a some lower freq's in my acoustic. "Tell Me" the acoustic sounds good to me, and everything sounds good too.Your vocals are great. They sit just right and you're a really good singer! Maybe try light reverb and compression on the guitar? The thin pick (i think it is on "tell me") comes through the mix good as an acoustic.

Have you identified what you don't like about the sound yet? It's pleasing to my ears.

Honestly, I dont think I will ever be satisfied with my acoustic guitar tone. It kinda sucks!

Again, good luck!

 

[Monkey Allen]

Thanks for listening Erockrazor...I think what I don't like about the tone of my acoustic is its kind of erratic nature...I have heard other people's that sound very tight...for me it's almost like there are razor blades on my pick. Also I think I have always had a problem tuning the bastards...I can never seem to get a nice resonant low E sound and the B string is a nightmare...I think that's part of it. I think Whitestrat opsted some very nice acoustic guitar with a warm rich and resonant low E string (I'm not forgetting that his playing was quite superb either). My guitars aren't completely shit...but they aren't great either. Also...perhaps my recording locations leave a lot to be desired. Why don't you post some examples of your acoustic stuff??? I'd like to listen.

Thanks for the advice too...I look forward to the day when I can build my home studio and get things going properly.

 

[tojo]

I agree with erockrazor, they are good tones.

maybe you should experiment and try a different kind of guitar strings?

 

[NYMorningstar]

I agree with erockrazor, they are good tones.

maybe you should experiment and try a different kind of guitar strings?

I agree. Try some medium(.013) Martin acoustic SP phosphor bronze strings for maximizing your tone.

 

[Monkey Allen]

Thanks tojo and NYM...I think I currently have Martin SP 80/20 Bronze light medium .0125 - .055 on there.

On a side note...and the answer to this could vary greatly depending on what you are playing and how you play it for that song...but where do you think a good tracking level is on the metre for let's say an open string chord acoustic guitar song? You obviously don't want it sitting right on 0db....but also you don't want it too soft...I'm thinking somewhere around -12db or -10db...maybe -8....-6...? I dunno. What do you reckon?

 

[tojo]

argh! I've been trying to figure this out too! On another thread people are saying you shouldn't let any of your tracks get louder than -18dbfs and then you have "more headroom" whatever that means. I think that's what they've been saying... but when you say a good tracking level... do you mean how high the meter is on your software mixer ?

 

[Monkey Allen]

Yeah tojo...I mean when I turn on my mic and arm a track (have it on record) I look at the track's meter going up and down with the sound of my strumming. The meter has an indication in db from something like -39, -36, -33, -30, -27, -24, -21, -18, -15, -12, -9, -6, -3....0db....that's when I solo a track...see here:

The area circled in red is the soloed track with the meter as described above in 3db intervals.

When I track (record) this meter also shows up in the area circled green.

When I play back however the area circeld in green shows these intervals:

db in the middle and then above and below that...-9, -6, -3, db...

So if you look at the image above...the A Drums track is playing back at somewhere between -27 and -24...in the red circle....BUT at about -3, -6 in the green circle....I don't understand that.

Can you shed any light?

On this current project actually....all the levels are around -24 (in the main out track meter)....so it is quite quiet. But I am happy with the music...obviously I want to try to make it louder.

My approach will be to try to boost each track with compression (a field full of danger because I have only the most vague idea what I am diong with compression) and then to put some kind of boosting plugin on the main output...THEN to boost it a little more in mastering (for want of a less sophisticated word)....but the whole time I will be trying to keep any unwanted sound down...I don't want to just jack up sounds willy nilly...I want all the tracks to keep their dynamic qualities...their lows and highs.

As far as headroom....I think headroom is something like how many db before 0db/ distortion and clipping you have up your sleeve so you can raise the signal........and something to do with how far you can raise the signal before unwanted noise starts to creep into the track (noise like hiss and what not).

What's your take on my red and green meters??

 

[tojo]

I think I see what your talking about. This is funny because the other thread I am on (at this exact moment actually) talks a lot about this and they've been helping me out. And I don't have a clue about compression either! Anyways I don't have a lot of knowledge on sonar... but here's what i could be (i could be WAY off):

there are differen't types of meters... if you read farviews posts on the last page (page 2) of this thread

https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?p=3037342&posted=1#post3037342

it'll explain them. I think maybe your meters are two different kinds of meters in Sonar... Farview was talking something about dbvu meters and dbfs meters both were different... But what I learned is that the avg level you want to record at is -18dbfs apparently. You want to keep the sound around there so when it peaks (which i'm pretty sure means the loudest you play) can be louder and the softer will be under -18dbfs.

is this making any sense to you? I think it's finally starting to make sense for me.