MSH-4 Tube mic test

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Well I hope these mics do what I'm hoping for,I just ordered a matched set of the 10's. I have been really into messing with recording acoustic guitar and vocals, one mic,one take. I want my recording to sound like your in the room with me. Sort of like the old bluegrass single mic recordings. Anyway I'll surely post a recording or two when I get them.
 
That's definitely a decent sound. I like it better than the non tube msh samples I've heard.
 
funckyfinger said:
Well I hope these mics do what I'm hoping for,I just ordered a matched set of the 10's. I have been really into messing with recording acoustic guitar and vocals, one mic,one take. I want my recording to sound like your in the room with me. Sort of like the old bluegrass single mic recordings. Anyway I'll surely post a recording or two when I get them.
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I think the MSH-4 is especially good at that. Try pointing it straight up/down, about a foot or so in front of you, at sound hole level. It'll sound like you're still playing.

Paj
8^)
 
Timothy Lawler said:
Totally the opposite of steel string acoustics.

Tim
Click to expand...

So, as a general rule, with steel strings mic on the
neck side?
 
You have to realize that, while the mics are nice (I have at least one of each and two pairs), the main reason that recording sounds great is the playing. The technique, attack and phrasing that Tim utilizes makes a nice recording easy to achieve. I think the mics are phemoninal at that price and use them frequently but you gotta give it up for the player, that's the main ingredient!
 
The timing of this could not be better for me; I just bought two matched pairs and an MSH-4... :D

Beautiful work, Tim.

Did you do the Bach arrangement? I've not heard it played like that before; it's a very nice and unusual rendition. What a clear and warm sound that is; good articulation and each note is well defined without any sibilance..

The steel string guitar clip has that round glass thing going you can sometimes hear in some of the older David Bromberg work. You can hear it on his Midnight on the Water album. That album (along with Leo Kottke's Greenhouse album) kicked me right in the back pockets and got me started. You've captured some of the essence of that acoustic lead sound.

Thanks!
 
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Brackish said:
So, as a general rule, with steel strings mic on the
neck side?
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With a single mic, especially a cardioid, straight out from the neck joint is the best place to start IMO. You can make minor adjustments from there. Too far up the neck and you'll lose your bass response, too near the sound hole and the recording will be boomy.
 
Big Kenny said:
You have to realize that, while the mics are nice (I have at least one of each and two pairs), the main reason that recording sounds great is the playing. The technique, attack and phrasing that Tim utilizes makes a nice recording easy to achieve. I think the mics are phemoninal at that price and use them frequently but you gotta give it up for the player, that's the main ingredient!
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So true. Tim could make a C1000 through a Behringer sound golden.
 
Tim:

Superb performance!
The best nylon sound I ever heard on your recordings.

And...As I am a "non classical player" and as your playing is ultra clean on nylon,a question: I cannot recognize if you play one or two tracks on Bach version (I suppose melodie and bass lines are on same track).(right?)

And mic sounds good, clean and defined.

Ciro
 
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tdukex said:
So true. Tim could make a C1000 through a Behringer sound golden.
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Um... I guess that means I can't blame the mic for everything any more, huh?
:confused:

:D
 
Big Kenny,

I was just going to say the same thing before I read your post. This should show everyone that good solid playing of quality music trumps the equipment nine times out of ten. Not saying the mics aren't good, just saying this music would sound good recorded on a 4-track cassette recorder circa 1987. I have stuff my guitarist brother did back in the late 80's on a tascam something or other 4 track using some radio shack mics that sound better than a lot of what people out here post. That's not a knock on anyone and I'm not pointing fingers, just saying you gotta be able to play and write, the music and song trumps everything else.
 
Thanks for all the comments. Sorry not to be back sooner…

Brackish –
[So, as a general rule, with steel strings mic on the
neck side?]
Click to expand...
That’s where I usually end up

Big Kenny, Treeline, tdukex, Caotico, Ciro, EDAN – Thanks for the great comments.

Treeline, Yeah it’s my Bach arrangement, but I just moved the upper voice back an 8th note from the original so not really much arranging there. By the “round glass thing” do you mean it sounds like it’s done with a slide? Just .009 slinky string bending on this one.

Ciro, on the Bach it’s just one track.

Big Ray and funckyfinger – here are clips of the original wav files. No processing, just dithered down to 16 bits. Overall IMO the mic's +'s: fat tone and the way it handles transients; -'s: kind of eccentric in its self noise - different at different times ranging from almost none to a bit of rumble when it was on a 100' cable in my larger room (Bach), to a bit of hiss when used in my smaller monitoring room (Blues). All in all I like it and am going to get a second one.

Bach wav clip

Blues wav clip One gtr on each side of the stereo file.

Tim
 
"Big Ray and funckyfinger – here are clips of the original wav files"

Thanks so much. The samples are downloading now so I haven't heard them but I don't need to.I got my msh10's yesterday and was blown away. I will surely buy the 4's soon!
 
Timothy Lawler said:
... By the “round glass thing” do you mean it sounds like it’s done with a slide? Just .009 slinky string bending on this one.
...
Click to expand...

Nope; I was referring to a kind of liquid shimmering quality to the tone. It's definitely a fretted tone, but one with a lot of midrange overtones going on. I was thinking of a glass harmonica thing going on. Click here for the album and a few clips.
 
Ah, I gotcha. Thanks.

"...a kind of liquid shimmering quality to the tone." I think you've got some potential ad copy there mshilarious. :cool:

Tim
 
I replaced the nylon string mp3 with the raw file if anyone's interested. No EQ, no verb, just brought up the level to peak at -.5 dB. Same link as in the first post but I'll put it here too. In comparing the two files I thought the verb was making it too dark and the low EQ was kind of smearing it.

MSH4 on nylon string - no processing

Tim
 
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