New acoustic guitar!!

  • Thread starter Thread starter GT
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GT

GT

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Hey all,

A couple of firsts for me.

First cobalt blue guitar I ever owned.

My first acoustic/electric.

First time through smart media card reader, direct to computer.

First wav to mp3 conversion.

Anyway, here's an old James Taylor song to break in my new guitar.

With all these new variables, really need feedback, give me hell!!

Song: Secret O Life

http://www.nowhereradio.com/gt/singles

Thanks

GT
 
Heres hell.

:D


The vibe is lite fm, supermarkety, and not really my bag.
The bass is a bit boomy on certain notes though musical. I like the chromatic rif you finish off the verses with. Are you a bass player? I would hone the bass tone more and make it more a feature of the song.
The vocals are a bit lackluster. Maybe add some harmonies, sing more dynamically, or perhaps hire a singer. :)
The percussion is tasteful though barely heard. It needs to be louder and probably more compressed.
The guitar is really not bad at all. Decent, mellow and appropriate playing. As far as tone though its a bit too midrangy and thin. It sounds like a j-station or some amp modeler.

Keep on keepin on.
 
JSP,

Wow, maybe I should have asked for Hell Lite!!

That's me on all the instruments.

My main complaint about this mix, untill you chimed in was the bass was a little loud. You are a tad more picky than I.

I don't agree about this being supermarket, Hell I've heard Steely Dan a Publix.

Man, picture the two of us, working side by side in a recording studio. You could cut the tension with a chain saw.

Thanks for the listen, I go cry now.

Anyone else? I'm ready for another thrashing!

GT
 
I apologize. I take back the supermarket comment. There is actually lots of good music played in supermarkets. It just has a bit of that mellow adynamic vibe. Just my personal bias. There are many who dig that kind of thing.

I agree that the bass is a little loud...in the wrong places. Its not compressed enough and jumps out of the mix at times and at other times gets lost. As far as bass tone, I would go for something more rigorous and smooth, less shifty in terms of frequencies. Something that stays pretty much in the bass region. It could be that more compression or a different kind of compression will make it sit better.

BTW, I said nice things about the guitar and bass playing. And the percussion sounded good, just pick up the volume.
 
JSP,

Thanks for taking the time to do a solid critque. Good or bad, I appreciate it.

If I send you a sawbuck, can I buy another star? hehe.

For some reason, I haven't ever used compression on my bass, what compressor do you recomend?

I'm cool about the dislike, If I haven't given up now, there's no hope that I will ever give up. Like the song says "Try not to try to hard".

GT
 
The performance was right on. I remember that song well.

I know you just got a new guitar and you want to hear how it sounds, but I think it was a little too loud in the mix relative to everything else.


Twist
 
Hey, GT.

I liked the vocals alot. Well sung tune. The git was played well as usual. I thought it could have been a little warmer but, thats jmho.

The bass had some very tastfull runs and the tone sounded good to me. It needs some taming though. It gets boomy in spots. I think if you tinker with some compression to get it to sit more evenly throughout the mix, that would fix it. I don't know enough about comp to give you settings. I just experiment till I get close to what I want:D .

Nice cover. Your mixes are getting fuller. Keep posting, I like to hear what you're up to:)

Peace out,

Theron.
 
GT does JT.... what kind of signal path for the guitar? It sounds direct..

I liked the drums in the back ground. Vocally, you've got the JT thing down.
 
listening right now.....woah....you sound ALOT like mr taylor....not a bad guy to sound like ....the guitar atiny bit too loud comp to vocals..but not much...really need to reiterate..nice voice....i think i hear drums every once in a while....no ....they are there..lol...

man good job!!.
i got so caught up in how MUCH you sound like james taylor i didnt even hear the drums...thats gotta say somethin huh?..:D

now if only i can figure out how to sound like eddie vedder....


jamal
 
I'd kill to have my crap played in a supermarket...(on the overhead speakers, that is...not too crazy about gigging there).

I listened a couple of times before I read the comments, and I was surprised by 2 things.

ONE - Jusumpilgrim (who has all the tact of a nuclear warhead, but definitely knows what he's talking about) didn't mention the volume problem between the vocal and the guitar. I actually think the git is probably not too loud in the mix, but the vocal needs to come up quite a bit...have that smoooooth voice sitting WAY on top.

TWO - Jamal knows who the hell James Taylor is.

The similarity is uncanny, and it was actually the very first thing I noticed about the tune. In my book, that's a real good thing. I don't think you need a real "dynamic" vocal for this song at all...in fact, it would be out of place and a little absurd. I love your vocal, and I like the song. Turn the vocal up, compress the bass (no recommendations in that area...it just needs to be done...ALWAYS with a bass...in my uneducated opinion.

The more I listen, the more I think maybe that git needs to go down about 4db...I dunno which one (vox or guitar) to slide, but they're walking all over each other.

Other than that, this was a "lovely ride." I'd really like to hear this after you try some level adjustments, because then there are gonna' be some other (easy) adjustments that'll pop out.

I like this, and I'm not just being nice.
:D
-chris
 
Thanks a lot!!

Man, I thought with the one star rating, this thing would sink like a stone. It's good to have friends in high places.

To be honest I wasn't thrilled with the mix, but I so wanted you to hear my new acoustic I rushed things a bit.

Going smart media in has made this a whole new ball game.

I used to run from my recorder through a ten band eq to the computer sound board. Not any more.

Now I will have to do all my EQing in the MRS-4 itself, like I said whole new thing. Luckally this MRS-4 has a ten band EQ built in.
It allows two bands at once per channel.

I am going to print this thread out, so your words of wisdom won't be forgotten.

Have to go, talk more latter.

GT
 
The guitar sounds good GT.James taylor is one of my favs. and so is this tune.I love Supermarket music.....it confirms that I still have a soul and that Im not as depressed as I think I am sometimes.:D


Where does the Media card output plug into your computer?Im an idiot on this kind of stuff.I still dont have a digital input for my digital recorder,and Im way behind on the tech side of things.

Does it plug into a digital input on your sound card?
 
Kramer,

The media card plugs into a card reader, and the card reader plugs into the usb port on the computer.

The sound card in the computer is not used, as only digital information (numbers) is transfered.

It's seems like a great way not to itroduce more noise into the recording.

Since this thread is about my new acoustic, here's how I recorded it.

When I first got it, played around with the treble, and bass controls on the giutar itself, and ended up with the treble control all the way down.

The bass control on the guitar was a little more elusive on the whole good evil thing. But after about four hours of jerking it around, I decided it sounded better all the way down too.

This is still not a concrete decision.

My goal was is to make this guitar sound as natural as posible.

Then I tried it through my mixer. Sounded to sterile.

Then through my Pod. The Pod won out. Not only was it warmer, but it also came out as a stereo signal.

On the Pod I used the Vox AC-30 preset, set as clean as it could possibly go, this includes the extra drive boost on the floorboard deactivated.

Okay are you ready for this, not only did I turn the treble completely down on the guitar, but I also turned the treble completely down on the Pod.

To beef up the sound, I will have to turn up the bass. Thanks to your feedback this will be my next endevor. I think the tone control on my recorder will be the one for this fix.

New equiptment, can you dig it?!?

GT
 
GT said:
Kramer,

The media card plugs into a card reader, and the card reader plugs into the usb port on the computer.

The sound card in the computer is not used, as only digital information (numbers) is transfered.

It's seems like a great way not to itroduce more noise into the recording.

Since this thread is about my new acoustic, here's how I recorded it.

When I first got it, played around with the treble, and bass controls on the giutar itself, and ended up with the treble control all the way down.

The bass control on the guitar was a little more elusive on the whole good evil thing. But after about four hours of jerking it around, I decided it sounded better all the way down too.

This is still not a concrete decision.

My goal was is to make this guitar sound as natural as posible.

Then I tried it through my mixer. Sounded to sterile.

Then through my Pod. The Pod won out. Not only was it warmer, but it also came out as a stereo signal.

On the Pod I used the Vox AC-30 preset, set as clean as it could possibly go, this includes the extra drive boost on the floorboard deactivated.

Okay are you ready for this, not only did I turn the treble completely down on the guitar, but I also turned the treble completely down on the Pod.

To beef up the sound, I will have to turn up the bass. Thanks to your feedback this will be my next endevor. I think the tone control on my recorder will be the one for this fix.

New equiptment, can you dig it?!?

GT
Click to expand...

Do yourself a favor and check out the Sansamp Acoustic DI.
 
One of the things I do like about this mix, is the subtelty of the drums, and percusion. It kind of gives the song a little mystery. Does this sound crazy?

This is by far the lowest volume level for drums I have ever put in a mix.

GT
 
Good Call

JSP,

You got them golden ears. Mine are aluminum, much less strain on the neck.

Just to reitorate, what this recording lacked;

Compresion on the bass, I will try the compressor on my Pod, any suggestions?

Final EQ, this I think would have really made a big differance.

To my ears, a lower bass level.

No more rushed mixes!!

I will look in to the Sans Amp Acoustic DI.

GT
 
Hey GT........
Damn fine singin bro..... very nice. I think all of the fixes have been mentioned. Try a 4:1 compression on the bass...... bring down the guits just a hair..... bring up the drums/perc. I hear what you are saying about the "mystery", but i think (imho) that if you wanna do that you should probably simplify the drums. The way they are played now (which i really like) makes me struggle to hear them...... makes me want em louder. .....i dunno.....just my opinion.

What a pretty song. Ive never heard the original....... Ive missed something.

Nice job bro, stick with it .......its gonna be a real nice recording.

G:) :D
 
GT, nice work! Really captured the JT sound on this. I had to listen a second time, because the first time I got caught up in the vibe of the song, just kinda floated away. And that's a good thing!

IMHO, I like the bass as it is. At least as far as covering a JT song, because as I remember it, his sound was like that. You might try a little compression to see if it smooths out, but it isn't bad as it stands to my ears. The speakers I listened on are on the boomy side too.

Can you warm up the acoustic a little? Not so sure it's just a volume thing. I'm pretty new to recording acoustic too, and what I found gives me the sound I wanted, is recording it direct through a Boss RV-3, a magic little stompbox (digital delay and reverb) that I got specifically for steel guitar. It does wonders for acoustic as well. (use it live also) Just a touch of verb, and a very quick, short delay warms it up nicely. If you actually hear it in the song, it's too much. Perhaps you could try that with your Pod? Seems to give it punch without volume, puts the body in it for recording the acoustic sound I was looking for. I can use mine to place the acoustic where I want it in the mix, front or back.

Just a suggestion, as I know each person needs to find their own tone...

Really like this GT. Like I said, I got lost in it the first listen.

The only thing that distracted me in the mix, was the acoustic tone. It's too up front compared to everything else.
I didn't notice the drums being low, or the bass being boomy until I read the other posts...

Post it again when you get it mixed the way *you* like it.. Bet it will be a great listen. Nice singing btw.

Tom
 
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