Recording my son ...

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K-dub

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A side project I'm working on with my 23 year old son ... recorded live.

Music and lyrics by Bryan White.

Hope you enjoy!

Kev-
 
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Lovely Sound! and voice!

Its loud and clear! :)

How did you record the vocals?

What mic you using?

Im having trouble recording mine... any tips?
 
Thanks Scott!

The acoustic, an Ovation Applause, was recorded with two MXL603 small condenser mics sent through a Peavy VMP2 tube amp. Bry was standing, and I pointed one mic at just behind the sound hole and the other was pointed where the neck and body meet. They were placed just about 12-16" back from the sound source.

The vocal is a Karma K58 tube mic w/ a GE 5 Star tube retrofit. It's going through a Trident Celebration channel strip that I picked up on the cheap from Guitar Center. It is positioned in plane w/ the other two sound sources in order to tame phase, which is very tricky in these types of situations ... nearly unavoidable ... and care must be taken to get as much of it out as possible.

Hope that helps.

K-
 
btw ... what trouble are you having when recording your vocal?
 
Thanks for the information about the mics etc :)

The trouble im having is to have the vocal track crisp and solid in the centre of the mix. But at the same time have a nice stereo sound.

I usually record the vocals 3 times and pan 1 to the left ear, 1 to the right ear and 1 to the centre but lower the volume on the centre to give it a wide sound but this obviously loses the power because of the "chorus" effect it creates.

I came across this song that this guy covered and i would like to acheive a simlar effect.... http://www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?songid=9520242&q=hi&newref=1

I like to record metal/rock music but occassionally soft acoustic...

Heres a link to my music Artificial Mastermind songs

Im not the best singer but Hey! iv heard alot worse out there haha.

You can hear how the 3 vocals are on "the same old story"

As i said above the link to that Other guy... Id like my vocals to be punchy, centered and crisp...

Do i record vocals in Mono or stereo?
Use compression etc?

My strong part of recording is the music itself but when it comes to vocals its weak....

Please help :)
 
Ah ... got it. First thing is flaunt yourself and don't be afraid. I used to try to hide myself in trickery until I realized I couldn't escape myself.

It's okay ... John Lennon felt the same ... he hated his voice, which is why it's so buried in doubling ... and he became a precise doubler.

When I started recording, I buried my voice because I was shy about it ... but then eventually realized no serious mix hides a voice -- heck, Dylan was front and forward singing out of tune. It is what it is.

So -- because I like a natural singing sound to my voice - I learned to take my voice in an up center solo track --- loud --- no gimmick required, unless it fits the arrangement intended ... then I'll mangle it sonically as much as I must.

My son just took my lead and ran to the extreme with it. Me? Not so purist.
 
This is freaking awesome and your son has a really great voice. The only thing that I think that needs to be done is have the vocals sit just a little better with the guitar. It seems they sit on top with no "glue" to tie them together with the guitar. It might just be me though so take that with a grain of salt. Great song though.

Trump
 
Thanks T! ... when I come to final mixing, I'll look into that.

@Scott- I wasn't at a computer where I could listen last night, but I gave a listen this morning.

The vocalist above recorded a single mono track, is fairly heavily compressed, and then added a delay ... and eq'd his vocal almost totally in the mid-range in order to give it a "through the telephone" like quality.

The guitar was tracked twice and panned hard stereo.
 
Great detail on the guitar. Great detail on the vocals. Nice performances. I liked the song even though it's not really my style.

My nits...

The vocal and guitar sound like they're in different places. The singer sounds 20 feet in front of the guitar.

The mix is lopsided until the strumming starts. It's even a bit lopsided after that. Not a big deal though. Given the tracks I'm not sure what you could do even if you wanted to.

The delay on the vocal has just a hint of your "singing down a paper towel roll" problem. Just hints of it here and there.

Guitars might be just a bit sizzly.

You can hear the pick hitting the guitar body a few places. It lends a little realism, but it happens quite a bit.
 
I think the "paper towel tube" may be a phase issue, Trip. I'll see if I can tighten that up.

Thanks for the ears. Good stuff ... and you know I listen.

K-
 
I agree about the mid rangy honk on the vocals. Much easier to hear on voice than something else.
 
You agree on the mid-range honk, C? With whom?

I must have missed that ... as I so often do.

:)
 
Hey Kev, he sounds good - nothing like you! :D

J/k. Seriously he is a good vocalist, good range with a pleasing sonic quality. Nice tune too
 
solid performance and recording, although i think it's got that chinese mic brightness thing going on.
 
Actually, most of the bright comes from the fact that I EQ'd the heck out of the top end to give it more sparkle. I probably have a 12db boost going on above 8k ...

On it's own, it was rather dull sounding.

Thanks for the comment though!
 
No question about where your son inherited his talent, Kev.;)
This is really good. The acoustic sounds wonderful. Never thought an Ovation could sound that good. The guitar playing and the voice are great. You and your boy should record more together.:)
 
Bry thinks it's the strings that made the sound. Even he mentioned the Ovation sounded better than it ever has before.

Thanks for the kind words, Joe!

K-
 
Wow! It's excellent, perfect.

Great sound - you and your son have something good happening here.
 
Thanks G!

All we try to do in audio engineering is try to accurately capture the sound and get out of the way of the artist ...

It's best if we simply don't fuck things up. :)

K-
 
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