Tryin' to Take a Step Back

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XLR

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I've been trying to find a way to make a close mic'd guitar sound farther away. This track was mic'd at 3 ft while sitting at my kitchen table. Then I tried to place it in a large room with the listener about 15 feet away using the Room Machine plug but I dunno... do you think it sounds at all realistic?

Estudio 19 - composer Julio Sagreras.

Here's the original file without the effect. raw file

If you run this through your arsenal of plugins and can get a realistic distance effect please tell me how you did it.

Tim
 
It does sound a little distant. Perhaps even 15ft. It is a little like listening to a guitarist in an almost empty Italian rest'nt.
The effect is more obvious when compared to the raw track.
You may find that the effect is too subtle for most people to grasp its intention.
Try making it OBVIOUS & then back of by increments until you're happy.
Other than that I can't offer any ideas except to record it playing at one end of a bathroom with the mic at the other - I've done just that & the natural room sound gives it some extra distance.
MHB go to the mic forum to find the stickie that explains mic types.
Re your version hat - it sounds almost submariine - bubbling up from under in a combo of the phrasing & the effect.
 
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Sagr19

I compressed the hell out of it, and then added a pretty good sized verb...dunno. It still sounds ok, but not sure it is anything like you are looking for. I like your versions, but agree that the processed one gives me an Italian Restaurant feel...not bad at all, but not sure that you are looking for that.

Nice playing Tim...it is very cool sounding. :D
 
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yeah i agree that you might want to add a touch more reverb, people arent ganna notice it as well without the raw track to compare too
 
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Try deessing a little before the room simulator. There are some squeaks that should get knocked down for a more realistic distance effect.
 
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Myhatbroke -
Was it a condenser mic?
Click to expand...
Two of them. Thanks for giving the processing a go. That’s a big spring reverb. :)

Rayc -
an almost empty Italian rest'nt
Click to expand...
It’s room-ish isn’t it? Too subtle. The tune itself is kind of Italian sounding though it’s from S Amer really. I’ve actually got a large room and with a pair a ways away it sounds reasonably spacious, but I sometimes need to do close mic'd stuff so am experimenting. Thanks for the suggestions. :cool:

Dogman – I like the sound of the compressed verb! I may try that combined with the uncompressed original attack. It reduces the zingy thing that longer software verb tails tend to have. Thanks – way to go.

Tbone- another vote for more verb. Thanks.

Mshil-
Try deessing a little before the room simulator
Click to expand...
good point. Will do. Not very realistic to be close and far at the same time. Gracias mi amigo.

Tim
 
Man I allways enjoy your playing Tim, its allways calms me down and bring me places.

I`m at work now, so I`ll give it shot later if my rehearsal doesent take all night.

Off laa the tracks I`ve heard so far, no offense to any off you.
The Raw track sounds by far hte best. :)

Maybe if you chaged miking technique, It could be easier to emulate room after wards?

anyways I really dug the piece
 
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TIM:
Good song, great performance, as usual...Well, I can´t resist to give my opinion, even far from my home and good monitors, ok? :)


I don´t feel that room simulator helps, in this case. I prefere the original, but...
Altough mics are excellent , I really would like to hear the same performance and good stereo micing re-recorded on a more "dead" room,´cause I have the impression some ambient/walls reflection are working against the guitars and very sensitive mics (maybe even micing closer can helps , but i´m not so sure about distance...)
I think this way could help, and let you free to decide about the use of reverbs/rooms.

Congratulations againg, very good playin´´

Ciro
 
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This is quite a contrast to just listening to variaxman's monster tune :D Anyway, playing is fine and guitar sounds nice. If I hadn't heard both they'd both sound great individually. But, since they are both here, the room effect sounds fine to me, some fine distance in there. I do like the in your face feel to the raw track though. Just sounds crisp and clear to me. Maybe if you used the same plugin and tried something in between :confused: Anyway, nice listen, back to the pirate party for me :D
 
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rayc said:
It does sound a little distant. Perhaps even 15ft. It is a little like listening to a guitarist in an almost empty Italian rest'nt.
The effect is more obvious when compared to the raw track.
You may find that the effect is too subtle for most people to grasp its intention.
Try making it OBVIOUS & then back of by increments until you're happy.
Other than that I can't offer any ideas except to record it playing at one end of a bathroom with the mic at the other - I've done just that & the natural room sound gives it some extra distance.
MHB go to the mic forum to find the stickie that explains mic types.
Re your version hat - it sounds almost submariine - bubbling up from under in a combo of the phrasing & the effect.
Click to expand...
HAHAHA well the guy asked for depth. I wasn't making the mic question as a noob. I was just wondering what HE used for the acoustic guitar because I've been trying to record acoustic with an sm57. :D
 
Naka, Ciro, Snake – Thank you. :) As far as mic technique, what I should probably do is start with a single narrow pattern mic at 2-3 ft so it gets the whole guitar’s sound but not much of the real room. I used an ORTF pair here. Maybe I’ll try an omni closer also, as I’ve sometimes thought they “verbized” better. Nakatira, I hope you give the processing on it a try.

Tim
 
Here's my shot:

Denoiser-LA2A (no compression, just for some warmth)-multiband set to deess, and a -1.5dB shelf cut above that range (8kHz)-room emulator at about 50% distance and 25% wet.

 
mshilarious said:
Here's my shot:

Denoiser-LA2A (no compression, just for some warmth)-multiband set to deess, and a -1.5dB shelf cut above that range (8kHz)-room emulator at about 50% distance and 25% wet.

Click to expand...


This is the only one that sounds like it is a guitar playing across the room. Nice job MS. :D

Tim's sounds like a guitar playing 3 feet away in a big room.

Dog's, well, it does sound different...... :)
 
mshilarious said:
Here's my shot:

Denoiser-LA2A (no compression, just for some warmth)-multiband set to deess, and a -1.5dB shelf cut above that range (8kHz)-room emulator at about 50% distance and 25% wet.

Click to expand...
Nice. What room emulator did you use?

Tim
 
Timothy Lawler said:
Nice. What room emulator did you use?

Tim
Click to expand...

It's UAD Realverb, which I actually don't like. I think it sounded kinda blocked in the mids here. But since I paid for the Plate 140 (which is audio heroin :o ), I haven't shelled out for Dreamverb, which is their better emulator.
 
mshil - thans for the info.

Nakatira - man, that's so lush and sweet it's going to make my past reverb cravings start up all over again. What did you use?

Tim
 
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