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Sound quality of new recording gear?


Lars68

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I spent a little bit of money on some new recording gear. I used to record on an iPad with an Apogee mic, no external soundcard.

I wanted to step this up a bit quality wise so I bought an Apogee One external soundcard (found one refurbished from Thomann at third of the price). Then I got an Aston Origin condenser mic (an entry level mic from a brand new British company).

 

Here is what it sounds like with a tiny bit of reverb added. What do you think? The recording is done with the mic placed in front of me, about halfway up between my mouth and guitar. So it is only a one track recording.

 

https://soundcloud.com/lars1968/va-r-stad-ny

 

Lars

 

By the way, the guitar is a Martin D-28, sorry about that...

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Thanks for doing that, and for the judicious use of the reverb. . . I don't suppose there's any way for you to do a little sample like that with your old Apogee MiC placed right next to your new set up(?) That would make for an easier comparison of your new upgrade.

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Sounds good Lars

 

Have recently bought a couple of gadgets and now the winter is moving in I’ll record a bit more than I have been doing

 

Initially as a way to listen back to myself and see what work needs done home recording has turned into a fun pasttime for me

 

While GarageBand is very good I think the best results I’ve ever got where from using the laptop and an interface , an going to put reaper on there . I have audacity but quite a few people have suggested that there’s more future for me by learning the reaper software

Trolling through the amount of stuff these things carry is a nuisance and why GarageBand is so quick and easy but I’ll wnjoy the challenge hopefully

First time round I didn’t have enough inputs to do two mics

Plugged the guitar in and recorded the pickup which isn’t my ideal

Then used the one mic halfway technique that you have adopted but I’ve a nice little mic now for the guitar

Two mics , two channels so I don’t have to use the same effects on both guitar and vocals when mixing

 

I’ll keep an eye on your stuff and I should have a couple things done by next week

BK also is pretty competent at this stuff

Sal gets great results too

 

Makes practice a bit more fun for me

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I am in the quest for a recording setup myself!

 

This sounds very natural to me. But, if one is trying to get the best recorded sound, I think you will need to record guitar and voice separately. Although, I have achieved some very good recordings on one track, alone. Yet, that was mostly luck because I am no recording expert.

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Thanks for the feedback! I also think it sounds pretty natural. I realize that from a sound quality perspective, recording voice and guitar seperately is a better approach. However, there is just something that appeals to me about capturing a moment in time, warts and all. I like the performance thing, I guess. I'm not necessarily always in favor of fidelity. One of my weaknesses also is singing, and recording on one track would force me to redo the whole thing when making singing mistakes. In my case that is a good thing, because it means more practice. By the way, how was the singing on this tune? Decent?

 

Lars

 

Edit: I should add that I first tried a soundcard with two inputs, enabling two mics, one for guitar and one for voice. However, I soon realized I needed to keep the amount of gear down to a bare minimum. It just takes too much time to get everything set up and ready to go. That is also why I have opted not to use a laptop. Too much hassle. Now the mic stays attached to the mic stand along with the soundcard (which came with a mic stand adapter). All I have to do to get going is to place the mic stand infront of the chair, and hook up the iPad cable. Instant recording in less than 30s. This is important to me!

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Thanks for doing that, and for the judicious use of the reverb. . . I don't suppose there's any way for you to do a little sample like that with your old Apogee MiC placed right next to your new set up(?) That would make for an easier comparison of your new upgrade.

 

I'm not where my gear is right now, but here is a very comparable recording made with the same guitar, same mic position, same reverb added, but with only the Apogee Mic (1st generation, not the 96K one) straight into the iPad. The song is different, but most of my songs tend sound the same anyway... [biggrin]

 

https://soundcloud.com/lars1968/red-dirt-of-dixie-new

 

When I compare the new setup to the old using good headphones or my floor speakers, I hear less harshnes and a more natural sound from the new gear. Per dollar spent, it is perhaps not a very big difference, but one I value a lot never the less. Playing my old recordings in my car was close to painful for the ears. The new recordings sound much better across a wider ranch of speakers/headphones.

 

The Aston mic is know for being bright and natural sounding, without being shrill or harsh. I think it lives up to that reputation.

 

Lars

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Yes I agree it sounds good - and natural.I think we are so so lucky to have this technology around to record cheaply at such a relatively high quality level.Good one Lars-liked hearing the Swedish too!Even the videos I do just with the zoom camera have an ok sound mostly and very good occasionally.

 

Just an aside.I bought my first iPad about a month ago.An iPad pro.Mainly to use for drawing / digital painting with the Apple pencil (painting is my other hobby). I've been really impressed by what can be done on it. I've packed my oils, acrylics and watercolors away for a while and have gone digital.

I'm going to start exploring music apps now.It came with garageband.

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