Jump to content
Gibson Brands Forums

Oh, this recording thing is difficult...but fun...


Lars68

Recommended Posts

As I posted about recently, I got some new recording toys, an Apogee One soundcard (for iPad) and an Aston Origin condensor mic.

I have being learning to use the new gear now for a while, and have come to the realization that making good sounding recordings is HARD!

 

I have only recorded two tracks, one voice and one guitar, and then tried to the best of my ability to get the recordings to sound as good as possible together.

I've come to the conclusion that doing this is an endless compromise. When pleased with the results,one one pair of speakers/headphones, it sounds horrible in another playback system... [biggrin]

 

Here is what I have done to the tracks:

- Applied bas-cut, both to vocals and guitar to remove sub-bas rumble and noice.

- De-essed the vocals to tame the sibliants (semi successfully...)

- Panned vocals 25% to one side, and guitar 25% to the other side to create some sense of space.

- Added a touch of compression and reverb to both tracks.

- Volume adjusted each track seperately to sound good together.

 

End results:

Track 1: https://soundcloud.com/lars1968/den-ha-r-stan-nashville-tuning (Martin guitar)

Track 2:

(Gibson guitar)

 

How does it sound to you? Natural? Any other mixing tricks I can use to improve the results? All input welcome.

 

Lars

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Going through similar manoeuvres Lars

 

I’d leave out the de esser as I think they colour things too much

Get a pop filter

 

Eq tracks before any effects are added , I found that a great tip

 

And very little is needed

Especially for a man with an acoustic guitar

 

But you’re doing what I’m doing , it is an ocean of a thing to comprehend

 

I EQ , reverb , delay on the guitar

 

Then compress in the master mix

 

My Tom Petty track on sals thread was as above

 

Keep posting any tips you discover Lars 👍🏻

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Going through similar manoeuvres Lars

 

I’d leave out the de esser as I think they colour things too much

Get a pop filter

 

Eq tracks before any effects are added , I found that a great tip

 

And very little is needed

Especially for a man with an acoustic guitar

 

But you’re doing what I’m doing , it is an ocean of a thing to comprehend

 

I EQ , reverb , delay on the guitar

 

Then compress in the master mix

 

My Tom Petty track on sals thread was as above

 

Keep posting any tips you discover Lars 👍🏻

 

This is a whole new world within this already great hobby opening up for me. Recording is fun. I'm just now on on iPad with Garageband so my options are limited, but I can live with that. The upside is convinience. I do have a pop filter, but the ess-sounds are still killing me, so the de-esser was a must. I need to look into how to position the mic, distances etc, to avoid as much of it as possible going into the raw recording.

 

I'll check out your recording!

 

Lars

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is a whole new world within this already great hobby opening up for me. Recording is fun. I'm just now on on iPad with Garageband so my options are limited, but I can live with that. The upside is convinience. I do have a pop filter, but the ess-sounds are still killing me, so the de-esser was a must. I need to look into how to position the mic, distances etc, to avoid as much of it as possible going into the raw recording.

 

I'll check out your recording!

 

Lars

 

You can tilt the mic so you’re not singing straight into it

Almost sing over the top of it , like a flute if you will although of course not with your bottom lip on it

That will take some of the wind and pops away also while still being close enough to not lose intimacy

 

And hey mines not great

Was the second afternoon after setting up and am still thinking about the computer screen and mic too much which doesn’t help with any performance

 

 

Funny enough all tutorials agree on just one thing , the performance is the most important part

Can’t make a silk purse from a sows ear and all that crap

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Your singing has fairly come along Lars

 

You’re let down by your being European and not having English as a first language has an impact on your timing and scansion of the lyrics

Too many words sometimes and too little sometimes ...

 

That aside the recording is great quality with the exception of the panning

It helps with space but when you stop singing and the guitar is playing in one ear and not the other I find off putting

That’s my opinion and it may be wrong but I’d reduce from 25 to maybe 10 or less in the settings

 

I’m not George martin ya know , so take it with a pinch 👍🏻

 

Good work mister

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Agree with what's been said.

For panning, try duplicating the guitar track (after you have added any effects) and then pan one left and one right, --maybe 40%, but experiment--keeping the vocal track dead center.

That's an easy, usually pleasant, trick.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the tips, folks. Anne, I applied your panning approach, and it sounds better indeed. Still space, but a more focused sound.

I'm also glad you all think the singing is better. I think the approach of singing seperately helps me focus.

 

Here are the tracks again, mixed Anne's way:

 

https://soundcloud.com/lars1968/den-ha-r-stan-nashville-tuning

 

Lars

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd like to share a cool trick I discovered when duplicating the acoustic guitar track to a second track. I gradually reduced the bass on one track and panned it to one side, then I gradually reduced the the treble on the other track and panned it to the opposite side. This gave the effect of the bass coming from one side and the treble from the other side. I didn't use this approach on the tracks above, because I don't think it is suited for a one voice, one guitar type of sound. However, I would definetely try it in a song with more instruments in the mix.

 

Just a tip..

 

Lars

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You can tilt the mic so you’re not singing straight into it

Almost sing over the top of it , like a flute if you will although of course not with your bottom lip on it

That will take some of the wind and pops away also while still being close enough to not lose intimacy

 

Thanks so much for this tip!! I just did another song of mine, singing slightly "down" in to the mic (ever so slightly). No more shrill ess-sounds!! The sound is great from this Aston mic. Here is what it sounds like using this technique. Now I'm the only one to blame for any and all bad sounds [biggrin]

 

https://soundcloud.com/lars1968/allt-jag-beho-ver-1

 

Lars

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks so much for this tip!! I just did another song of mine, singing slightly "down" in to the mic (ever so slightly). No more shrill ess-sounds!! The sound is great from this Aston mic. Here is what it sounds like using this technique. Now I'm the only one to blame for any and all bad sounds [biggrin]

 

 

Lars

 

Lars, that is cool! Your guitar sounds great and even though I have no idea what you are singing (I don't speak your language), I like the sound of your voice. Keep it up! You are a better picker than me!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lars, that is cool! Your guitar sounds great and even though I have no idea what you are singing (I don't speak your language), I like the sound of your voice. Keep it up! You are a better picker than me!

 

 

Thanks a lot! Swedish is my native language, and as pointed out above, I do sing better on pitch in Swedish. I do songs in English too, but getting the vocal chords to form the words is not as instinctive when it's not your native language.

 

That mic tip was really helpful. I also played around with positioning when recording the guitar track. In the end, there is no EQ whatsoever. I like the sound of the two tracks just as they came out.

 

Lars

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Agree with what's been said.

For panning, try duplicating the guitar track (after you have added any effects) and then pan one left and one right, --maybe 40%, but experiment--keeping the vocal track dead center.

That's an easy, usually pleasant, trick.

 

+1 on keeping the vocal dead centre. On some vocals I will duplicate the vocal three times; each duplicate is EQ'd using the Abbey Road EQ trick (HPF 600Hz, LPF 10KHz, notch -3db at 2 KHz) and slight compression. One vocal is dead centre, the other two are panned hard right and left with reverb added to more than you would for a single track and the volume backed off so it is in the background.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...