thegreatgumbino

I love Martin Retros on my J200.

Ditto what Tom said above 62burst. 1) Tuning down to D standard helped me become comfortable with my voice and learn to sing more easily. 2) Capo'ing up allows me to easily play with others. 3) I use the heavier .13's to get as close to standard tuning string tension as I can while tuning a full step lower. 4) Some of my guitars seem to have better tone to my ears when tuned down a step or two. My Gibsons all sound good at a whole step down. My McPherson Touring likes to be a half step down. 5) This article convinced me to try D standard tuning in the first place: http://web.archive.org/web/20160313104011/https://theguitarshow.wordpress.com/2009/12/29/the-case-for-d-standard-guitar-tuning/

Virtuoso cleaner and polish would be what I try for the smudge. As for the strings, I’d recommend trying Martin Retro Medium gauge .13’s. I used them on my J50 when I had it. I also tune D-D, and currently use these strings on my J45 Vintage and J200. Great strings, but be sure to give them some good break in time. IMO, they sound like crap when first installed. Once they break in, they have a wonderful fundamental/woody tone. Your nut probaly has enough clearance to use these without issue. I typically install them on my new guitars without modification and play them that way for a while before having them setup for them. I do however adjust the truss rod if needed. It’s a simple process and nothing to be fearful of.

These look amazing!

Another good one gone. I've always heard deaths like this come in three's. First Jerry Jeff Walker. Wonder who will be next. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/billy-joe-shaver-songwriter-dead-obituary-1082610/

Jerry Jeff Walker, a Texas country singer and songwriter who wrote the pop song “Mr. Bojangles,” has died at age 78. Walker died Friday of cancer, family spokesman John T. Davis told The Associated Press. “He had battled throat cancer for many years, and some other healthissues,” Davis said Saturday. https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/jerry-jeff-walker-texas-singer-songwriter-dies-78-73806084

I like the looks of the Acoustic Strap Secure that PatriotsBiker linked to earlier in the thread. Shame it's not in production any longer. I've had good luck with this one if you have an output jack & aren't using it. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NCA718C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Killer sound. Thanks for sharing.

Pena’s version is excellent as are both his albums. There’s also a fascinating documentary called Genghis Blues about his Tuvan throat singing journey. Highly recommended.

Excellent, Sal. I loved it.

That was excellent. Thanks for sharing.

Great job on the mix. Sounds really good to me. Definitely fitting for the times.

Very nice, Sal. Thanks for sharing. You've got a nice TV there! What are you using for recording nowadays?

Great song and perfect selection for the occasion. Haven't thought about that one in a long time. Your dove sounds awesome. I have yet to play one and was never drawn to the aesthetics of them. That said, after falling in love with J200 maple sound, I really want to try one out.

Kudos on an awesome job. Thinking about adding all the overdubs makes my head spin. I look forward to hearing more of your originals as you get your albums put together.

Thanks! I can't say I noticed a difference, but my headphone jack on the MacBook Pro is only outputting the right channel. Not idea for sound mixing. I had to upload to YouTube to get a better listen on my iPhone/headphones.

I agree. Huge difference in sound, IMO. Makes me wish I had two Rode NT1 to play with (one guitar, one vocal). I looked at the original SoundCloud file, and it didn't add reverb to both, only 3 to vocal. I had to play with adding ambience & more reverb on the 935 to take away some of the sterility. I might try re-recording it with the Rode NT1 on Vocals and a Shure SM57a or the Sen 935 on the J45 Vintage. It's pretty warm already, so the sterile sound might not be a bad thing. FWIW, I forgot to mention both of my guitars are in D Standard tuning.

Here's the video version recorded a couple days later using a Sennheiser e935 for vocal, Rode NT1 for the J45 Vintage, iPhone XS Max for video. Sennheiser & Rode signals sent through Bose T1 to the MacBook Pro. Processed using GarageBand & Quicktime (video trimming). The Sennheiser did a fantastic job of off axis rejection. It didn't pick up much guitar at all. However, I found it a little sterile compared to the audio recording using the Rode for vocals. The Rode picked up considerable more vocals, which is to be expected. Processing includes some reverb and ambience added to the vocal and reverb added to the guitar. I also boosted the mic and vocal levels in GB by 5 dB to address the low levels issue (found in the first recording as well). Edit: This was the 3rd take 😜

Thanks, Uncle Fester. Thanks, Lars. First day I've actually setup my gear and tried to figure out how to do it, yes. It was actually my 4th take of the song. I think I got lucky with this one. The subsequent video I'll post doesn't sound as good to my ears. In full disclosure, in my younger years (15-20 years ago) my hobby was live concert taping. I had a mobile recording rig that fit in a backpack with a set of mics, mic preamp, and recorder, so I learned quite a bit about transferring and processing audio files at that point. That being said, I'm a bedroom strummer/singer who couldn't play an entire song from start till finish 4-5 years ago and didn't start trying to sing until the last couple years. I don't think my wife heard me sing until last summer. I've played with a buddy a handful of times in the last 9 months and feel like it's helped me grow tremendously. Gracias, Murph. Thanks, kidblast. Thanks, Seventies-Fan. I grew up on the coast in South Texas, so it really resonates with me. 62burst - Not first take. It was actually the 4th take. First recording attempt is a more accurate description. The Bose T1 has TONS of options. I haven't even scratched the surface of it yet. Picked it up to run into a Bose S1 so that my buddy and I can both have a mic/guitar input for 4 channels (haven't tried that yet, though). To separate the tracks in GB, I had to pan the audio all the way to the left and export the music file to iTunes and then convert it to AIFF and then drag it back into GB. Did the same with the audio panned all the way to the right. This gave me an audio file for the guitar and one for the vocal.

I appreciate it, MP. Took me a long time to work up the nerve to share something.

Thanks for listening and for the kind words, 62Burst. Did you ever sell your 200TV? I love this guitar, but I would love to be able to pick up a burst in the future. I’ve been putting off trying to figure out this recording business for too long. Feels good to make progress. A buddy said the same thing about the levels being low. I need to better understand the range on the T1 and GarageBand. My past recording experience was with mic preamps with very clear and detailed level meters that make it almost foolproof. The SoundCloud box size was confusing because I’m used to seeing it on my phone browser. Glad it worked for you none the less. I have a version with video using the J45 Vintage. I’ll put it up tomorrow.

Been using the time at home to finally figure out how to record. This is my first take at Jack Johnson's version of the Jimmy Buffet tune. I used a Rode NT1 for vocals and SJ200 w/ LR Baggs Anthem run through a Bose T1 to a MacBook Pro / Garageband. Took some research and playing around with to figure out how to separate the tracks once in Garageband since the Bose T1 > USB records vocals on one channel and the guitar on the other. I added a little reverb, which appears to be on both guitar and vocals when it's all said and done (was trying to add only to vocals). I successfully recorded a later version with video on my iPhone, the Rode NT1 on J45 Vintage and Sennheiser 935 for vocals, but I like the warmth the NT1 gives the vocals on this recording. Trying to figure out how to incorporate video into the mix was tricky, but surprisingly easy once I figured it out. Who knows if I'm doing any of this correctly, but it's a step in the right direction. Edit: I can't figure out how to make the embedded Soundcloud box show the whole waveform. Seems like it's much larger than most folks?

That was wonderful, Buc. Thanks for sharing. Do you have a J45 Vintage with a fire stripe guard?

Love it, Sal. I just added this song to my list of "want to learn" yesterday. I agree with RBSinTo that it would have been nice to see your fretting hand as I'm a visual learner 😁

Agreed! What an amazing experience for the 9 participants. I love the story that Verlon shares about his Bourgeois guitar at the beginning of this performance of the same song: