moej45 Posted November 30, 2011 Posted November 30, 2011 Got right down to basement and spent the night working on this song. Inspired by my college roomate who is presently in the last 45 day stretch of a 3 year federal bid for white collar crime. The path to hell is paved with good intentions. http://soundcloud.com/brendanahern/drink-for-the-damned Any thoughts are welcomed!
jchabalk Posted November 30, 2011 Posted November 30, 2011 YEAH! i like it a lot. nice job! Would you mind sharing a little about your recording process? (tracking, recording device(s) etc?)
EuroAussie Posted November 30, 2011 Posted November 30, 2011 Nice work Moe, the J-45 and harp were made for each other !
MissouriPicker Posted November 30, 2011 Posted November 30, 2011 I like this song a lot. Good stuff. The harp sounded real good in the intro. You might consider playing a few bars as the outro and let it fade away (just my personal likes)....I like the lyrics too. A lot of human emotion in them. This is a good song.
moej45 Posted November 30, 2011 Author Posted November 30, 2011 YEAH! i like it a lot. nice job! Would you mind sharing a little about your recording process? (tracking, recording device(s) etc?) Thanks....I am using an Ipad2 with the garageband App. Then I have a aleisi I/O dock which is a great buy if you have the Ipad. For Mic I have a $250 AKG Cardioid and recorded the instruments and vox through that. Pretty much it but it seems to work so well for what I have been looking to do....not a lot of production/stripped down sound.
j45nick Posted November 30, 2011 Posted November 30, 2011 YEAH! i like it a lot. nice job! Would you mind sharing a little about your recording process? (tracking, recording device(s) etc?) This could be an exact quote from me! Please share your recording setup and techniques.
moej45 Posted November 30, 2011 Author Posted November 30, 2011 This could be an exact quote from me! Please share your recording setup and techniques. Nick- Other than what I wrote above I try to keep it simple. When I had my band and we went into the studio we had a great engineer....he told me straight out....for your type of music...keep it simple. I've figured out what I know from trial and error. Mic placement etc....all important but the most paramount thing...the music has to be good. The Black Keys did their first album on an old Tascam Reel to Reel and if you google how Nebraska was recorded...well you get the picure. So in short I am NO expert just picked up stuff along the way. Jinder is most likely the guy who really knows technical stuff. So.....cardioid mic/garageband/alesis i/o dock
j45nick Posted November 30, 2011 Posted November 30, 2011 For Mic I have a $250 AKG Cardioid and recorded the instruments and vox through that. That's a good mic, and it shows in the recording. I really like your stuff. Your engineer was right when he said to keep it simple. Your voice lends itself very well to this approach and this style of music.
moej45 Posted November 30, 2011 Author Posted November 30, 2011 That's a good mic, and it shows in the recording. I really like your stuff. Your engineer was right when he said to keep it simple. Your voice lends itself very well to this approach and this style of music. yeah, that mic is excellent. In my experience...mics are like great guitar amps....you get what you pay for in some respects. You can do a lot worse than that mic for the money. I saw recently a guy record live drums on the ipad(two mics)....I think I am going to give that a whirl with my drummer and do an Ipad EP....get it mastered...etc./
j45nick Posted November 30, 2011 Posted November 30, 2011 yeah, that mic is excellent. In my experience...mics are like great guitar amps....you get what you pay for in some respects. You can do a lot worse than that mic for the money. As a former performance/studio engineer, I can say that good equipment makes a huge difference, both in the studio and in performance. I remember when we got our first condenser mics back in 1970 (Sennheiser), and how much better they were than the crap we used before, with a great flat response and high resistance to overload. Of course, having a good engineer is very important, too!
Jinder Posted December 1, 2011 Posted December 1, 2011 Everything that's been said about mics and mic placement here is GOLD STANDARD advice. It's vital to have a great mic (or two) and make sure it's in the right place-mic placement means everything when recording an acoustic guitar. I use all manner of mics, but an AKG 414 is a brilliant all-rounder for someone looking to invest in a reasonably priced mic that's a keeper for life. It'll do guitars and vocals with equal excellence, although my AJ seems to have a rogue frequency somewhere which upsets a 414, so I use an AKG C1000S with that guitar. Another mic I'd strongly recommend is a Rode NT1A, it's a large-diaphragm condenser like a Neumann U87, but a lot less expensive. The 'bang-to-buck' on the NT1A is astounding, and it has the lowest noise floor of any mic on the market. I've had mixed results with U87s for years but I did all the vocals on my next record with the NT1A and the vocal sound is huge. It works beautifully in a stereo pair setup with a 414 or the C1000S for recording acoustics too. Sontronics are making some brilliant mics too. I did a session a couple of weeks ago, doing harmonies for a friend's album, and his Sontronics mics were sounding amazing. Regarding mic placement for acoustics, a good starting point is to point a mic at the 12th fret, then angle it back slightly so the diaphragm is pointing slightly towards the soundhole (this should be about 4-5" away from the neck). From tthere, run a test take or two and experiment with angle and placement minutiae, then, for extra depth to the sound, try adding a second mic about 1.5' away, this time pointing at the area of the guitar between the back of the bridge and the endpin. Angle is up to you, but this mic should be a secondary 'blend' mic to complement the primary sound of the 12th fret mic. Add a pinch of the 'body' mic to give the sound extra bottom end beef and fullness. (Beware, though-add too much and your beef will turn to wool!). If you're running a pair of mics (say a 414/U87 style large-diaphragm condenser and a small-diaphragm 'pencil' condenser or a cardioid/supercardioid mic such as a SM57/57A/variant or similar) I'd be inclined to place the pencil/cardioid at the 12th fret and the large-diaphragm mic in the 'body' position. Hope that all helps...a good mic preamp and/or interface works wonders too. I have a few preamps, I used a great API Lunchbox setup for the first of my two new albums which was incredible (not mine, alas, but just brilliant) and for the second I used various pres, including a first-gen Joe Meek VC3 preamp/compressor (a very early one, handbuilt by Ted Fletcher himself) and a humble little ART tube preamp which cost next-to-nothing and sounds vast. I use an M-Audio Fast Track Pro interface which has some strong and neutral sounding pres built in (the Joe and ART both add colour of their own) which are great to use for a different flavour. Microphones, placement, preamping and EQ are all well worth gaining experience with and spending time on. When I listen (very infrequently!) to my first solo record (made entirely in my parents' spare bedroom with one mic and a great deal of enthusiasm and misadventure), I hear so many missed opportunities-wooly or overly bright guitars, lack of attention to midrange in the acoustic guitars, vocals that could have been mic'd better...if I knew then what I know now, it could have been twice the record it was, but the only way to get a handle on all this stuff is to do it endlessly and tune your ears in. My two new records will be my eighth and ninth albums, and I'm still learning all the time-I'll have just about got it figured by the time I go deaf... Moe, sorry to have digressed, I really liked the track-lovely performance and a great song. Best wishes to your pal behind bars, I'm sure he'll relish every moment of his freedom and see life from a completely different perspective when he's freed.
moej45 Posted December 1, 2011 Author Posted December 1, 2011 Everything that's been said about mics and mic placement here is GOLD STANDARD advice. It's vital to have a great mic (or two) and make sure it's in the right place-mic placement means everything when recording an acoustic guitar. I use all manner of mics, but an AKG 414 is a brilliant all-rounder for someone looking to invest in a reasonably priced mic that's a keeper for life. It'll do guitars and vocals with equal excellence, although my AJ seems to have a rogue frequency somewhere which upsets a 414, so I use an AKG C1000S with that guitar. Another mic I'd strongly recommend is a Rode NT1A, it's a large-diaphragm condenser like a Neumann U87, but a lot less expensive. The 'bang-to-buck' on the NT1A is astounding, and it has the lowest noise floor of any mic on the market. I've had mixed results with U87s for years but I did all the vocals on my next record with the NT1A and the vocal sound is huge. It works beautifully in a stereo pair setup with a 414 or the C1000S for recording acoustics too. Sontronics are making some brilliant mics too. I did a session a couple of weeks ago, doing harmonies for a friend's album, and his Sontronics mics were sounding amazing. Regarding mic placement for acoustics, a good starting point is to point a mic at the 12th fret, then angle it back slightly so the diaphragm is pointing slightly towards the soundhole (this should be about 4-5" away from the neck). From tthere, run a test take or two and experiment with angle and placement minutiae, then, for extra depth to the sound, try adding a second mic about 1.5' away, this time pointing at the area of the guitar between the back of the bridge and the endpin. Angle is up to you, but this mic should be a secondary 'blend' mic to complement the primary sound of the 12th fret mic. Add a pinch of the 'body' mic to give the sound extra bottom end beef and fullness. (Beware, though-add too much and your beef will turn to wool!). If you're running a pair of mics (say a 414/U87 style large-diaphragm condenser and a small-diaphragm 'pencil' condenser or a cardioid/supercardioid mic such as a SM57/57A/variant or similar) I'd be inclined to place the pencil/cardioid at the 12th fret and the large-diaphragm mic in the 'body' position. Hope that all helps...a good mic preamp and/or interface works wonders too. I have a few preamps, I used a great API Lunchbox setup for the first of my two new albums which was incredible (not mine, alas, but just brilliant) and for the second I used various pres, including a first-gen Joe Meek VC3 preamp/compressor (a very early one, handbuilt by Ted Fletcher himself) and a humble little ART tube preamp which cost next-to-nothing and sounds vast. I use an M-Audio Fast Track Pro interface which has some strong and neutral sounding pres built in (the Joe and ART both add colour of their own) which are great to use for a different flavour. Microphones, placement, preamping and EQ are all well worth gaining experience with and spending time on. When I listen (very infrequently!) to my first solo record (made entirely in my parents' spare bedroom with one mic and a great deal of enthusiasm and misadventure), I hear so many missed opportunities-wooly or overly bright guitars, lack of attention to midrange in the acoustic guitars, vocals that could have been mic'd better...if I knew then what I know now, it could have been twice the record it was, but the only way to get a handle on all this stuff is to do it endlessly and tune your ears in. My two new records will be my eighth and ninth albums, and I'm still learning all the time-I'll have just about got it figured by the time I go deaf... Moe, sorry to have digressed, I really liked the track-lovely performance and a great song. Best wishes to your pal behind bars, I'm sure he'll relish every moment of his freedom and see life from a completely different perspective when he's freed. And when I said, "Jinder is the guy who would know more"....well that was a great guess. Awesome input here. I'm still learning but I think that it's trial and error and learning from people who know more. Thanks for the info!
livemusic Posted December 1, 2011 Posted December 1, 2011 Hi Moe, couple of thoughts. - I'd prefer a shorter intro. The progression might need to be changed a bit such that it resolves quicker to get back to the 1 chord. - I'd prefer the song be a bit longer. With the intro as is, song length at 3 minutes, it doesn't seem 'enough' for this song. - Guitar sounds super. Harp sounds super, wish I could play harp like that. - Vocal... I would recommend working VERY HARD on enunciating every word, every phrase so that every word is understood. You are doing a bit of mumbling, including your hook line. Also, I'd put the vocal more up front in the mix. Good luck, overall, shows real promise for a good song. Much good in there!
moej45 Posted December 1, 2011 Author Posted December 1, 2011 Hi Moe, couple of thoughts. - I'd prefer a shorter intro. The progression might need to be changed a bit such that it resolves quicker to get back to the 1 chord. - I'd prefer the song be a bit longer. With the intro as is, song length at 3 minutes, it doesn't seem 'enough' for this song. - Guitar sounds super. Harp sounds super, wish I could play harp like that. - Vocal... I would recommend working VERY HARD on enunciating every word, every phrase so that every word is understood. You are doing a bit of mumbling, including your hook line. Also, I'd put the vocal more up front in the mix. Good luck, overall, shows real promise for a good song. Much good in there! Def agree on the vocal line...needs to be cleaned back up. I was pressed for time at that point and am just getting ideas down for an album.
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