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How do ya'all record your CBG's and music

hey ya'all,

i'm sort of new here and am curious about how folks are recording their CBG's and

their songs. don't get me wrong, i am a builder, but i'm a player and recordist too.

so i'de like to hear how ya'all go about capturing that beautiful sound and tone

of these instruments we all build and love. what are you tracking on, what kinds

of mics are you using,how 'bout mic techniques?

i'm using a Roland VS 2480HD, and Studio One in Windows 7 on my laptop for tracking

and i master on the Roland. for the CBG's i'm using large and small condenser mics and

a ribbon mic, and also a few dynamic mics.

for mono tracks i like to use 2 mics. one close mic on the CBG and a room mic for ambience.

on stereo tracks i almost always use the mid-side technique. this setup is fantastic. it gives you

complete control over where the track sits in the stereo field and mix. another big benifit of mid-side

is if your recording is stereo and it gets collapsed to mono things don't disapear from your mix.

if you've ever had one of your tunes played on the radio or television and it was just missing all

sorts of stuff, mid-side will eliminate that. i do use the X-Y technique sometimes, but most of

the time i go with mid-side.

i also use what is called corner loading. it's pretty much what it says. you position the player

facing into a corner as close as possible without being uncomfortable. a mic is placed 2 or 3

feet behind the player pointing at the corner. i really like this setup with unpluged CBG's.

if you have a CBG with no pickup that has an awesom tone and sound but has no projection

or volume, this is a great setup. you can also place a second mic further back and capture the

room ambience too.

are any of you using ribbon mics ? if you've never tried one, try one. they have a figure-8

polar pattern which means it picks up sound equaly from the front and back. to me they

have the most detailed sound of any mic. they kick ass on anything.

anyways, i could go on and on but i'll stop now i posted 4 tunes here and were recorded

using the setups i've described, all recorded, mixed, and mastered at home here in Memphis.

and let me hear how ya'all are doing it. glad to be here.

Myke

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Permalink Reply by Cigarbox Slim on October 10, 2014 at 11:02am

by the way, Robert Johnson was recorded using the corner loading setup.

Myke

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Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on October 10, 2014 at 11:41am

first off .. ya need the right gear ..

;-)

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Permalink Reply by Clock The Wolf on October 10, 2014 at 12:05pm

I've recorded through a 100 watt tube amp into a large microphone inside of an insulated room into a high tech program with lots of mixing etc...

AND I've recorded an acoustic piece into a cheap Walmart recorder out in the Mojave desert.

IT DOESN'T MATTER!!!

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Permalink Reply by Cigarbox Slim on October 10, 2014 at 3:00pm

maybe not to you. but to me it matters quite a lot.

i'm of the crap in = crap out school myself. i don't care how great a player is

or how good a song is, if it's not recorded well it sounds like crap and the song suffers.

i understand a lot of the charm of a CBG is it's slightly cheesy sound(which i love) but

that charm is lost if not recorded well. i guess if you record just for fun or don't sell your CD's

or you just record endless noodles of licks that aren't really coherent songs it must not matter.

but i take my song writing very seriously so when i record one i try to get the best recording

possible. and yes i've heard(and done) some great recordings done with cheap mics plugged

into boomboxes. but i've also heard recordings done on really high end gear in really good rooms

that were worse than fingernails on a chalkboard ya'all.

so the real point of my disscusion is to get people who are recording our beloved CBG's to

talk about how they do it and trade tips and techniques with the result being good and true

representations of the soul and voice of a CBG and CBG music.

but if it doesn't matter to you that's cool too.

Myke

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Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on October 10, 2014 at 4:52pm

myke - i think what clock was getting at was .. sometimes the fancy high price shit is as good as a cheap simple set up .. which you seemed to agree with, myke .

just like i had guitar rig 4 and 5 with multi options of marshal amps , tubes , non tube choices and effects within etc etc .. it was a pain in tha ass .

now i just record with a cheap dollar store computer mic , right into my computer . with the standard "free recorder" program. about a foot in-front of my amp .. and it sounds 100 times better and more real life / same as coming straight from my amp.

ps .. there is a group for this if you are so serious about it . you could join there . but be prepared to accept that not everyone is as anal or serious about it and you may " expect" .

and sometimes answers are more serious than you may think . and sometimes answers are meant to be fun .. consider them a bonus . lighten up , smile , have fun ;-)

group link http://www.cigarboxnation.com/group/cbnationrecordingcollective

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Permalink Reply by James on October 10, 2014 at 12:16pm

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Permalink Reply by Patrick Curley on October 10, 2014 at 5:36pm

Just curious.

Those folks happy to compromise with their recording sound, do you take the same approach with your builds? Do the better tools make a difference? Does time taken in quality workmanship produce a better product?

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Permalink Reply by Clock The Wolf on October 10, 2014 at 6:09pm

Who compromises with their recording sound?

Or perhaps you are merely being presumptuous?

Is it intellectually dishonest to pack questions in an attempt to force a particular response?

Is it legitimate to judge the resulting quality of a thing based on the original intention... or lack thereof?

If one substitutes something for someone and if that someone was not intended.. that is, if there very existence was a result of random circumstance... should they be euthanized?

Just curious.

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Permalink Reply by Patrick Curley on October 10, 2014 at 6:19pm

I wonder why I should get such an aggressive response to a simple question?

I'm simply pointing out that in the same way people take care over their builds, some of us take care over our sound. Not saying the two things are the same and certainly not trying to force a response, or euthanise anyone (????) just making a point.

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Permalink Reply by BUGGY (C) on October 11, 2014 at 2:08am

If you have a iPhone an im2 is cheaper
The new roland one is kool check that 2
As its does clever things ..

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Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on October 11, 2014 at 9:55am

If you have an iDevice then I'd strongly recommend this one from Line6 (ampfarm & pod guys, amp modelling pioneers) for a killer feature set http://line6.com/sonicport-audio-interface/sonicport-vx/