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
Replies
Listen here ... http://youtu.be/lLpqRFU5Bgg
I play bass in a rockband and we have recorded 2 albums on our own using a fostec digital16 track recorder. It records 8 tracks at a time and we usually start with drums. We do a lot of close mic on drums and amps using the always reliable shure sm57. We also have some condenser mics we use also. And both albums were recorded in basements. After we get all the tracks done they go to a computer to get final mixes and mastering done. Dont know exactly what programs we use cause I dont get too involved in the mix and mastering process, but I thinkwe have used cubase, audacity, and who knows what else. When I record at home im still using an old tascam mk 424 4 track portastudio. I know cassette tape isnt the greatest recording medium but I like it. Its easy to use as every funtion has a knob, fader, or button and I think analog just sounds warmer than digital. Analog vs didgital sounds like it would be fun to argue about. It all really comes down to the user knowing their epuipment and how to use it. Like said earlier garbage in means garbage out.
http://www.uaudio.com/blog/mid-side-mic-recording/
here's a great how to on the mid-side technique for anyone that's interested.
in the same way that it yields a beautiful stereo track on acoustic guitar and many
other sources, it can really make CBG tracks shine. i've posted a song here called
Come Alive that i recorded using mid-side with 2 CBG tracks and 2 vocal tracks.
i like the nice live sound m-s gives you, and it really captures the nice "tangy"
sound of a reso CBG quite well. i used a Cascade ribbon mic and a Shure BG 4.1
small diaphram condensor mic on the CBG's and the Cascade alone on the vocals.
Myke
Thanks Ron, sometimes I forget everything that is up here. It can be a lot to sift through. I will ask my questions over there soon. I really could use some suggestions.
So this is pretty interesting. I tend to go with the one mic in my computer room. I have a cheap 4track recorder that lets me record into acidpro7 and I like to play everything at once in order to capture my live sound. I would love to hear any tips any of you have on how to improve my sound. Things like getting it all to sound a little fatter and and what do you do with panning your mix if it is in fact all sort of one nix. I do sometimes track each instrument separate but it does loose some of the spontaneity. Bug you said you use acidpro7 and Myke you seem to have a wealth of knowledge as do many of you others. Maybe we need a place to put up tracks on here for discussion on how to improve. I know it takes time away from building but I think we could maybe all help each other to get a little closer to what we say we are trying to do. You could put up a track with an explanation of what you would like and then others could suggest how to get it. Just a thought.
I think there's already a coupla Groups on CBN for precisely that:
http://www.cigarboxnation.com/group/cbnationrecordingcollective
http://www.cigarboxnation.com/group/garagebandusersgroup
How to build your own ribbon mics!
I bet this is similar top how an lace alumitec pickup works as well..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tWbwcS_9sA
http://www.diyaudiocomponents.com/ribboninfo.php?sub=1