Old 07-01-2007, 10:18 AM   #1
JJJ
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Default Hello and a recording ?

Greetings, I'm new here. With the help of the well written user's guide (kudo's to the authors!) I'm up and running with reaper.

I'll soon be recording an acoustic guitarist/singer.
I'm looking for some pointers on recording the guitar such as
mic placement, eq, compression, reverb etc.

I have 2-VTB-1 pre's, 2-sm57's, 1-sm58 a cheap LD condensor and I'll be recording a fairly good sounding 6 string mahagony top
dreadnaught.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!


JJJ
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Old 07-05-2007, 09:05 AM   #2
krash
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Originally Posted by JJJ View Post
I'll soon be recording an acoustic guitarist/singer.
I'm looking for some pointers on recording the guitar such as
mic placement, eq, compression, reverb etc.
Vocal: use the SM57 and a good pop filter, at about 4-6" from the singer (mic diaphragm 4-6" away, pop filter in the middle). Track this through a hardware compressor (if you have one!). Mic-pre-comp-computer. I'd set the tracking compressor to about 6-12dB of compression or about 2:1-4:1 ratio for a vocalist like this. You can add track compression later to dial it in. Try to get the comp to sound very natural and transparent (fast attack, long release, etc.) and don't compress too much on tracking because you can't take it off later!

Guitar: Depending on which cheap LDC you have, and how it sounds compared to the guitar, you may have to experiment. Given your mic selection I think I'd put an SM57 about 10-12" away pointed at the 14th fret. You can try your LDC in that same position. Otherwise if you can run more than two mics total at one time, then I would tend to multi-mic the guitar and maybe put the SM57 at the 14th fret as above, and put the LDC over to the right of the player beyond the lower bout aimed at the bridge about 2 feet away. That right side ambient will pick up a lot of the vocal if you track vocal and guitar at the same time. Don't print any effects on these tracks, cut them dry.

FWIW if you want to hear a little bit of an acoustic guitar with an SM57 sounds like then listen to "Sunset Sky" on my myspace page:

http://myspace.com/krashjones

The other songs on there had acoustic guitars multi-mic'd with different condensers. Forgive the low-bandwidth recording.

I'm not a big fan of lots of reverb so I'd put a hint of reverb using something like Freeverb 2 or maybe ReaVerb with a good impulse on a send and mix in a little bit of it, just a little. You will need a track compressor for the vocals and I'd suggest Blockfish, tune to taste. I almost never use EQ but ReaEQ sounds ok to me. You can get a little bit of stereo image by using your two guitar mics panning the ambient LDC to the left, and pan the front mic to the right a little bit, then just mix them until the guitar sounds natural and still centered in the image. Then once your mix is perfecto then you can kind of a poor man's mastering job using a combo of Kjearus "Classic Mastering Limiter" and Endorphin (both free). Getting that right will take lots of practice and good ears. ReaEQ can also be helpful here


good luck-
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Old 07-05-2007, 05:47 PM   #3
JJJ
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Default Great!!

Thanks krash,

I will definitely be trying your suggestions!

We will be recording Saturday afternoon/evening.
I'll let you know how it went..

Regards, JJJ

P.S. I'm off to listen to your music!
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Old 07-11-2007, 07:27 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by krash View Post
Vocal: use the SM57 and a good pop filter, at about 4-6" from the singer (mic diaphragm 4-6" away, pop filter in the middle). Track this through a hardware compressor (if you have one!). Mic-pre-comp-computer. I'd set the tracking compressor to about 6-12dB of compression or about 2:1-4:1 ratio for a vocalist like this. You can add track compression later to dial it in. Try to get the comp to sound very natural and transparent (fast attack, long release, etc.) and don't compress too much on tracking because you can't take it off later!
Hey man, please correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldnt compression be used afterwards, instead of during recording so you still have clean vocals to work with, then you can play with compression? Sorry, you do seem to know your stuff, I just cant see why you would do this.
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Old 07-13-2007, 12:44 PM   #5
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Hey man, please correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldnt compression be used afterwards, instead of during recording so you still have clean vocals to work with, then you can play with compression? Sorry, you do seem to know your stuff, I just cant see why you would do this.
The problem is that the dynamic range of a vocal recording is usually way too much for you to be able to both get all of the low-level detail you want, as well as prevent overloads on the recording. So I always track with compression. You don't have to, but it will be very tricky to get the levels right without overdriving and my bet is you end up doing lots of extra takes to fix overs and clipping.

I usually don't track anything else with a comp. But I always track vocals this way. Once you get good at it you may find that you can get very nearly the "final" compressor setup going on the track and you won't need any mixdown comp. The new KJ record was done that way. I don't think I used any additional compression on any of the vocal tracks other than what I used to track it. But I did hit it pretty hard when tacking.

BTW I don't really track much with printed effects. Guitar effects usually get printed, except maybe delay, depending on the tune.
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Old 07-15-2007, 04:19 PM   #6
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Default I AGREE

I would agree with crash. It will help out with the vocal "control." And will help with out of control sibilance and plositives.
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