Lay My Burden Down - Fingerstyle arrangement

[stuartryanmusic]

Hi Guys, I'm working on arrangements for my next fingerstyle book/CD, I've arranged this one with Tommy Emmanuel and Martin Taylor in mind. Hope you enjoy this one and I'd love to know what you think of it (I think I'll slow it down for the book!).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5_jCHI0LwI

All the best,

Stuart

[GitFeller]

Stuart - thanks so much for your comment on my arr of Danny Boy/Londonderry Air. I really appreciate your feedback on the mix. Your guitar sounds on your website are exactly what I'm aiming for. Care to share mix/mastering tips?

Now after watching you rip through that boom chick demo I wish I had cleaned up some of my playing on my clip very interested in your tradition book too

[vts]

Awesome playing, well done!

[stuartryanmusic]

Thank you guys!

Gitfeller - I've had a long road with recording acoustic guitar and it still continues! I've been recording solo pieces for a well known guitar magazine each month for the last ten years and I must admit I can't listen to the recordings I made right back at the start. This was in the days when we still used hard disc recorders as well, I shudder to remember how much of a chore that was.

In conjunction with that I've been fortunate to work on studio sessions with some well known guys and I've learned a great deal by doing that. My preference for solo guitar is to try and keep it as simple as possible and stick to the recording adage 'Good in = Good out.' I think knowing your instrument in EQ terms is very useful - my Froggy Bottom acoustic is a huge sounding guitar with an enormous low end so I usually end up adding a high pass filter below the 100 - 200 mark just to get rid of any rumble and to control the bass. It's also worth knowing the response of your mic as well - I'm using a Neumann KM184 here which has a bit of a hyped top end so I usually don't do anything up there and may even take a little top end sparkle off. I sometimes use two KM184s for a wider spread but obviously here you have to be careful with phasing issues if the mics aren't placed in the correct position (we've all been there )

One of the biggest issues is room treatment - getting the bass traps taken care of and generally giving the room some proper sound treatment will just make the process so much easier, you don't end up trying to eq away things you don't like.

Finally in terms of processing a couple of nice plugs ins will make a world of difference to anything - the Eventide Ultrareverb is stunning and much of the Waves stuff really opens a recording up. I use their Puigchild compressor and L2 Limiter on a lot of things and love what they do.

Hope that helps, as I say I think your recordings sound great, we can all over- think these things (I still do) but if it sounds good then it sounds good!

All the best,

Stuart

[GitFeller]

Thanks for the detailed response. Do you prefer mono or stereo microphones? There's a video circulating of Tommy Emmanuel surrounded by microphones and all I can think is phase cancellation! Fortunately I only have one mic to fuss with and that's enough.

I ordered the tradition and can't wait to hear your interpretations of those songs. The samples on your site sound fantastic.

[stuartryanmusic]

Many thanks for ordering the book!

I do prefer the sound of the two Neumanns together but these days I actually find myself recording with just one mic, one reason is that I just find the pair can get in the way if recording a video! The caveat is that I'll use a touch of pickup from the guitar now which helps.

I know the Tommy video you mean and I did actually think the same thing! I'm sure the engineer knew exactly what they were doing but that sort of set up instills me with fear. Having said that I recorded a new solo CD last year and we set up about 7 mics at various distances without any issues. Interestingly although I took my 184s to the studio we didn't use them at all and the bulk of the sound came from a pair of Coles 4038 ribbon mics, a 414 and an Octava condenser of some sort.

Got me hankering after a ribbon mic now...

[GitFeller]

Eventually I'd like to get annother to try the mid-side technique but otherwise I'm trying to curb the gearlust. Operative word is trying.

[stuartryanmusic]

I know the feeling, my current obsessions are mic pre-amps and large bodied condensers. Oh, and a vintage Martin!!

The audio on my website is (if I remember correctly) was mostly recorded ORTF. I generally stay away from that now as it's easy to end up out of phase, if using two mics I'll just go X/Y these days. The guitar was a Collings OM2H which recorded beautifully.

[gibbyguy]

Love the song and your picking. Very Travis style...great job.
Ed