Minimalist recording setups?

[mcbean]

Anybody doing a minimalist recording setup for singer/songwriter stuff? As in, one or two mics only? If so, what type of mics are you using and what's the set up?

I'm going for a vintage-y vibe and trying to find different combos/setups to experiment with.

[Trevor B.]

Originally Posted by mcbean

Anybody doing a minimalist recording setup for singer/songwriter stuff? As in, one or two mics only? If so, what type of mics are you using and what's the set up?

I'm going for a vintage-y vibe and trying to find different combos/setups to experiment with.

I'm not going quite that minimalist but would love to see what the Apogee MiC 96K sounds like running straight into my mac and Logic Pro.
That said, my set-up at present is really basic; an Apogee Quartet interface and my mac. I do have a small 4 channel headphone amp hooked up and a terrific pair of Adam 5 near field monitors for the mixing stage. I'm toying with the idea of adding a quality mic preamp but not there yet. So I guess while my rig is still basic it's not all that minimalist after all (LOL).

[KevWind]

Yes the front end of my recording system is basically a two channel set up.
I have two mic's
A large diaphragm condenser (LDC) Brauner Phantom V FET (vocals and guitar) and a small diaphragm condenser (SDC) Schoeps CMC6 -MK4.(guitar) These are plugged into an A -Designs MP2A... 2 channel, hybrid tube mic preamp, which runs to my interface, an Avid Omni then into the DAW which Protools HD Native.

[Picking Moose]

I recently recorded a blues demo together with my friend, a bluesharp player.
Used 1 mic for my guitar ( SE-1A) and 1 mic for his harp and vocal (Blue Bluebird). Both plugged into Focusrite Preamps/PC interface (Liquid 56). No other outboard was used in the recording.
Here's the result (2 extracts):

[mcbean]

Sounds great. Good work.

Originally Posted by Picking Moose

I recently recorded a blues demo together with my friend, a bluesharp player.
Used 1 mic for my guitar ( SE-1A) and 1 mic for his harp and vocal (Blue Bluebird). Both plugged into Focusrite Preamps/PC interface (Liquid 56). No other outboard was used in the recording.

[Trevor B.]

Originally Posted by KevWind

Yes the front end of my recording system is basically a two channel set up.
I have two mic's
A large diaphragm condenser (LDC) Brauner Phantom V FET (vocals and guitar) and a small diaphragm condenser (SDC) Schoeps CMC6 -MK4.(guitar) These are plugged into an A -Designs MP2A... 2 channel, hybrid tube mic preamp, which runs to my interface, an Avid Omni then into the DAW which Protools HD Native.

Hey KevWind, I've been reading great things about the A Designs MP2A. So I hope you won't mind answering a couple of questions? 1) Do you find it "colours" your vocals and guitar very much or is it more on the transparent side? 2) Can you control the amount of "tube" so that, for example, you can add warmth to your vocal mic while setting the guitar for a cleaner signal? I'm a relative newbie to the home project studio deal so any input is helpful.
Thanks,
Trevor

[pszy22]

If by minimalist you mean simple, quick and easy -

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by mcbean

Anybody doing a minimalist recording setup for singer/songwriter stuff? As in, one or two mics only? If so, what type of mics are you using and what's the set up?

I'm going for a vintage-y vibe and trying to find different combos/setups to experiment with.

Hi McBean…

Are you speaking of recording for full production or for demo/scratch-recording work?

I use my Zoom H2n for scratch pad recording.

If I need a portable rig for higher quality recording I use my Zoom H4n recorder coupled with a pair of large diaphragm studio condensor mics in mid-side configuration.

If I need more serious yet, I own a MOTU (Mark of the Unicorn) firewire interface, an iMac, a dual channel tube interface, Logix Pro X, and an array of 20mm and 26mm diaphragm microphones for full studio quality recordings.

Which style of recording do you have in mind?

This is a scratch recording, single pass done in 2006 in our living room one morning while my gigging partner and I were having coffee - with a Zoom H4 using it's internal mics - camera tripod and we positioned ourselves approximately the same distance from each mic. It was recorded in mp3 format @ 192kbps.

The recording was certainly good enough for me to build a more complex and better focused arrangement from.

California Dreamin' scratch recording - CLiCk

I recorded the piece below, with a Zoom H4 (internal mics), single pass on a camera tripod in our living room, as he sang it to his daughter. He wrote it for his daughter for her wedding. I tricked him (he thought he was doing a scratch recording because he freezes up in studio settings).

I trimmed the ends, faded, added a bit of reverb, & normalized it using Amadeus Pro software. (the original doesn't have the pop at the end of the track) Burned it to a CDr and they used it for the wedding. Could I have done better in the studio? Probably, but it would have taken several hours, many takes and a lot of editing (I've recorded this friend before). This took 20 minutes start to CDr in his hand.

I Go With You - ClicK

Zoom now has a new higher end line of simple recorders with much better mics to record high quality audio with ease.

Even though I have capability of using external mics, these days I carry an H2n (usually in mid-side config) for mobile music recordings. If I'm going to hook up external mics, I use an H4n. It can give me full 48 volt phantom power
for nearly 30 minutes with a pair of AA batteries.

It's a great day to want/need a simple recording rig with quality.

[Psalad]

I really like my Avantone ck33 stereo mic for minimalist recordings.

[rockabilly69]

I like the Apogee one for ipad, and a ipad with Auria loaded on it. I also like the Zoom R16. I have taken both of these rigs on the road with me and made some great demos. Both of these setups have built in mics, but you can always add a mic or two as you go.

[louparte]

Larry Jacobsen,

I honestly don't think I've ever heard a better version of 'California Dreamin'

It had the emotion exactly and your playing was perfect, not over-the-top.
Dramatic in places, elegant and under-stated in others.

Hat tip to you on that one.

Originally Posted by ljguitar

Hi McBean…

Are you speaking of recording for full production or for demo/scratch-recording work?

I use my Zoom H2n for scratch pad recording.

If I need a portable rig for higher quality recording I use my Zoom H4n recorder coupled with a pair of large diaphragm studio condensor mics in mid-side configuration.

If I need more serious yet, I own a MOTU (Mark of the Unicorn) firewire interface, an iMac, a dual channel tube interface, Logix Pro X, and an array of 20mm and 26mm diaphragm microphones for full studio quality recordings.

Which style of recording do you have in mind?

This is a scratch recording, single pass done in 2006 in our living room one morning while my gigging partner and I were having coffee - with a Zoom H4 using it's internal mics - camera tripod and we positioned ourselves approximately the same distance from each mic. It was recorded in mp3 format @ 192kbps.

The recording was certainly good enough for me to build a more complex and better focused arrangement from.

California Dreamin' scratch recording - CLiCk

I recorded the piece below, with a Zoom H4 (internal mics), single pass on a camera tripod in our living room, as he sang it to his daughter. He wrote it for his daughter for her wedding. I tricked him (he thought he was doing a scratch recording because he freezes up in studio settings).

I trimmed the ends, faded, added a bit of reverb, & normalized it using Amadeus Pro software. (the original doesn't have the pop at the end of the track) Burned it to a CDr and they used it for the wedding. Could I have done better in the studio? Probably, but it would have taken several hours, many takes and a lot of editing (I've recorded this friend before). This took 20 minutes start to CDr in his hand.

I Go With You - ClicK

Zoom now has a new higher end line of simple recorders with much better mics to record high quality audio with ease.

Even though I have capability of using external mics, these days I carry an H2n (usually in mid-side config) for mobile music recordings. If I'm going to hook up external mics, I use an H4n. It can give me full 48 volt phantom power
for nearly 30 minutes with a pair of AA batteries.

It's a great day to want/need a simple recording rig with quality.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Trevor B.

Hey KevWind, I've been reading great things about the A Designs MP2A. So I hope you won't mind answering a couple of questions? 1) Do you find it "colours" your vocals and guitar very much or is it more on the transparent side? 2) Can you control the amount of "tube" so that, for example, you can add warmth to your vocal mic while setting the guitar for a cleaner signal? I'm a relative newbie to the home project studio deal so any input is helpful.
Thanks,
Trevor

Trevor, no there is not much in way of color, the MP2A is a fairly transparent tube amp and no you can't change the "amount of tube" per se.
You can of course put in different tubes, I have not bothered to do so but some users have done so and claim to prefer the results.

As for tone and different mic's: You can change two different settings, you have two toggle switches one controls a high pass filter in or out and the other controls ohm settings (2 different ones ) so you effectively have 4 different settings in combination that effect tone. So for example I run my vocal mic at on combination and the guitar mic at a different one .

What I like about the MP2A is not so much tube color but more what I would describe as "presence" or a bit more (for lack of more technical term) 3D feel than for example the Focusrite ISA 220 that I had or the even the pres on my Omni

[Trevor B.]

Originally Posted by KevWind

Trevor, no there is not much in way of color, the MP2A is a fairly transparent tube amp and no you can't change the "amount of tube" per se.
You can of course put in different tubes, I have not bothered to do so but some users have done so and claim to prefer the results.

As for tone and different mic's: You can change two different settings, you have two toggle switches one controls a high pass filter in or out and the other controls ohm settings (2 different ones ) so you effectively have 4 different settings in combination that effect tone. So for example I run my vocal mic at on combination and the guitar mic at a different one .

What I like about the MP2A is not so much tube color but more what I would describe as "presence" or a bit more (for lack of more technical term) 3D feel than for example the Focusrite ISA 220 that I had or the even the pres on my Omni

Thanks for answering my questions. Rather than hijack this thread any further I'll start a new one about preamps.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by louparte

Larry Jacobsen,

I honestly don't think I've ever heard a better version of 'California Dreamin'

It had the emotion exactly and your playing was perfect, not over-the-top.
Dramatic in places, elegant and under-stated in others.

Hat tip to you on that one.

Hi louparte…

Thanks! We do it much better (not more complex) now. And we hope to record most of our live duets throughout this coming calendar year (single take, single pass, recordings done live and without editing).

The simplicity of the Zooms makes it easy to pull demos.

[grim83]

When I record I just use a simple two channel di box into my laptop and either mix a Mic and pickup or do everything on one Mic. Usually this is the Mic I use