Quote:
Originally Posted by Doug Young
OK, I didn't do a full blown video lesson, but I quickly recorded a short clip tonight with really cheap gear. Setup was a Zoom Hn4 ($299), with external mics, Audio Technica AT2020 (I paid $59 each), and Reaper ($60). I recorded in my living room, with no room treatment whatsoever, so no cost there. I did pretty much the same steps here, except that the track isn't sent out to mastering, I just raised the level to peak at near 0 db. I used only included Reaper plugins, a very slight compression, a little high end boost and extreme low end cut and little mid boost to warm it up, and added reverb.
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Oh, wow, ask and ye shall receive, eh?
Well, according to my ears and experience comparing that to my own attempts, and my own ears, the good news/bad news is:
My issue ain't the gear, that's for sure! I'd be very, very happy with that quality -- actually sounds quite good! -- and I ain't getting it with my setup, which is pretty right on par with what you used (Rode NT1 > Yamaha board > Lexicon Omega > Reaper).
This past week of returning to home recording and analyzing my attempts, I'm pretty sure half my battle is my guitar, so I just told my luthier I need a setup etc.
What I'm finding odd, tho, is that if I play/record with my headphones (Sony MDR-7506's -- plugged into the Lexicon, so post mixer) I'm quite content with the guitar quality.
But by the time it comes out the other end of Reaper, it's pretty crappy.
On my first/last disc I "mastered" everything myself and did a beta run of 100 discs thru Discmaker. But then someone talked me into taking the tracks to a local studio guy for remastering, and he really did work some miracles.
Yet and still, with that massaging nothing I got down approaches what you nailed with your simple setup.
...I can always nail pretty good vocals...fine Tele/Princeton Reverb/SM57 tones...solid bass...but the acoustic guitar...? Bleah.
And that's especially true with my hard-driving, rhythm playing, but then that's an issue live, too, so it may be the guitar, or at least the setup.
Ok, that's probably too much thinking out loud for anyone's use.
One last quick question: how far, again, were your mics from the guitar?
Thanks again, Doug! Yer the best thing to come out of Mountain View since the old Tower Records in the shopping mall on El Camino...
