Aloha Triple 000-Doug,
Your playing? Honestly? Really good. You must be a gigger, right? You play song's that are accessible w/ melodies most older folks know & entertaining. Rags, blues & Delta slide. Versatile. And almost a different guitar for every song, keeping the sound fresh. Bravo!
You also are not afraid to pick very complex pieces w/ the melodies, like I Am The Light Of The World. It was hard enough to sing that melody & play that fast song at the same time ( a la Jorma), let alone the whole piece & melody on guitar & keep that double-thumbing beat in time. Wow! I'd go hear you play, one old gigger to another, Doug. So playing? Great.
Expression & spirit of the music? You got it brother, including the humor & irony of some of the blues pieces. Very entertaining. Comes through clear as a bell. I'm becoming more a fan the more I listen to the fun that's in your musical expressions.
Minor: I don't think any players should share recordings of playing that has many mistakes or instruments out of tune included. The world deserves your Best, Triple Oh Doug, right?
Recording. You know it's amazing, you can stick a National Duolian (I had a '31 that belonged to Blind Boy Fuller complete with bullet holes welded closed in the back) in any room, through any mic, any situation AND it will sound clear as a bell and great. I loved your recordings on that.
However, wooden instruments are a lot more finicky to record well & CONSISTENTLY in an untreated space like yours. You NEED some portable DIY treatment my friend to control it. I can help. Just ask. Make 4-9 of these:
http://www.homebrewedmusic.com/2009/...-on-the-cheap/
Makes all the difference in several ways, J-Doug.
On the Zoom, you're very good at getting the levels high enough so we don't have to Gain it up to hear without the noise. The only resonance problems I hear are in the lower mid-range issues (as usual) caused by the untreated space - but not on all songs you've shared. It's No Secret What God Can Do was very balanced & good result. The lower mid's were a problem on The Entertainer & on others. Fixable.
Ya know, the untreated room you recorded these songs in is pretty darn good for the styles you play. Treatment could give you many more options & control. But this is actually a pretty good room for acoustic music.
The only thing is you can't really experiment with mic placement in a room with that much natural reverberation or early reflections. Like playing at a slower piece, like Don't Blame Me, quietly with the mic's out at 16". Can't do it on the Zoom in that room w/o problems. And it robs your songs of some of the intimacy they deserve to express.
Overall Triple Oh? I'm impressed with your playing & spirited stylings. And the recordings are pretty darn good for only using the Zoom's onboard mic's.
So what are you trying to do with your recordings, Doug?
If it's pro level home recordings, you could see where I was going with my last posts' questions - about moving forward? Your music deserves to go next level (like for CD's to sell at gigs?) But you can see where it's heading - time & expense.
So the new question is obvious: what do you like to do more, play/perform or record?
Because you have to spend time learning about DAW's & signal chains. For me, sometimes my obsession (and fear) with the gear left me with flat recorded performances. Something to consider, I mean you could use the Zoom to perfect your performance then go to a studio & let them enhance it. I've taken raw, but excellent Logic tracks I made @ home to a mastering engineer to put the magic into for a finished result. That's another way to look at home recording. Me? Although I finally got decent results in DAW home recording, I always preferred gigging for folks to recording anyway. However, I truly love hearing well-recorded, great performances on acoustic guitar, especially when it evolves for a player here at AGF. (Doug & slow-rick's recordings are wonderful). You should submit a couple of your favorite raw track, unedited recordings for these guys to edit & play with. The results might surprise you, Doug.
Yes, stereo miking is much preferred for a more complete acoustic guitar recording. It's about the only way I've recorded solo acoustic guitar for the last 50 years. I tried most high-end SDC mic's from 1972-2011. Ended up with Schoep's CMC641's for the last decade I could play, the best I ever heard.
So again, in case I missed it, & if you're staying with the Zoom H4N, what external mic's are you looking at & how much do you want to spend on a matched pair of SDC's? PM me about treatment if you'd like.
Nice playing, Triple Oh Doug!
alohachris