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  #46  
Old 01-17-2014, 06:51 PM
jebsong jebsong is offline
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Originally Posted by Archtop Guy View Post
I was thinking SM57 into a house PA when I wrote that. However, I can use a regular mic with my Fishman Loudbox too. Of course, a mic has a very low impedance compared to a guitar PU so it needs a different kind of preamp. If you want to use a mic and a regular guitar amp, you can use something like a L.R.Baggs Para Acoustic DI.

BTW, the Para Acoustic DI is a great piece of kit for any acoustic player. I would highly recommend it. The EQ is very well suited for dialing out the boominess, reducing feedback, and sweetening the tone.
I have a LR Baggs Para Acousti DI that I use with a Pick Up The World pickup on my SJ that sounds great! I also have a SM57 that I might try for the archtop.

I've checked out the reviews and audio clips on the clip on DPA 4099 which is a goose neck miniature shotgun microphone. There is a good review by Ry Cooder on this mic and he is a perfectionist when it comes to sound.

Check it out and let me know what you think.
http://rycooder.nl/pages/dpa_4099_microphones.htm


Jeb
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  #47  
Old 01-18-2014, 02:01 PM
Archtop Guy Archtop Guy is offline
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Originally Posted by backdrifter View Post
I have an SM57 and have never been happy with the tone I get through it and into my acoustic amp with any of my guitars. I'm sure this is in no small part due to my own ignorance. It always seems like I have to turn my amp way up to hear the guitar well enough and then I have feedback issues. What am I doing wrong, and where do you recommend placing the mic?
You're not doing anything wrong per se, feedback and levels are always a balancing act.

Here are my rules:

*Keep the mic as close to the sound source as possible. For a live archtop, I think the best mic position is a few inches from your right hand. (Not over the 12 fret: not enough volume there.)

*Keep the amp in front of your guitar, or pointed in such a way so the mic picks up the minimum bleed from the amp. Think PA setups, the speakers are for the audience, not for you.

*Reduce the bass. The guitar body has a resonance around 150-200Hz. This is usually the first feedback point for me. Try to dial this out.

*If you have a phase switch, find the position that sounds best.

Play, experiment, have fun.
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  #48  
Old 01-18-2014, 03:22 PM
backdrifter backdrifter is offline
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Thanks for the suggestions, I've got a lot to try now!

I've never used a preamp, which is probaly a big source of my problems!
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  #49  
Old 01-19-2014, 10:51 PM
jebsong jebsong is offline
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Originally Posted by Archtop Guy View Post
You're not doing anything wrong per se, feedback and levels are always a balancing act.

Here are my rules:

*Keep the mic as close to the sound source as possible. For a live archtop, I think the best mic position is a few inches from your right hand. (Not over the 12 fret: not enough volume there.)

*Keep the amp in front of your guitar, or pointed in such a way so the mic picks up the minimum bleed from the amp. Think PA setups, the speakers are for the audience, not for you.

*Reduce the bass. The guitar body has a resonance around 150-200Hz. This is usually the first feedback point for me. Try to dial this out.

*If you have a phase switch, find the position that sounds best.

Play, experiment, have fun.
Good advice I'll give this a try!
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  #50  
Old 01-23-2014, 01:55 AM
jebsong jebsong is offline
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Originally Posted by Archtop Guy View Post
Sorry, I don't know of a good swing jazz DVD, but I am sure there are some out there.

My recommendation would be the Mickey Baker book, just the chord section is essential. You have this one already, right? My own twisted history includes that, plus learning every song on Willie Nelson's Stardust record. He's not strictly 30's swing but that whole record is beautiful interpretations of the era. If you've got that under your belt, the 30's swing feel comes easily. Have you checked out local teachers?

Of course, I play all the songs you mentioned. So if you're ever in the Bay Area....
Hi Guy, I just received the Mickey Baker book and I'm starting to learn the chords. It looks like a great book thanks for recommending it!

Here are some more photos of my AT 16 from Dream Guitars when they sold it for the original owner in 2006.

I'm also trying to learn how to use Audacity a freeware recording program. I have AT4033 and Oktava MK 319 condenser mics to record with. So hopefully I can make some decent recordings.

Jeb








Last edited by jebsong; 01-23-2014 at 02:29 AM. Reason: Add text
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  #51  
Old 01-24-2014, 05:50 AM
Howard Emerson Howard Emerson is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jebsong View Post
I have a LR Baggs Para Acousti DI that I use with a Pick Up The World pickup on my SJ that sounds great! I also have a SM57 that I might try for the archtop.

I've checked out the reviews and audio clips on the clip on DPA 4099 which is a goose neck miniature shotgun microphone. There is a good review by Ry Cooder on this mic and he is a perfectionist when it comes to sound.

Check it out and let me know what you think.
http://rycooder.nl/pages/dpa_4099_microphones.htm


Jeb
Jeb,
That review is by a guy in The Netherlands, whose website is rycooder.nl, and he's just a fan of Ry's. He's had this site for close to 10 years.

HE
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  #52  
Old 01-24-2014, 01:02 PM
Archtop Guy Archtop Guy is offline
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Originally Posted by jebsong View Post
I'm also trying to learn how to use Audacity a freeware recording program. I have AT4033 and Oktava MK 319 condenser mics to record with. So hopefully I can make some decent recordings.
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I've been using Audacity for years for mastering. It's a great program. Depending on the interface you use for the mics, you should be able to get great audio quality.

Given the miraculous age we live in, I'd recommend looking into video options too. If you have anything at all, a camcorder, a point and shoot camera, a phone, etc., you should try it. Lately I've been extracting the audio portion of my vids, mastering on Audacity, then recombining.
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  #53  
Old 01-24-2014, 10:34 PM
jebsong jebsong is offline
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Jeb,
That review is by a guy in The Netherlands, whose website is rycooder.nl, and he's just a fan of Ry's. He's had this site for close to 10 years.

HE
LOL

Thanks for the heads up that funny! Well you can't blame him for being a fan of Ry Cooder and I wonder if Cooder knows about this guys site?

Nevertheless there are other good reviews of the DPA mic and it's one I'm going to do some more research on. Someone said that their main US office was here in Colorado, if this is true I can probable go there and hopefully check the mic out.

jebsong
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  #54  
Old 01-24-2014, 11:00 PM
jebsong jebsong is offline
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Originally Posted by Archtop Guy View Post
I've been using Audacity for years for mastering. It's a great program. Depending on the interface you use for the mics, you should be able to get great audio quality.

Given the miraculous age we live in, I'd recommend looking into video options too. If you have anything at all, a camcorder, a point and shoot camera, a phone, etc., you should try it. Lately I've been extracting the audio portion of my vids, mastering on Audacity, then recombining.
That's a great idea about using a camera! So when you extract the audio from the camera video you can enhance the audio in audacity?

What I'm using with my mics is a Allen & Heath MixWizard 16 channel soundboard I haven't had a chance yet to see haw it sounds and even though it's a board designed for a PA system I think it will be OK. I'm using a pretty good Dell laptop but I think I might be able to get a better interface between the laptop and the board.

Right now I have it hooked up using an XLR plugged into the board and a 1/4" jack with a 1/8" adapter into my laptop.

Thanks for the advice!

jebsong
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  #55  
Old 01-29-2014, 02:44 AM
jebsong jebsong is offline
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Default Two new recordings of my AT 16

Here's two recordings of my Collings AT 16. The first one is of me playing a short clip of the Rev Gary Davis version of Candyman. The second clip is a friend of mine and a great guitarist and singer songwriter playing improv.

These recordings were done at my friends studio using a Blue Dragonfly mic through a Grace Model 101 preamp flat with no equalization or effects.

Rev Jebsong Davis playing Candyman.



My friend playing improv.

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  #56  
Old 01-29-2014, 11:23 AM
Archtop Guy Archtop Guy is offline
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Nice recording, man! And I like your post production too. Great job keeping the chain simple for best audio.
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  #57  
Old 01-29-2014, 05:51 PM
jebsong jebsong is offline
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Nice recording, man! And I like your post production too. Great job keeping the chain simple for best audio.
Thanks, My friend who wishes to remain anonymous has a great recording set up and uses Logic recording software. We did not spend a lot of time on the recordings so they could have been better. But I didn't want to take up to much of his time and I just wanted a couple of good sound clips.

I've made a test recording using Audacity with 2 condenser mics going through my Allen & Heath board, but I'm getting some noise in the way of a hiss. I'm not sure if its the board or not having the proper interface like a analog to digital converter? Other than the hiss though it sounds pretty good, not as good as my friends recordings but not bad.

I'm trying to sell my soundboard so I need to look into getting a setup like my friends.

The recordings that you have on your website are awesome, what kind of interface do you use?

Jeb
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  #58  
Old 01-29-2014, 06:57 PM
Archtop Guy Archtop Guy is offline
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My website has close to fifteen years of recordings, and in that period I have gone through lots of setups. My current setup is a previous generation Focusrite with 8 preamps and a Firewire interface. I also use Apple Logic SW. I have good mics (see website), some 20 years old.

OTOH, I've recently done some really simple stuff where I record audio and video using my super low cost Olympus LS-20. Using the magic of modern PCs I can extract the audio, separately master it with Audacity, then recombine audio and video and render it for the web. Given the omnipresence of YouTube these days I would recommend this as a legit approach for all acoustic guitarists.
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  #59  
Old 01-30-2014, 12:03 PM
ronbo ronbo is offline
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I've been following this thread and have to say that those Collings AT's are some sweet guitars...and great clips jebsong, thanks for posting. The guitar sounds really clear, I can only imagine how wonderful it sounds live. As a new archtop owner (Eastman AR610) I'm loving this new world of archtops and hoping to experience some of these nice instruments as time goes on...now if I could just find that winning lotto ticket
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  #60  
Old 02-02-2014, 12:21 AM
jebsong jebsong is offline
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Thanks ronbo, I wanted to make a couple of decent recordings of the Collings AT 16 because there were none out there until I recorded and posted mine. I'm glad that you liked them and I'm learning how to use Audacity right now. As soon as I learn the basics of Audacity and get a good interface I will do some more recordings.

And Guy thanks for your advice! I think I'll try the camera idea and learn how to do the audio mastering in Audacity. I checked out your equipment on your website. You've got a great recording setup and some awesome mics it looks like!

jebsong
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