Thumb tapping too hard during recording need advice!

[thebends6]

Hey everyone,

So I'm home recording some acoustic material on a new 414ce I bought and am running into some problems. The song I'm recording has a thumb tapping rhythm to it (think John Mayer's Stop This Train). The problem is that I feel as though I'm hitting too hard with my thumb. I'm trying to practice to make it smoother and softer but having a hard time. Are there any recording techniques you guys would suggest to make the reduce the THUD sound or should I simply just learn to tap softer? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[-ST-]

If you are recording with a condenser microphone (things to try)
- move it back
- do NOT aim it at the sound hole
- if the microphone has a high pass filter (a switch that rolls off the lows) then use it.


If you have a running into a preamplifier or some device with filters or EQ before you get to the recording device - then roll off the lows below 80 Hz, (the approximate frequencie of your low E string).

If you don't have any luck with any of the above, then try filtering out everything below 80 Hz after you have made the recording.

Does any of that help?

[Ty Ford]

Originally Posted by thebends6

Hey everyone,

So I'm home recording some acoustic material on a new 414ce I bought and am running into some problems. The song I'm recording has a thumb tapping rhythm to it (think John Mayer's Stop This Train). The problem is that I feel as though I'm hitting too hard with my thumb. I'm trying to practice to make it smoother and softer but having a hard time. Are there any recording techniques you guys would suggest to make the reduce the THUD sound or should I simply just learn to tap softer? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Sort of depends on why it's too prominent. What mic did you use before? Where did you put it. If it was further away and not in an idea spot for recording and the 414 is in the right spot and giving you otherwise good recordings, they, yeah, learn to play differently. That's not THAT hard. Is it the crack or the thump? As suggested, you may be able to EQ lit a bit, but in doing so, you'll likely mess up the sound of the guitar.

Regards,

Ty Ford

[moon]

Compression ought to sort it out, assuming it's still there after trying some of the other advice. You could even try applying it to a specific frequency band.

[thebends6]

I'm using the Apogee One's internal mic but I also have a MXL V63M that I'm gonna try. It's the thumping sound on the low e that's giving me problems. I will definitely try your suggestions. Thanks!