#1
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Comparing home recording to professional
I put Al Petteway's Parting Glass into my DAW to compare similar sections. An eye opener. Obviously mine (on top) needs to gain a bit of weight,
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#2
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I’m confused. Are they the same recording? Or are you comparing two different recordings? If so, is yours mastered? Normalized?
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#3
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The recording on top is me playing a 29 second section of The Parting Glass which I normalized and did noise removal on. The recording on the bottom is a section of Al Petteway's recording of the same section of the song from his cd that I imported into Audacity. I think when I recorded mine my input gain was too low, but still, there's a lot of "meat" missing from mine.
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#4
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Gotcha. Run your mix through a compressor/limiter to up the gain and your waveform will be a lot closer.
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#5
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Thanks. I have to educate myself on what and how a compressor does what it does otherwise I'm flying blind. I have to understand what I'm doing so I can actually figure out what to do with what tool. Long way to go.
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Barry Youtube! Please subscribe! My SoundCloud page Avalon L-320C, Guild D-120, Martin D-16GT, McIlroy A20, Pellerin SJ CW Cordobas - C5, Fusion 12 Orchestra, C12, Stage Traditional Alvarez AP66SB, Seagull Folk Aria {Johann Logy}: |
#6
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Yep. There always is. |
#7
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Al's track would have been mastered, it may not have been that hot when he recorded it. Your levels could be a little hotter, but they aren't bad for a raw unmastered track. With 24 bits, you should have plenty of room above the noise floor with what you have. When it's "mastered" (either by someone else, or by you) for release, the levels are generally brought up to a higher level.
Just looking at the waveform, Al's is "fatter" all the way around, seems to have less variance between the loudest and quietest notes. That could be due to compression - as was being discussed in your other thread - or it could be the guitar or the way Al plays. Al gets a nice consistent and full sound - he sounds like Al! - which could be one of the differences. Comparing yourself recording a tune by someone else is a great exercise - it can be misleading because you don't know what was done to the track, EQ, compression, reverb, etc. But every time I've done this, I learn how much the players touch and feel has to do with the sound on the recording. Trying to play more like the target usually gets me closer than any twiddling of effects and so on.
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Music: Spotify, Bandcamp Videos: You Tube Channel Books: Hymns for Fingerstyle Guitar (std tuning), Christmas Carols for Fingerstyle Guitar (std tuning), A DADGAD Christmas, Alternate Tunings book Online Course: Alternate Tunings for Fingerstyle Guitar |
#8
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All that said, too much compression can make music sound unnatural, so the trick is to apply enough compression so that people don't have to ride the volume knob while listening but can still easily hear the loudest and quietest parts of a song. Consider this example. You have a song that has multiple instruments playing... acoustic guitars, wailing electric guitars, heavy drums, organs, screaming vocals. All those instruments contribute to the level of volume you hear. Then at some point in the song all the instruments drop away except the acoustic guitar and vocals which have now gone from screaming to pianissimo. That's a tremendous reduction in volume. Without compression, the listener would probably have to turn up the volume to hear that section of the song. Compression eliminates that need by controlling the loudest parts throughout the song so that when the softest parts come, they're loud enough to hear.
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#9
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I was going to blame my guitar,
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Barry Youtube! Please subscribe! My SoundCloud page Avalon L-320C, Guild D-120, Martin D-16GT, McIlroy A20, Pellerin SJ CW Cordobas - C5, Fusion 12 Orchestra, C12, Stage Traditional Alvarez AP66SB, Seagull Folk Aria {Johann Logy}: |
#10
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Mostly simply a volume gain difference. You realize that, right?
Just looking at the waveforms (not listening) it appears Petteway is letting notes ring through longer (perhaps more notes being played also) than you.
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Derek Coombs Youtube -> Website -> Music -> Tabs Guitars by Mark Blanchard, Albert&Mueller, Paul Woolson, Collings, Composite Acoustics, and Derek Coombs "Reality is that which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Woods hands pick by eye and ear
Made to one with pride and love To be that we hold so dear A voice from heavens above |
#11
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Quote:
Me: AP:
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Barry Youtube! Please subscribe! My SoundCloud page Avalon L-320C, Guild D-120, Martin D-16GT, McIlroy A20, Pellerin SJ CW Cordobas - C5, Fusion 12 Orchestra, C12, Stage Traditional Alvarez AP66SB, Seagull Folk Aria {Johann Logy}: Last edited by TBman; 06-12-2018 at 09:31 AM. |
#12
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Sure. There is a lot more going on in the AP recording. For one, there’s a pretty lush reverb that’s letting the transients of the notes ring out longer. The EQ of your track also sounds dramatically different. This could be your mic(s)—yours sounds like a single mic to me—your mic placement, your mic preamps, the room, your guitar, your fingers, etc.
It also sounds like it’s got some compression on it to tame the attack—especially on those notes on the B and E strings. Compare the attack on the first 10 seconds worth of notes of yours to the AP one and you can hear a real difference in the way the notes pop. |
#13
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Yep, notes ringing out lonerg, in part due to reverb. Doubt there is any, or if any very little, compression being used by Petteway.
Try to hold on to the notes a bit longer in a piece like this.
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Derek Coombs Youtube -> Website -> Music -> Tabs Guitars by Mark Blanchard, Albert&Mueller, Paul Woolson, Collings, Composite Acoustics, and Derek Coombs "Reality is that which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Woods hands pick by eye and ear
Made to one with pride and love To be that we hold so dear A voice from heavens above |
#14
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But this sounds like a bit of everything. Mic placement is different, he's getting a lot more sustain, basic tone is different, with Al's being fatter, warmer. I hear a lot of room sound in your recording, Al's is very direct. The acoustics of the room will impact your recorded tone. Poor room acoustics can make your guitar sound thinner, peakier. Not sure what mic placement you're using, but I'd try spaced pairs and mic closer to get rid of some of the room sound. Remember that Al has really nice guitars, too. Compression may play a role - maybe 5-10% of the difference. The rest is in aspects that come before "mastering".
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Music: Spotify, Bandcamp Videos: You Tube Channel Books: Hymns for Fingerstyle Guitar (std tuning), Christmas Carols for Fingerstyle Guitar (std tuning), A DADGAD Christmas, Alternate Tunings book Online Course: Alternate Tunings for Fingerstyle Guitar |
#15
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__________________
Derek Coombs Youtube -> Website -> Music -> Tabs Guitars by Mark Blanchard, Albert&Mueller, Paul Woolson, Collings, Composite Acoustics, and Derek Coombs "Reality is that which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Woods hands pick by eye and ear
Made to one with pride and love To be that we hold so dear A voice from heavens above |