How does this sound to you?

[Bob1131]

My daughter has moved into our basement, so I had to move my home recording location and I am undecided about the sound in this room. This very short acoustic guitar duet is just an experiment and I would like comments on the sound based on what you can hear from your system (whether it be Adam Audio monitors, headphones, or whatever).

I cannot afford new gear at this point in time, so I am looking for technique ideas rather than gear recommendations. I recorded each guitar part with a wide spaced pair panned hard left and right. I then adjusted the panning during mix down to give each instrument its own position on the sound stage - one center left and the other center right. The guitar used is a Taylor GA4. I am specifically interested in the following;

1. Does the guitar sound natural?

2. Does it sound like the mic's are too close or not close enough?

3. Is the tone too bright or not bright enough?

4. Is the mix good, or should I give the guitars more separation, wider sound stage, etc.?

5. Based on what you can hear and perceive, what are your suggestions to improve the sound?

Thanks in advance!! HERE is the track.

[Sage97]

Listening through my headphones and I think they sound excellent. Maybe a tad bit more bass on the left. I'll give it a shot through my Adams a little later.

Wonderful playing!

[moon]

1. No - too "spitty" ie too much high-end.

2. Can't really tell.

3. Too bright. If I listened to that for long my ears would bleed.

4. Mix sounds fine in headphones.

5. This is one of my reference recordings when I'm comparing guitar sounds. No two guitars ever sound alike of course, but I think this is quite a natural-sounding take. It's got some shimmery, transient detail but it's also fairly well-balanced, without the over-hyped treble end.

Sorry, you didn't want to talk gear, but I suspect your mics. There is also some audible noise in the chain.

Good playing though I'd like to hear more.

[Bob1131]

Originally Posted by Sage97

Listening through my headphones and I think they sound excellent. Maybe a tad bit more bass on the left. I'll give it a shot through my Adams a little later.

Wonderful playing!

Thank you, Ernie. I expect more bass from the left because the guitar on the left is playing the bass line whereas the guitar on the right is playing only on the first three strings. I will be curious how it sounds to you on the Adams.

[Bob1131]

Originally Posted by moon

1. No - too "spitty" ie too much high-end.

2. Can't really tell.

3. Too bright. If I listened to that for long my ears would bleed.

4. Mix sounds fine in headphones.

5. This is one of my reference recordings when I'm comparing guitar sounds. No two guitars ever sound alike of course, but I think this is quite a natural-sounding take. It's got some shimmery, transient detail but it's also fairly well-balanced, without the over-hyped treble end.

Sorry, you didn't want to talk gear, but I suspect your mics. There is also some audible noise in the chain.

Good playing though I'd like to hear more.

That is helpful, Moon. I suspected it might sound too bright because I added highs post recording because of my poor hearing. Here is ORIGINAL MIX which is the uncolored track at a higher bit rate so you can hear more detail.

Due to my poor hearing, I don't hear any noise in the track, but I suspect it might be present at some level because my home has an open floor plan and there are lots of noises from the fridge running to the HVAC. That is why I must mic close and why I was curious if there is too much presence from the close mic'ing. Do you hear noise or did you run the track through an analysis program that can detect noise?

BTW, it is not that I don't want to talk gear rather, it would be useless right now (and painful to discuss). I have been unemployed for over a year and buying anything other than food and shelter is simply out of the question.

[moon]

Originally Posted by Bob1131

That is helpful, Moon. I suspected it might sound too bright because I added highs post recording because of my poor hearing. HERE is the uncolored track at a higher bit rate so you can hear more detail.

I like that a lot better. It helps the noise level as well.

With the first clip, I was just listening by ear and some hiss - wherever it came from - was quite audible. Not really loud but loud enough to notice. In the second clip you had to go looking for it to hear it.

buying anything other than food and shelter is simply out of the question.

I know the feeling. This year I'm hoping to pick up a FiveFish preamp kit and refret my guitar but that'll probably be about it - along with some Knauf acoustic slabs which santa brought me. Now I need to figure out how to turn them into gobos...

[shawlie]

Great tune, Bob - very nice playing and love those blues notes you do a little later on!

I listen through cheap, little earphones (but to be honest, this pair sounds just as good as my much more expensive Koss headphones...) so not sure if it's any help -

I think I do prefer the second, uncolored version slightly more. Might need a slight bit of the bass-end off of it, but I wouldn't add any treble actually. It sounds very nice!

I have no idea about placement - the mics sound great, but during the more dynamic/louder parts, they seems a little close, perhaps. But I don't hear a lot of noise, not on the earphones I use.

I like the mix a lot - the guitars are seperate, but do blend in nicely. I bit wider might be cool, too - but this has a nice, rich sound to it - lots of strings, but not getting too "busy" or in the way of each other.

Cool tune, and good luck getting it the way you want it - sound great so far!

[Bob1131]

Originally Posted by moon

I like that a lot better. It helps the noise level as well.

With the first clip, I was just listening by ear and some hiss - wherever it came from - was quite audible. Not really loud but loud enough to notice. In the second clip you had to go looking for it to hear it.



I know the feeling. This year I'm hoping to pick up a FiveFish preamp kit and refret my guitar but that'll probably be about it - along with some Knauf acoustic slabs which santa brought me. Now I need to figure out how to turn them into gobos...

Thanks again Moon for lending your ears and assessing the sound. I think I will play with the set up again and re-record to see if I can eliminate the noise and obtain a more life-like sound.

[Bob1131]

Originally Posted by shawlie

Great tune, Bob - very nice playing and love those blues notes you do a little later on!

I listen through cheap, little earphones (but to be honest, this pair sounds just as good as my much more expensive Koss headphones...) so not sure if it's any help -

I think I do prefer the second, uncolored version slightly more. Might need a slight bit of the bass-end off of it, but I wouldn't add any treble actually. It sounds very nice!

I have no idea about placement - the mics sound great, but during the more dynamic/louder parts, they seems a little close, perhaps. But I don't hear a lot of noise, not on the earphones I use.

I like the mix a lot - the guitars are seperate, but do blend in nicely. I bit wider might be cool, too - but this has a nice, rich sound to it - lots of strings, but not getting too "busy" or in the way of each other.

Cool tune, and good luck getting it the way you want it - sound great so far!

Thanks for listening, Shawlie. The tune is just a little progression I have been toying with over the last couple of weeks. I hope to eventually develop it into a whole song. As I mention in my previous response to Moon, I'll play with the set up and re-record. I'll try a wider stereo image.