Test guitar recording

rodos1979 · Post by **rodos1979** » Mon May 12, 2003 9:21 am

<a name="planetz-file"></a><a href="http://www.planetz.com/Pulsar/files/mus ... .mp3"><img src="/forums/images/listen_icon.gif" border="0" alt=" Song"> Song</a> <a name="planetz-tag"></a>Genre: Acoustic <a name="planetz-tag"></a>Uses: Pulsar Effects copyright (c) 2003 rodos1979 _____________________________________ Hello to all!

This is just a test recording I ve made and is related to this topic: http://www.planetz.com/forums/viewtopic ... =5&start=0
It is just a small guitar phrase I ve recorded with my Takamine CP132SC classical guitar, a Shure BG4.1 mic and a Behringer MX602A small mixer connected to the analog in of my Pulsar2. The mic was about 40cm in front of the 12fret.
Unfortunately, this is more or less the best quality acoustic guitar recording I can do at the moment...pretty crap!

The first part of the recording is the unprocessed guitar recording (the only thing I ve done is to roll-off freq below 80Hz with SFP when recording) & the second part has the same phrase processed with the SFP Compressor, PEQ4 and MasterVerb.
What do you think about the first and second part? I would like you to suggest me some presets of yours to try with the above mentioned modules to the original file.

Thank you

P.S. As you can probably listen, unfortunately I record in a quite noise environment (can you listen to the birds in the background?)

marcuspocus · Post by **marcuspocus** » Mon May 12, 2003 4:03 pm

Hi Rodos, your recording isn't that bad you know...

BTW, you play guitar very well!

I prefer the first unprocessed part to the second processed one, to much noise for my taste...

But i noticed that there isn't any low frequencies! Maybe try getting one of your mic closer to the sound hole? Or maybe i'm searching bass where there isn't!

[ This Message was edited by: marcuspocus on 2003-05-12 17:20 ]

paulrmartin · Post by **paulrmartin** » Mon May 12, 2003 4:15 pm

I wonder what would happen if you de-noised the processed part in, say, Cool Edit.

Ricardo · Post by **Ricardo** » Tue May 13, 2003 6:24 am

I'm with Marcus. You could possibly be being a bit hard on yourself. The first part is very nice. It does lack a little in the lower frequencies and this could be easily resolved with either EQ, mic slightly nearer etc.Or maybe it's just the type of wood used in the guitar. In the second part the reverb emphasises the noise. The masterverb classic is hard to get right on guitar, I would suggest EQing the reverb to take the tops off a bit.
Lastly, noone would know the birds were there if you hadn't told us!
Conclusion- save your money.
BTW have you tried the Timeworks Sharc preamp? You can download and trial it for free. It may warm the sound up a bit.
Warmest,

_________________
Ricardo (of the Clan 'Ricardo')

[ This Message was edited by: Ricardo on 2003-05-13 07:28 ]

marcuspocus · Post by **marcuspocus** » Tue May 13, 2003 9:28 am

Yeah, with Timeworks Sharc preamp, you should be able to do something...

I use something similar, the Celmo X-Machine, pretty effective.

rodos1979 · Post by **rodos1979** » Tue May 13, 2003 5:03 pm

Hello to all and thank you for replying!

Marucs, do you really think that the recording is nice? Well, as far as EQ is concerned I dont know really if it lacks bass or not. You see I still dont have my Mackies (they should be coming one of this days) and I am monitoring through my AKG K270 Studio headphones. The headphones are of excellent quality but they do not match (in therms of impedance I think) with the RCA output of the Pulsar. When I use other the Technics HT600 headphones I have, the sound is much louder and full of bass. Anyway, probably I need a headphone preamp too

There are not many bass frequencies in this phrase anyway...
Now in terms of quality, I find the recording very noisy and very unclear. As if it was a bad quality MP3 file. You cannot clearly hear each note, each string I pluck. It has a lot of mids and it lacks some sparkle which I tried to add with the EQ by boosting around 9k, resulting in a more clear and transparent but more noisy guitar.
Paul, I didnt denoise the processed part (although I own the SF Noise Red 2) because I only wanted to use SFP modules. If I denoise it the sound improves a bit but not a lot (when I remove it all the guitar sounds flangy)
...a software preamp? I thought that one should use preamps at least before the AD conversion, for the best SN ratio and sound...

I asked at Thomann's to suggest me a mic and a preamp for about 600euros and they came up with these:
1)Art Tube MP Studio (which is not very nice of them, since the V3 version has substituted the old version and costs exactly the same money...maybe they are trying to get rid of their stock...)
2) The T-Bone SCT800 mic http://www.netzmarkt.de/thomann/thoiw2_ ... 52309.html
They prefered this mic over the AKG C451B and the Rode NT1000...
What do you think? Should I trust them?
To be honest myself, was thinking to go for the Art Tube MP Studio V3 preamp and for a mic I was thinking to buy something from red5audio.com. If I dont like it I can still send it back and have my money back, which is nice!

Otherwise I will go for the NT1000 or the AKG...or...I dont know...
So, what do you think about their recommendation?

Thank you ")

marcuspocus · Post by **marcuspocus** » Tue May 13, 2003 5:56 pm

Hey, i didn't said it was nice, i said it was 'not that bad'...

I mean, the recording itself is ok, but as you pointed out yourself, something's missing in frequencies...

You shouldn't have to play with EQ when recording a single instrument like the guitar i think... I know not everybody will agree, but EQ, is for making something standout in a mix for example.

The guitar (not the recording of the guitar) sound like you wish? Well, your recording should too...

paulrmartin · Post by **paulrmartin** » Tue May 13, 2003 8:25 pm

For my part, I meant denoise the track after the processing, as in before mastering...

Immanuel · Post by **Immanuel** » Thu May 15, 2003 9:12 am

I listened a bit to your recording. I, as many others, prefer the first part. The recording has a tonal character, wich is a tiny bit piezo-like. I often get some of the same, when I record guitar. I probably just care less than you. Actually I chose my AKG 535 over a Røde 1000 for recording guitar. Most people liked the Røde better, and I admit, that it was far more impressive, and had better tonal ballance. So why did I choose the AKG, wich sounds much more piezo-like?

I choose the AKG, because it inspires my more in a musical way. IMO it has more character (maybe, because it is a less good microphone?).

In my a bit noisy room, I did not hear any birds. I hear very little classical guitar, but your recording (first part) had a sound, that did remind me a bit of an old Segovia. I may be because my ears are not very trained in this area, but realy - sometimes a thinner sound has another kind of intimacy that a big impressive one. Your taste may differ, and your audience's taste may differ too, but these are my personal reflections.

Another thing: I do not think, that you should buy both a mic and a preamp in one go. The advantage of buying the things together is ofcoarse, that you will spend time to pair the mic with the preamp (you would do that right? - not just any good pre and any good mic!). On the other hand, you sound like you are on a bit on a budget, so if you end up buying new stuff, maybe buy it one piece at a time. I do not say buy one mic at double price, because you only buy one thing, but improving one step at a time (taking the sound upgrades in steps), may make you more capable of knowing, if, and if so wich exact device you want next - what sonic qualities you will emphasize and so on.

Anyway, headphones cheat you big time - also the good ones. You just percieve sound differently with them. In any case wait, till you have had your new monitors for a little while. They need to be "burned in", before they sound to their full potential (I used to have very expensive Hi-Fi).

kensuguro · Post by **kensuguro** » Sun May 18, 2003 12:39 pm

Nice little phrase first of all. Thought you'd be resolving to a major. hehe.

Anyhow, too much noise on the processed portion. I'd also be looking for more mid lows. Some notes aren't quite in the mid low zone, but I still think you shold be able to get some more by micing.

heck... did I just repeat what everyone else was saying? how uncreative. lol