Home Recording Project

briang-telkomsa-net · 2015-04-29T22:10:36+00:00

For those who may be interested in 1. Following my progress 2. Offering any comments (did I say "any" - I have a thick skin) I have embarked on a "budget" home recording project. Why? Because I have 12 original acoustic guitar instrumental songs that need to be recorded. Don't they? Hopefully I will also learn a few things along the way. How? At home, in my bedroom, using the following widgets; Sigma 6-String acoustic guitar Samson C01 condenser mic (the SM58 and Dean Markley pick up didn't really work and "budget" is my only option) Allen&Heath FX10 as audio interface Laptop Reaper GuitarPro6 (for drums and bass - not optimal but will have to do for now! Benefit of this is that I am forced to score the songs which is probably a good thing?) So leave was put in this week in order to get the project off the ground - Below is a "Progress List" and each song's progress is measured as follows; (Drums, Bass, Gtr Rhythm, Gtr Melody, Mixed) - Comments Song Title - (Progress) Spanish Stallion - (Drums, Bass, Gtr Rhythm, Gtr Melody....) - My alternate picking technique could not handle one of the faster passages without a "click" when crossing to an adjacent string (16th notes @ 130 b.p.m.) and I "discovered" the "inside" technique which helped to sort out the timing - not sure that this is a good technique to follow but it works! Strumming The Line - (Bass...) - As I have to score the Bass on GP6 I managed to simplify what I had done previously and to a large extent "cleaned up" the bars that required odd time signatures i.e. 6/4 and 3/4 in a 4/4 tune Think Quick - (Drums W.I.P....) - no comment I hope to have these three tunes recorded and mixed by the time work beckons on Monday (I can't wait!). Mixed songs to be posted Soundcloud as a "draft"? The remaining nine tunes will be worked on as time permits. I have not got it clear in my mind what a reasonable time frame could be to complete all twelve into a list of mastered tunes. At the rate things are going a deadline for a mastered set of tunes by September 30 2015 may be achievable - so will keep that as a deadline. I am doing this as a solo project so have only myself to blame if things do not get done and the deadline has to be changed! For those who are interested, follow me on my journey, and I look forward to any comments you may make.

domhatch

briang wrote Dom
I replied to some of your comments on soundcloud - thanks for these!

hey man
i replied to some of your replies ?

and i dig your latest track muchly!
dh|

briang-telkomsa-net

domhatch wrote
briang wrote Dom
I replied to some of your comments on soundcloud - thanks for these!

hey man
i replied to some of your replies ?

and i dig your latest track muchly!
dh|

Thanks for the kind comments Dom
Yip, it is my tune but.... all suggestions will be taken into consideration (is it all about the listener perception?)
Ah..And you meant "stylistically" - must be because the rhythm guitar tracks (and the melody line) have been "doubled up" and are slightly out of time with each other?!

Next draft track should be up soon as it is more straight forward and a mostly straight up bluesy tune - that is except for one bar in the melody line which is a bit of a challenge for me! (descending sixteenth note E major arpeggio phrase @ 122 bpm)

briang-telkomsa-net

For those of you still listening in - go to the link below for number 4 - "Oh, Its Blue!"

A quarter of the way with recordings ?, then final mixing ☹, then.....mastering :'(!
How do "they" do it!?

Squonk

How are you recording your guitar? Sounds quite natural?

briang-telkomsa-net

Squonk wrote How are you recording your guitar? Sounds quite natural?

Thanks for listening and/or commenting guys - (Squonk, Domhatch, TokyoPOP, Chabenda) - much appreciated.

Guitars recorded with a Samsung C01 condenser mic (most sophisticated hardware on the market! ?), through an Allen&Heath FX10 mixer to my trusty DAW.

As I am going along I am seeing that altering the original signal with EQ, compression, reverb etc, etc, is not always necessary and if so just a touch here and there - the sounds are often just fine as they are!! :-[

Refer your previous comment about drums sounding plastic Squonk - I have compressed them almost out of the mix on that track! (Spanish Stallion) Info regarding this is noted by the writer for final mix down when all the tracks are done.

briang-telkomsa-net

For those of you who are not bored stiff by this stage track number 5 is now posted on Soundcloud at the link below.
Hopefully you're on the edge of your seat waiting in anticipation for this one ?

So only 7 to go and quite a lot has been learned up to now
>Beginning to maybe understand, and hear, what compression does!
>Ditto for EQ
>Workflow on the DAW is slowly improving as well

Most important lesson
- Easy does it with the plug-ins and tweaking, less really is more (is it coming through on the tracks?)

'Till next time I will be working away on number 6
.

TokyoP0P

Are you recording in a soundproof room or do you do something post recording to remove background noise?

My Samson picks up so much background noise that if I try to record two guitar tracks, one over the other, the noise/crackling hiss becomes unbearably loud. Plugging into my audio interface removes that problem but it doesn't produce nearly as nice a sound.

briang-telkomsa-net

TokyoP0P wrote Are you recording in a soundproof room or do you do something post recording to remove background noise?

My Samson picks up so much background noise that if I try to record two guitar tracks, one over the other, the noise/crackling hiss becomes unbearably loud. Plugging into my audio interface removes that problem but it doesn't produce nearly as nice a sound.

Thank you for listening TokyoPOP!

How are you recording through the Samson without an Audio Interface? Is it a USB mic?

I am recording in my bedroom - Fortunately it is fairly quiet in my area so no real worries about background noise except when the dog barks, the kids burst in or the ladies in the unit opposite are getting their bikes out! (The "Age/2 +7" social convention applies here!!) I would probably have to try heavy curtains and sound panels if this was not the case.

There is a slight 'hiss' coming through on the track through the audio interface (Allen&Heath ZEDFX) when the record button is set but this is, hopefully, being masked by the recorded sound of the guitar.

I am doubling all the guitar tracks by recording the parts twice on two different tracks, so I guess that has the effect of "drowning out" any background noise - and giving what is hopefully a fuller and slightly "chorus-y" sound.

In these draft mixes I am EQ'ing out bottom and tops that are not required as well as applying just enough compression so as not to compress by more than about -3.5dB on each track/trackgroup (if that makes sense :-[ - it barely makes sense to me but that is what seems to work fairly well and is per Bjorgvin Benediktsson from audio-issues.com and Graham Cochrane from TheRecordingRevolution.com)

I am also "patching up" any unwanted clicks, crackles and the most annoying guitar body/string thumps and sctratches by doing some editing.

briang-telkomsa-net

Draft Mix Track #6, Canary's Shoes has been posted at the link below.
50% to completion of recording tracks!!

The six tracks so far
1. Strumming The Line
2. Spanish Stallion
3. Think Quick
4. Oh, Its Blue
5. Jay Is Gone
6. Canary's Shoes

briang-telkomsa-net

For those of you still interested in listening;
Draft Mix Track #7 of 12, "You Capture My Imagination" has been posted at the link below.

Tracks so far
1. Strumming The Line
2. Spanish Stallion
3. Think Quick
4. Oh, Its Blue
5. Jay Is Gone
6. Canary's Shoes
7. You Capture My Imagination

briang-telkomsa-net

For those of you following my progress - song number 8 at this link:

And the others are here:

Only four more to go for this phase.
Thanks to those who assisted with tackling the noise problems that I experienced - much appreciated!

briang-telkomsa-net

For those of you following my progress -

songs number 9 & 10 (of the 12 planned) at these links:

And the other drafts are here if you have the inclination to spend 25 minutes or so listening (that would be nice):

Only two more to go for this, the recording, phase.

Biggest lessons learned are
>how important gain staging is
>know the songs before you record them

You read all this stuff but only realize their significance when you actually do it.

V8

briang wrote For those of you following my progress -

I Like! The verse chords & the lead phrasing particularly. Loads of detail in this one, must of taken ages to put together?

briang wrote Biggest lessons learned are
>how important gain staging is
>know the songs before you record them

You read all this stuff but only realize their significance when you actually do it.

All the recording sound pretty decent to me - great work!

Could you elaborate on gain staging? I'm curious as I only have a layman's understanding. I avoid digital clipping at all costs when recording and try and aim for getting a 'raw' signal into the DAW at around -6db before FX/Plug-in's

In practice what did you find worked?

studmissile

A very impressive endeavor with great songs and playing. Inspiring! Well done!

briang-telkomsa-net

Thanks for the kind words, and for listening guys!
Doing this project has made me realize how much music is out there that people want you to listen to so I really do appreciate your interest, input and time.

V8 -
I am learning some serious respect for music production professionals, also I feel honored to be able to provide inspiration - thank you!!

Studmissile -
I have recorded this one (I Am Invisible) before (20 years ago!) on my trusty Fostex 4 track!, so it has been knocking about for quite a while. I have to admit to liking the "detail" you refer to; fills, odd time signature bars here and there, simple verse 1 melody and then embellish in the next verse and so on.....

Gain staging - from one layman to another it is pretty much as you have described. The objective, as I understand it, being to get the input and output of a channel matched. The advice I received (see last paragraph) and my experience has taught me to get the input gain on my audio interface as low as possible, which I guess is matching the output from the mic or guitar, but with enough signal, while avoiding clipping. The result I seem to be getting now, compared to the earlier recordings in this project, is minimal hiss, if any, and maximum signal which is a good thing.

Check out some of the useful suggestions regarding this topic that I got from "ez", "vasashi", "Babbalute" and "Greg Perkins" at http://www.guitarforum.co.za/recordings/that-hissing-aaaargh/

Two more songs to go for this recording phase of the project then to do some "proper" mixing (another learning curve) and then have a shot at compiling a "master". A show sometime, perhaps? Who knows?

Squonk

Good stuff Brian.

Just listened to the whole bunch!

briang-telkomsa-net

Squonk wrote Good stuff Brian.

Just listened to the whole bunch!

Thanks for listening Squonk - much appreciated!

briang-telkomsa-net

This is the 11th and second last track for this phase of the project - so only one to go!;

The other tracks are at this link

For those who have taken time out to listen and also to comment so far, thanks for doing so, much appreciated!

Observation:
Funny how the tracks that I like more, or that I am more satisfied with, are not necessarily the ones that the audience will prefer? ?

TokyoP0P

Train of Revival sounds a bit like an unreleased Skid Row song. Love it. I also dug the ending with the train.

studmissile

TokyoP0P wrote Train of Revival sounds a bit like an unreleased Skid Row song. Love it. I also dug the ending with the train.

Train of Revival - I really like that!

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