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N Ellingworth View Drop Down

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Topic: Lend Me Your Ears
Posted: December 03 2007 at 14:43

I've made another attempt at recording some music (see my previous posts in the 'achievement thread), I'm still using an appalling mic so the quality isn't very good, hopefully that won't be an issue for much longer, my latest piece entitled Behemoth is heavily inspired by Sunn O))) I've just played a little bit faster than they tend to. Wink

I used a wonderful combination of an Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi and Ibanez Tubescreamer to create the distortion effect and the guitar I used is an Epiphone SG which I've got set up as a Baritone guitar.

If anyone's interested they can download it here.

Any feedback is welcome.

Edited by N Ellingworth - December 03 2007 at 14:44

GoldenSpiral View Drop Down

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Posted: December 03 2007 at 14:53

DOOM

\m/

N Ellingworth View Drop Down

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Posted: December 04 2007 at 02:43

Shall I take that as a sign that you like it? Wink

Certif1ed

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Posted: December 04 2007 at 05:16

OK, my ears say it's a pretty good sound - but you're right, it's spoiled by the actual recording.

Get a Shure SM-58 (57's are better for instruments, but the 58 is an all-rounder that you could use to add vocals, etc). That said, I'm not sure how much of the quality is down to the mic:

What are you recording onto? I assume it's software, as the overall sound is quite clean and free from background hiss.

I say "clean" - much of the distortion appears to be caused by overloading - watch the input signal. If your recording software doesn't have a monitor, try using the free version of ACID Express 5, available from Sony's site.

While going into the red creates interesting effects using analogue kit, with digital, it's a big no-no, as it simply creates artifacts and spoils the sound.

Try playing to a click track too, as I felt the timing drift occasionally (could be just me, as my sense of rhythm isn't anywhere near my sense of pitch).

It'd be interesting to see what you make of that riff pairing by adding bass, drums and vocals.

If you can get hold of a bass, it shouldn't be hard to do it yourself - and I've got some pretty cool drum samples from BetaMonkey recently, which I'd recommend as a cheap and quick way of getting drums, in the absence of the real thing: http://www.betamonkeymusic.com/ (Try the "Double Bass Mania" collections!).

Just a bunch of thoughts - hope they're helpful.

The important thing is not to stop questioning.

N Ellingworth View Drop Down

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Posted: December 04 2007 at 07:45

Cheers Certif1ed.

As you've very rightly guessed the input signal was a problem, I had the input volume as low as possible (I had to add a significant boost to this track to make it audible) and it still overloaded. Mic placement didn't do much good either I've tried several other positions and all I got was either silence or what your hear currently.

I'm planning to use a decent(ish) condenser mic in the future, currently I'm still using a PC headset mic which is only adequate for VOIP conversations, so I think I've done a good job getting the quality as high as I have done.

I'm using Audacity as my recording software so adding bass and drums etc to shouldn't be too hard. However vocals are a big no no I can't sing and don't know anyone who can, the only vocal parts I'd be able to add would be talking in the background and even then my voice is not music friendly so I'd have to disguise it with all sorts of weird effects.

I have a heavily skewed sense of timing and tend to accidentally write in 7/8 or 15/16 time, don't expect rhythmical perfection. Wink

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Posted: December 04 2007 at 08:35

I absolutely do not expect rhythmic perfection as I think that can kill a perfectly good piece of music

Audacity is pretty good, and does have level meters of a sort - best err on the quiet side and boost the signal via a compressor - it's a bit of an artificial way to do it, I know, and compressors can completely kill a good sound if you're not careful - but Audacity's compressor is OK at a pinch (ACID's is better, IME):

If the default of 2:1 squashes your sound too much, try a lower ratio - the little chart gives you a visual clue as to what you're doing to your sound, and you can preview it. You'll probably then need to normalise the sound or boost the volume using whatever method you prefer - that's why I tend towards ACID's compressor, as it allows you to adjust the input and output gain levels until the sound is as big as possible.

Compressing it a small amount gives you more headroom when you come to boost the volume by clipping off the peaks of the signal... in case you didn't know

Given your mic, I'm astonished at the quality - and so will you be if you upgrade to a real mic

Condensers are overkill for guitar amp micing, IMHO - other people will probably tell you different, and they're probably right, but to my ears, a directional mic is much better at getting "the sound". Ambience can always be added later with a room mic for double-tracking goodness, and condensers are great at that - but with a couple of hundred quid difference (for a decent AKG), I don't think they add much value.

I guess you're looking for the greater depth that a condenser gives - but to me, at least (and again, I'm not a seasoned studio pro, just an amateur) that gives rise to more problems, and would probably force you to compress harder to get more volume out of your sound.

You could also consider a Line 6 Toneport, which would save you having to mic at all - you can even model the type of mic and where the mic is in relation to the speaker for a slightly different room ambience. http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/page/shop/flypage/product_id/12090

Trouble is, of course, you won't get exactly the sound you're getting out of your trusty amp...

Anyway, you've certainly got the groove in your riffing, so keep it up, whichever recording path you take!

Edited by Certif1ed - December 04 2007 at 08:38

The important thing is not to stop questioning.

GoldenSpiral View Drop Down

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Posted: December 04 2007 at 08:36

N Ellingworth wrote:

Shall I take that as a sign that you like it? Wink

Yeah, it's well on its way to something for sure.

A better mic would obviously change things, but I like the overall tone. some extra atmospherics would be a cool addition, just some light synth tones in the background...

I don't know if you have a keyboard or not, but either way the track has potential.

N Ellingworth View Drop Down

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Posted: December 04 2007 at 08:52

Certif1ed wrote:

Condensers are overkill for guitar amp micing, IMHO - other people will probably tell you different, and they're probably right, but to my ears, a directional mic is much better at getting "the sound". Ambience can always be added later with a room mic for double-tracking goodness, and condensers are great at that - but with a couple of hundred quid difference (for a decent AKG), I don't think they add much value.

I'm just following my brother's advice here as he really knows his stuff. It's only going to be a cheap mic (under £50) as I currently can't justify spending any more, it's also important that it has a USB connection rather than a normal XLR connection as I can't afford an audio interface. So I am rather limited but my brother has used the non USB version of the Mic I hope to get and recommends it.

Certif1ed wrote:

You could also consider a Line 6 Toneport, which would save you having to mic at all - you can even model the type of mic and where the mic is in relation to the speaker for a slightly different room ambience. http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/page/shop/flypage/product_id/12090

Trouble is, of course, you won't get exactly the sound you're getting out of your trusty amp...

I have considered devices like that but I don't trust that sort of thing to give me the sound I want and I doubt that I'd be able to get the feeling of space in a recording too. I also like my amps tone and I doubt that I would be able to replicate it.

Edited by N Ellingworth - December 04 2007 at 08:52

N Ellingworth View Drop Down

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Posted: December 08 2007 at 15:15

I've been experimenting again, and found that the audacity noise remover as well as getting rid of annoying hisses can also make guitars sound a little bit more like a synth. Big%20smile

My latest piece is an ambient piece based entirely on the use of Chorus, Delay and Ebow effects, with a bit of pick scraping after the 4 minute mark just to wake up anyone who's started to fall asleep. Wink

Unlike the last piece I put up my guitar is in standard tuning, this time it is a Steinberger Spirit, for those who are interested my delay pedal is the Boss DD-3 and the chorus is the Danelectro Cool Cat.

Anyway enjoy.

As always feedback is more than welcome.

Edited by N Ellingworth - December 08 2007 at 15:25

N Ellingworth View Drop Down

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Posted: March 16 2008 at 15:53

It's been a while since I recorded anything but this time I've got a decent mic so the quality is a lot better than my previous recordings, I wish I could say the same about my playing though.

For the first piece I recorded tonight for a change I used my baritone tuned SG clean, it's normally very heavily distorted. This first piece is another ebow based piece and unlike most of my previous recordings is very short at only 2 minutes but it's also a bit more structured.

Get it here

The second piece I recorded tonight is simply an experiment in recording an acoustic instrument, in this case my octave mandola, unfortunately I was unable to get the mic into the correct position to ensure I got a decent volume level so I really had to give it a boost in audacity and as a result there's a lot of hiss in the background. I would use a noise remover to remove the hiss but my playing wasn't really good enough to warrant taking the recording any further.

Get it here

Any feedback is as always very welcome.

popeyethecat View Drop Down

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Posted: March 28 2008 at 15:05

I listened to "ebowexp1.mp3" and I like it. I think you could really go somewhere with this. I thought the production was actually good. You create a nice atmosphere and I think with a little more of a direction this could be a very nice piece