as you see the acoustic so bright ..elect guitar
just squeezed on the effect box ..it need to be
as brighet as the acoustic ..very nice tune !!!
willin to see the final take someday .thnx for
sharin !

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I agree that if anything needs work it's the electric sound. Not sure what you mean by brighter though. Is it sounding to much like it's coming from an effects box? I think I'll spend more time with mic placement. My amp is notorious for sounding very different depending on what angle you are when listening to it.

Thanks for the feedback!


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I think you're acoustic guitar sounds good. I'd play around with the electric a little more, although it was not too bad. The electric could be fuller sounding. Too often when we try to record high gain guitars they come out sounding stilted.

What kind of mic did you use to record the electric guitar? You might try resetting the mic closer or turning the amp up.

Anyway, good first effort.

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It's an SM57, laid on a brief case about a level with the bottom of the speakers and about a foot away. I'll give it some experiment time to find a fuller sound.

Thanks!

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This is the best song I've heard from you.... But It's end too quick.
And about the mixing I am not so good to explain thinks.
I often use an AU filter as AU MultibandCompressor when I mastering my song... And as peter says try clean up the electric guitar little bit.

I don't know if that helped you anyway I love this one... Cheers

Take care
--
Kenta



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Glad you liked it Kenta! I was mainly focusing on the acoustic this time, and the lead guitar was just an improvised melody over top without too much thought put towards it, but the more I listen to it the more it is growing on me.

To tell you the truth, I was so focused on the individual track sounds that I never even thought about playing around with the Master track. Hmmm... lots of room for improvement, and learning!

Thanks as always for the kind words and guidance. Oh yeah, did you notice this one was recorded at a consistent tempo? I promised you the next one would be!

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This is more easy to work with and like you say the more I listen on it the more it grooves on me... I really like this one way to go my friend.
So long you have fun that''s the thing who makes me learn the apps I'll use.

I wish I could play guitar like you... You Rock my friend.

Take care
--
Kenta

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... I could slice and dice loops and samples and sound engineer like you can! I sometimes feel like just a little guitar player walking amongst recording giants, I have much to learn in that area.

I'm really glad you like this one, it's growing on me to. Feel free to do whatever you like with it.

Thanks again friend.

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It started when I so Apple release GB and they say you don't have to learn notes just use your music ears and put some cool loops and you have a song.
I did that and after I was in it I was really impress of the apps they had done.
I felted I had my on BAND lol... Hey you so I post about tracks I do the same with drums I use many track there too so experimenting is the best way to learn.... Thanks for the let me play with your song I maybe try it.
Right now I working with one more song with "Richard S".

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I'd be really happy if I could get those sounds from a guitar.I'd probably use a differnt snare drum sound tho..Lovely tune. Regards - Richard

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Thanks Richard, glad you think the guitar sounds are satisfying. The drums are just a standard rock drum loop. I haven`t really experimented with modifying loops but if I want to get some variety and more control over my sounds I better start giving that some thought as well.

Thanks for the listen and food for thought.

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I love this!! Its sounds delightful and catchy. I would like to say just one thing. Beautiful :)

Peace Dee.

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Sweet, delightful and beautiful. I can retire now!

Thanks for the listen and glad you got a kick out of it.

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Hi Pete, I love the acoustic sound you've gotten here. It's really nice and that's incredibly difficult to achieve, so I'm jealous. I agree that the electric sound isn't quite there yet and that it could probably benefit from being fuller. I'm not completely sure that it's an issue of EQ or not. I think it may be that the reverb you've got on it is either thinning out or changing the tone of the guitar. Either way, I'd experiment with cutting back on the reverb or using a different one, unless the 'verb came from the amp. If that's the case, maybe try doubling the electric tracks and putting on slightly in the right ear and shifting it just a miniscule bit to the left of right of the other track (just enough that it still sounds like one guitar, not two). You could also try boosting in the 200-400 Hz range to thicken the sound. If it were me, though, and if it's possible, I'd try to back off on the reverb and get the sound improved that way, first.

Overall though, very cool track, and the playing is really great!

--ledebutant

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That's some great insight there! It never occurred to be that the problem was the reverb but now that you mention it it appears that could the culprit. I tried something different this time, micing another amp that I'd never recorded with before, and forgot to turn down the reverb. It sounds good in the room, but a different story when recorded. By time I had laid down the lead track my ears were too fried to notice any problems.

I'll give your suggestions a try and see what I can come up with.

As for the acoustic guitar sound, brand new strings go a long way to getting that satisfying sound. Then it's just a matter of monitoring with headphones until I've found the sweet spot for the mic to go. And then trying to stay still for the duration of the take, I've been spoiled by all the electric work I've done until now. No more dancing around the studio while playing!

Thanks for the sharp observations and sage advice.

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You get a great sound on the acoustic, although I agree the lead is bit thin - but not by much. Double tracking does thicken a sound up nicely and may be worth a try. This is a great sound, and a nice song, if a bit short!! You are improving in leaps and bounds compostionally.

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I'm chomping at the bit to get more studio time to try the doubling up trick that you and ledubtante are suggesting.

Appreciate the suggestions and encouragement!

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I forget that but you know I'm not good to explain but I've use 7-10 tracks in my post "Heaven Is Waiting" so that is really good advise keep it up my friend.
Im glad to see led here she is way too cool and very helpfully too... Cheers

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Acoustic sounds good already. Have you tried recording direct from the Pod and missing out the amplifier and SM57 altogether? Sacrilege to some but you get rid of any problems with the room sound and the SM57 doesn't have chance to eat up all the high end sparkle of the guitar. I got a pod XT live and haven't used an amplifier since (though I never had the chance to mike the amp up properly because of the neighbours - didn't have the skill either).
Thanks for posting - I liked it!
Steve

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I've actually tried that a few times, like this one for instance...

Swagger's Load.

So I don't consider it sacriligous at all. My earlier songs were straight into the back of the mac, but I've been experimenting with different options, mainly with different mic configurations lately.

Thanks for stopping by and providing the input!

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quiet a catchy baseline here ... lots of useful info shared by others so ... i'll just leave it at .... cool tune ... expand...expand...expand!!

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I've got a more concentrated dose of sound engineering knowledge from the thread for this song than just about anywhere else.

Macjammers rock!

Thanks for listening DA.

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The acoustic sounds wonderfully clear (though perhaps a teeny bit more low end to make it slightly fuller-sounding...)

The electric sounds like it is played in a closet, a little tinny and muffled. Perhaps it needs some low-midrange too, to give it more growl... or maybe we just need a bass guitar on this :-)

Oh, and DEFINITELY give this fuller treatment, I like the way this is headed, nice musical idea here. I could see this getting nice and lush.

ttfn,
Drakonis

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...never even thought about boosting the low end on the acoustic. I was so happy with the sound at the time it could do no wrong! I'll give it some thought htough.

Thanks for the advice and encouraging words!

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As I hear it, the acoustic guitar sound IS good, although I say that with one caveat, which is: depending on the context. This acoustic sound is very bright and clear. If I was mixing an acoustic into a band context, I bet this would sparkle in just the right spots. On its own, I might be tempted to double it, left and right, and I might be tempted to experiment with getting a little more warmth from it. It has that sound (which I associate with Seagull guitars) that seems to me as if the strings are doing more of the work than the wood... I like to mess around until there's a bit more wood in the blend. Sometimes using some compression actually brings up the warmer end and squashes some of the treble in a nice way. If one doesn't overdo it, which I sometimes tend to do...

The equipment list says 'Pod', and if that means Line 6 Pod, then I would actually make sure I've got that A.I.R. switch in the right position, and then I'd probably skip the amp entirely. PODs can almost "out-Fender" Fender... and you definitely have to make sure you're not feeding a Fender-ish modeling sound into a Fender amp, which will surely accentuate that 'splong' of Fender reverb... I'd be inclined to just go direct from the POD, in stereo, with the A.I.R. switch set correctly... If I just HAD to have some amp in there, I'd mic it in addition to the POD and then blend until I got the sound I wanted.

It might also be interesting to download the free version of the Roger Nichols 'Inspector', and individually look at the frequency analysis of the two guitars, just to see where there might be bit of a hole, frequency wise, between the two, or where a little boost might even things out. Ears are great, but sometimes moving ruminations into a visual mode can suggest something new.

I do always like hearing you play... I'm being long-winded and half critical here only 'cause I sense you're working on sounds and want that kind of response...

Ed

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This is the exact kind of stuff I was looking for Ed. And it's starting to cement a thought I've been having regarding mic'ing amps. Why bother? I have yet to get a killer tone out of it yet, and whenever I get it somewhat dialed in, it's all but impossible to duplicate the next time I go into the studio. Between pre-amp input/output levels, amp settings, mic placements and everything else, it always seems a futile chase. With direct in to a POD, or the GB guitar emulator for that matter, it's just plug-and-play.

I'll also be sure to give this Roger Nichols 'Inspector' a look. God knows my ears can't find out where the poblems are!

Fender "splong", cool word. I've never heard it before but I know exactly what you mean by it!

Thanks again as always Ed.

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I play the guitar too, but not like you. i produce dance music but when i was young i was a fan of Mick marss (Montley Crue-lead guitar) I practice during several years and i'm not good like you, that take passion to play like this and you're a impassionated. sorry my english is not good i hope that you are understand.

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I appreciate you stopping by and leaving the kind words. It makes me a little uncomfortable to be called better than somebody though. Music is about sharing what's inside you, so as long as you put your heart into it, it really shouldn't matter about who is better. And no matter how proficient one may get, there is always much to learn.

Keep playing and making music whatever way you know how!

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How did you record your acoustic? I've been struggling to get a nice acoustic guitar sound. Check out my latest song "Change" to see what I mean. I really like how crisp your tone is. I also listened to your re-mix version of this tune by Kenta and it is very good. Kenta is a pretty good mixer.

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Thanks for listening and for your feedback in the other version as well as the whole Master thread. The least I can do is tell you how I recorded the acoustic!

Let's see, in order of appearance...

- Seagull S6 Acoustic

- New strings, in this case some Martin Phosphorous - any idea where the title of this tune came from :-)

-SM57 mike - played with headphones on until I found the sweetspot to rest the mic. Can't remember exactly but somewhere on the neck side of the sound hole, about 5 inches away maybe. Doesn't really matter though, just play until you find what curls your toes.

- ART preamp, with the voicing on Acoustic Guitar, can't remember the levels exactly but I try to keep the input and output sort of in the same ball bark

- Straight into the back of the iMac. I know, I know, I need a Firewire mixer!

Anyway, not much magic there, but that's what I did. I think a big part of it is what I actually played. It was one track played with a pick and another finger picked. I think the arpegiation allows for the sound to transmit more cleanly and distinctly, as opposed to strumming something. A couple of strumming experiments haven't sounded quite as satisfying. So still some tweaking to do there.

Hope that helps!



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How I missed this! Its great... Now I'll go listen to the remastered version.

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I usually fly under the radar but glad you found it!

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