Classical Guitar

[NickL]

Recorded at Sherwood Conservatory of Music in Chicago. Pair of AKG 414 XLS mics in an ORTF pattern going into a Focusrite Saffire Pro 26 I/O and recorded in Reaper at 24/96. Guitarist is a friend of mine Joe Sullivan, recorded in one take. I was trying to pick up as natural of an image as I possibly could. The noise floor of the room is a little high for my taste but it doesn't take over the recording. All tips or comments welcome.

http://winterskiesprod.com/JeffTD/Sherwood1.mp3

 

[LydonB]

It is a little noisy but with live recordings it happens. There is one room at my school I hate to record in because its so freaking noisy...but I have gotten a few great recordings out of it.

If you want to take any of the noise out, Izotope RX is great.

Aside from that I like the recording. I would ad a little reverb to it. Do you know what piece this is?

 

[NickL]

I think its called White Palace. I can't remember the composer. This sort of noise just happens on these types of recordings, it would be half as loud if it wasn't a pair of mics but I wanted the harmonic content of ORTF. And it's still quieter than tape hiss haha

I may put a convolution on it later, but like I said I was trying to paint a sonic portrait of the instrument in the room.

 

[LydonB]

ORTF kicks ass. I think with live recordings it's all about capturing the performance as it was in the room. Just so happens that not all rooms are quiet haha.

 

[NickL]

ORTF kicks ass. I think with live recordings it's all about capturing the performance as it was in the room. Just so happens that not all rooms are quiet haha.

All rooms not designed for recording have some sort of noise floor, it can be such a pain in the ass trying to record in a church with a noisy AC unit

 

[LydonB]

All rooms not designed for recording have some sort of noise floor, it can be such a pain in the ass trying to record in a church with a noisy AC unit

:zombie: Been there before. Recorded lute in a chapel with a horrible AC unit. ughhhhhhh uke:

 

[NickL]

:zombie: Been there before. Recorded lute in a chapel with a horrible AC unit. ughhhhhhh uke:

Haha funny story. I recorded classical guitar in a church probably in February or so. The people running the place had no idea how to turn the heater off, so we covered it with our coats. That didn't do the trick, so we took a cover off the piano that had a cross on it and used that. We had a long debate about our chances of going to hell if the thing caught fire. In the end it was the noisiest recording I've ever done and I don't let anybody listen to it.

 

[Iamsparrow]

What piece is this? Its absolutely gorgeous

 

[NickL]

I'll get the name of the composer the next time I talk to him. But honestly, he plays it better than its written. Small fuckups aside he really knows how to get the most out of a piece of music. I'll have more of this because we're cutting about a half hour's worth of material later this month. I can post it if you like. I cant post most of my shit because people dont like having their music just floating on the net but this guy's a friend of mine.

 

[Metaltastic]

Hey dude, pretty cool, though I would have put the mics closer to the guitar personally, there's not nearly enough air/sparkle IMO which suggests that they were somewhat far away. Beautiful playing of the dude though! And FWIW, I don't hear an at all annoying noise-floor, certainly not any more (in fact a bit less) than I've come to expect from live recordings!

 

[NickL]

Hey dude, pretty cool, though I would have put the mics closer to the guitar personally, there's not nearly enough air/sparkle IMO which suggests that they were somewhat far away. Beautiful playing of the dude though! And FWIW, I don't hear an at all annoying noise-floor, certainly not any more (in fact a bit less) than I've come to expect from live recordings!

He was using dead strings FYI so kiss my ass Just kidding. I appreciate your suggestion actually, but I think what's really missing is a little bit of plexiglass and not a mic placement issue. Tho I feel like "not nearly enough sparkle" is a bit of an exaggeration. Its not really that dark, is it?

 

[AEL89]

He was using dead strings FYI so kiss my ass Just kidding. I appreciate your suggestion actually, but I think what's really missing is a little bit of plexiglass and not a mic placement issue. Tho I feel like "not nearly enough sparkle" is a bit of an exaggeration. Its not really that dark, is it?

I'd have to agree with you there - I wouldn't say its too dark or too bright. To my ear it sounds just right. Any more sparkle and it wouldn't have the softness or warmth. Good call on ORTF...I've used it recently on an a'capella group with an sm81 in the middle; a little bit like a decca tree I guess. Worked really well!

 

[mr.L.]

Wow great piece of music and playing. Recording is pretty cool too, with a bit of reverb I think this will turn out great. I don't think the noise floor is annoying actually. It's not that high,especially not for most of us who deal with noisy amps on a daily basis .

 

[NickL]

I'd have to agree with you there - I wouldn't say its too dark or too bright. To my ear it sounds just right. Any more sparkle and it wouldn't have the softness or warmth. Good call on ORTF...I've used it recently on an a'capella group with an sm81 in the middle; a little bit like a decca tree I guess. Worked really well!

Here's a neat trick to try out when doing large groups with a wide setup. Use an ORTF pair as your main image but then use a spaced pair of small-diaphragm omnis on the sides and mix them in about 6 to 10 dB down from the main pair. It helps a lot when the bassist is too far over to get proper imaging.

Thanks for the compliments too, though I agree with both you and metaltastic in a way. I'm going to have to tweak it a bit and see if I lose too much of the character by adding a bit of high end.

 

[NickL]

Wow great piece of music and playing. Recording is pretty cool too, with a bit of reverb I think this will turn out great. I don't think the noise floor is annoying actually. It's not that high,especially not for most of us who deal with noisy amps on a daily basis .

I'll post another with a convolution verb later this week, so we can have even more fun with this

 

[Metaltastic]

Its not really that dark, is it?

Eh, I guess it's coming from listening to acoustics on Opeth albums and stuff, but I love hearing them as if my head is like 2 feet away from the body max, so maybe chalk it up to stylistic differences!

 

[NickL]

Eh, I guess it's coming from listening to acoustics on Opeth albums and stuff, but I love hearing them as if my head is like 2 feet away from the body max, so maybe chalk it up to stylistic differences!

Well that's a lot different, I would close mic an acoustic for a studio recording for sure so yeah I do love me those acoustics on Watershed

 

[AEL89]

Here's a neat trick to try out when doing large groups with a wide setup. Use an ORTF pair as your main image but then use a spaced pair of small-diaphragm omnis on the sides and mix them in about 6 to 10 dB down from the main pair. It helps a lot when the bassist is too far over to get proper imaging.

Thanks for the compliments too, though I agree with both you and metaltastic in a way. I'm going to have to tweak it a bit and see if I lose too much of the character by adding a bit of high end.

Great tip - thanks a lot! Though I doubt i'll have the privilege of working with a good vocal group any time soon. Be sure to post the new mix up here when you can!

 

[LeSedna]

I think that sound miss something, it's too round and lacks so warmth and "wood", don't know if you got it. I listen to a lot of classical guitar pieces and even the bad recorded one aren't as round as this one. You know, clasical guitar lacks something if we can only hear the notes and not the instrument itself (its a very noisy instrument). Maybe it's my father's speaker though (i have no earplugs not any good listening system here!)

Anyway that doesn't sound so classical. I mean I can't hear any of the influence of the pieces I often listen to (but that may be because I mainly love old classical guitar tunes and Bach more than everyone else !) because it's somewhat simple in its harmony. Who wrote this and when was it written ? It's sweet though !

 

[NickL]

I listen to a lot of classical guitar pieces and even the bad recorded one aren't as round as this one.

so this is the worst classical guitar recording you've ever heard? LOL that's a wake up call maybe I'll try something different next time

You know, clasical guitar lacks something if we can only hear the notes and not the instrument itself

What does this mean?