Anyone doing bluegrass?

[GZsound]

I spend most of my time recording bluegrass these days. Anyone else?

It's a lot different from just about any other genre I've recorded over the years.

[Davedog]

How so? And yes, I have recorded a lot of Bluegrass.......or something like it.

[BobRogers]

Mark- What do you usually record, and why do you find bluegrass different. I have not recorded and straight ahead bluegrass, but I've been recording a lot of dobro and mando and a little banjo lately. I've found that ribbon mics usually work well with all of these.

[BobRogers]

Dave- You up early or late?

[GZsound]

First off, a little history. I just retired from full time playing (sax and keyboards) in rock and roll bands for the last 50 years. I have been recording rock and roll and blues bands since the early 70's.

Twelve years ago I "married" into bluegrass and two years ago I sold my studio drums and concentrated on bluegrass, acoustic and folk music.

Bluegrass is different in that there are no drums, but the "drive" has to be there. The bass is the bass drum and the mando or banjo chop is the snare. Those two elements must be balanced. Vocals are important and must be brought out more than with rock or blues.

I use a ribbon mic on percussive banjo and occasionally fiddle, I have several LD mics I use on upright bass, vocals, etc. and typically use SDC mics on other instruments. I normally record the acoustic guitar in stereo with other instruments on mono tracks. Getting a decent stereo spread can be tough with a four piece band.

Here is a site with one of my more recent bands. They have four of the songs we did posted on their Myspace page.

Google

Let me know what you think..

[Davedog]

Dave- You up early or late?

Both! Listening party for the new CD. Gotta go back in and fix a couple of things........

[hueseph]

Here is a site with one of my more recent bands. They have four of the songs we did posted on their Myspace page.

Google

Let me know what you think..

Dude! That's not bluegrass. It's Jazz/Grass Fusion. Awesome! Loved Red House. That's the kind of thing that has to be heard live. Great playing all around.

[GZsound]

Thanks! They are an impressive bunch of kids. The youngest is 15 and the oldest is 20.

One thing I learned in the studio with them is that they have ears like dogs and hear stuff I had no idea was there. Great fun and a group of great players.

And they are more in the Chris Theile realm of bluegrass than traditional I admit, but they do it well.

[Davedog]

Ya still havent told us what you find different in the recording and production of Bluegress that makes it so different from traditional recording sessions.

The techniques for recording a Bluegress ensemble really havent caused me, personally, to change much in the way of mic choice and placement. Even if they all want to 'campfire' the sessions. The relatively similar pitches of the instruments brings a certain need for discretion of placement at the mix, but thats sort of a regular thing with all music.

I'd be interested in your views on these things......ya kinda prepped us all and then didnt deliver....As well as gear selection and isolation techniques if you're having a 'live' in the studio session.

[GZsound]

Ya still havent told us what you find different in the recording and production of Bluegress that makes it so different from traditional recording sessions.

The techniques for recording a Bluegress ensemble really havent caused me, personally, to change much in the way of mic choice and placement. Even if they all want to 'campfire' the sessions. The relatively similar pitches of the instruments brings a certain need for discretion of placement at the mix, but thats sort of a regular thing with all music.

I'd be interested in your views on these things......ya kinda prepped us all and then didnt deliver....As well as gear selection and isolation techniques if you're having a 'live' in the studio session.

I'm sorry, I thought I explained what some of the differences are.

Here: "Bluegrass is different in that there are no drums, but the "drive" has to be there. The bass is the bass drum and the mando or banjo chop is the snare. Those two elements must be balanced. Vocals are important and must be brought out more than with rock or blues."

I thought that did say what I considered a difference in recording bluegrass and other types of music, especially rock and blues. I apologize if it was unclear.

Other ways the recording process is different are the fact that all the instruments require microphones on the instruments. Upright bass is considerably different to record than an electric bass. Acoustic instruments that don't use amplifiers are different. It is more difficult to get a good sound out of an acoustic instrument than simply sticking an SM57 on an amp and dialing in the sound you want.

Plus, in the mixing stage, you don't have multiple drum mics to balance with the bass, there are fewer effects used, in fact, I rarely use any effects at all on instruments and very little on vocals. Also, you don't double track instruments or vocals as a rule in bluegrass since the goal is a more "organic" sound that is less processed.

Other than that, you're right, there is no difference.

I typically use SDC mics on all the instruments except banjo which gets a Beyer M260 ribbon. The upright bass, if it has a pickup, gets run through an LR Baggs Para DI and mic'd with an AT 4047 going through a DBX 160 compressor. I blend the two tracks to taste.

My main vocal mic is the AT 4047 or 4050 and I will use a CAD M179 on some vocalists. Since I have a single room studio, I do use the "campfire" analogy to recording. Everyone in the same room. We typically record all the rythem tracks at the same time and then overdub instrument breaks and vocals.

I have a Soundcraft Spirit digital console into a MOTU 2408 into my PC running Adobe Audition. Three sets of monitors, Events and Auratones. I only own one preamp, a Symetrix 528 that is very clean. I find that the Soundcraft mic preamps are very nice for bluegrass.

I have a fairly nice collection of mics, from Shure 57's, 58's, Beta's, SM81, AT small condensers, ADK small condensers, CAD small condensers, Beyer ribbons, CAD ribbon and four CAD large diaphragm condensers, plus an AT 4047 and 4050.

Again, sorry if I was vague.