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Hi, i'm looking for a few expert recording engineer sugguestions on how to possibly improve a guitar sound a bit. Firstly, i'll give a little background on my setup. I'm running three mics: One cardioid to isolate the sound, one condenser for a little bit of crispness and a tube in the room. I am happy with the initial sound i'm getting running two of these mics (one compressed) from a processor into two separate analog mixer channels and one mic directly(condenser) to a mixer channel. I then send all three of these mics out together bused (one line) as a stereo pair (L&R), compress again, then to an external converter and go optical into a single track into my multi-track software. My question is would I be better off running more than one stereo pair to my converters (separate for each mic) into my software, recording more than one track simultaniously? I'm wondering if i'll achieve a slight bit better edge on my sound somehow that way.. or perhaps I should also compress the other two mics and stick to running them all together as one line into a single track. Thx for any helpful sugguestions, opinions or info from any knowlegable engineers. ~Jp, "The Box", Minnesota, US

Comments

RecorderMan Fri, 09/30/2005 - 00:39

I'm jusy going to say this...

JP22 you're a fucking joke.....

That's why we love you..you are turning into 'Bitch Slap' right before our eyes. I know I'm not the first one to make this thread a "to check" thread for a good laugh...

I could go on..but i don't want to rag on you Too much..you are soooooo handi-capped with ignorance...... it's like nukng fish in a fusion-bomb test-site.

anonymous Fri, 09/30/2005 - 02:14

Jp22, I've got a nice little excercise for you. Plug your guitar, clean, into a compressor, then into something where you can hear it. Turn off the compressor, and you should hear a normal clean guitar. Now, set the threshold to about 1/4, the ratio all the way up, and the gain to about 3/4, and turn the compressor on. Now, play your guitar again, and tell me what you hear.

anonymous Fri, 09/30/2005 - 04:10

I'd like to thank you all for this thread, it's been very informative. I was directed this way from kvraudio.com, and if any of you chaps fancy gracing us with your presence, that would be dandy.

I've been recording for around 18 years in various guises. I did some high semi-pro stuff about 10 years ago, but in the end had to get a 'proper job' to pay the rent :)

I appreciate all the views here, and can see where JP22 is coming from. I do have some special advice.

Pickup the guitar, and remove the lead from the socket, and from what it is connected to. Take whatever it is connected to, power down and disconnect it from the PC/Mac. Find its box and put it away. Unscrew/ unplug the Audiointerface and put it away in the original box. Put the boxes in a bag and take them back to the shop they came from.
Whilst outside, take some very deep breaths and take the time to look at some trees, listen to the birds, narrowly avoid buses, etc.
Don't ever, EVER think about compressionexpansionlimitingEQclippingpeakstroughsHFLFmonitorstapevirtualtapemonostereoaudiomixing again.
Have a sit down and a nice cup of tea.

I'm having a nice cup of tea right now, and they's still some in the pot. Pass a cup :)

DSP

anonymous Fri, 09/30/2005 - 07:52

Actually, here is a useful tool.

Assuming your workstation can load VST (or get one of the excellent adaptors from FXpansion), try out [url=http://(Dead Link Removed)

Most of us over at KvR have been using it for almost 18months since it came out, and it has a good reputation for adding 'that little something' to a mix.

Bram (who wrote ARS) is a respected developer from smartelectronix who if you haven't heard of them) are a global conglomerate of very talented developers. It's well worth checking out.

Any other KvRers wish to add to this?

DSP

anonymous Fri, 09/30/2005 - 08:08

duncan, the ARS you mention is so good that Jp22 should kiss it. And I mean that in the nicest possible way. =^_^=

All I can add is that he should also pick up my legendary -- nay, mythical -- Transparency Preserver too. It'll go great with that SM57.

Oh, righty -- one other tip for Jp22: When wearing your cans, you should stuff wadding in your ears to keep those worms from getting into your head. One or two, fine. But more could inhibit your ability to post, and that would be a shame.

Thank you, Jp22, for a truly risible reading experience. The secret is to bang the rocks together. To McCheese and all the others who've tried so hard to educate him: wonderful stuff, worth a mint, maybe even a Bureau of Printing and Engraving or two.

"MY THREAD"... priceless. *chortles mirthfully, shakes head in wonderment*

TheArchitect Fri, 09/30/2005 - 15:02

Re: Oh dear Gawd this thing is spreading...

Rider wrote: [quote=Reggie]Oh dear Gawd this thing is spreading...

:roll:

well maybe ifh e had ran his drum kit through a mesa boogie he wouldnt have any dynamics problems.

Yep, the tube comp... err, dist... err, EQ!! and even order harmonics would have been just the ticket

anonymous Fri, 09/30/2005 - 15:10

Yesterday evening I posted a link to this thread in a forum at KVR in order to share the love and magic amongst my fellow members there. I feel it only fair now to supply a link to the thread which ensued at KVR in response, and which, in the simple course of 24 hours, has ballooned in length to equal that of "Expert sugguestions on an advanced guitar recording setup" itself. It may not be as deeply disturbing/satisfying as the original, but it makes for good expansion reading.

Voila, boys: link removed

anonymous Fri, 09/30/2005 - 16:28

fjell_strom wrote: Yesterday evening I posted a link to this thread in a forum at KVR in order to share the love and magic amongst my fellow members there. I feel it only fair now to supply a link to the thread which ensued at KVR in response, and which, in the simple course of 24 hours, has ballooned in length to equal that of "Expert sugguestions on an advanced guitar recording setup" itself. It may not be as deeply disturbing/satisfying as the original, but it makes for good expansion reading.

Voila, boys: link removed

And on Ableton's forum.

http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27482&start=0

anonymous Sat, 10/01/2005 - 13:01

I have the vague sensation of being too late to the party, however:

I agree with the recommendation for the Anechoic Room Simulator, which could be exactly that 'missing link' in what you need. BetabugsAudio also had an emulation of a pristine mixing console channel pre-amp in beta-testing, that would have been a perfect match. Not sure why it never made it out of beta... perhaps the code was too complex and was giving the developers a headache.... Anyhow, with a combination of the ARS and the Pristine Pre-Amp, I imagine that you'd be getting the best signal possible in your situation.

As for mixing the 3 channels to stereo, I recommend ditching one and then just spacing the remaining 2 microphones out a bit more. You obviously have them too close together, and it's ruining the stereo image. About an inch or so in either direction away from each other should do it. You'll get a much improved stereo soundstage, with the Left channel microphone sounding just that bit "more left" sounding; ditto for the right. Just make sure you don't accidentally mix it up and put the microphone that's feeding into the right channel to the left of the other mic, and you'll be sorted.

Greg

anonymous Sat, 10/01/2005 - 17:02

:P
this was the absolutely best way to pick me up for this forum !!
In f·@ng-credible !!

It MUST be a new trick to get more people to the forum.
There is - for me - ABSOLUTELY no other explanation.
( seriously - I BET quite a few new registrations have been done :o )

nevertheless - seems like a nice place, with..... Hrm-Hrm... people knowing what they do... :oops:

More posts - PLEAAAASE!

anonymous Sat, 10/01/2005 - 17:13

Rider wrote: no you use gain knobs to control the stereo imaging, then compress to the correct volume and throw some EQ to clip the dynamics off.

PFffffftt...

You didn't listen to Jp22 at ALL. You can only use EQ to add dynamics back in, not clip them off!

I personally like a +5dB boost at around.... oh, 411.5 Hz to liven things up again and restore some lost dynamics.

Dimentagon Sat, 10/01/2005 - 22:16

On behalf of my many brothers and sisters in the Audio community I sincerley thank you Davedog, this thread has spread like wildfire through the audio community, i keep getting mail from people saying "have you read this??" Its more fun than recording the last comedy album i did. And Pan judging by his comments he is fully qualafied to teach at SAE, In fact I would say that uncle Tom should make him an honary professor.
Dimentagon

anonymous Sun, 10/02/2005 - 03:00

I am continually floored by the influx of new faces this man has brought to recording.org. Just look at all the first time posters! As one person said at KVR, perhaps Jp22 could be considered the saint of the internet music forums, as he has been the pillar of bringing so many of these fragmented communities together. It is time we recognised Jp22 as the incidental messiah.

anonymous Sun, 10/02/2005 - 04:08

Hahah thanks for all the laughs!

somebody who shall remain nameless pretty much wrote: Screw ur gay-ass tube amps, my Pod XT goes to *11* bitch!!!!!!!!!!11111111 Not only that, but I used teh EQ in Cooledit95 to crank my DyNamiKz(tm) range up to 12!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!! Bet your crappy Fisher Price tape recorder doesn't go to 12, does it, you f#cking egotistical retards!?!?

Ahem....

Err hi, new member here, joined specifically because of this thread, just wanted to say thanks for the best laughs ever, and you're now appearing over at [[url=http://[/URL]="http://ampfea.org/p…"]Ampfea.org's Music Bar[/]="http://ampfea.org/p…"]Ampfea.org's Music Bar[/] which is how I was afforded the pleasure of reading this cheerful novelty discourse.

Oh noes! U better Respect to teh Syntrillium!! :lol:

anonymous Sun, 10/02/2005 - 08:56

A new technique ?

mu-sly wrote:
Err hi, new member here, joined specifically because of this thread, just wanted to say thanks for the best laughs ever, and you're now appearing over at [[url=http://[/URL]="http://ampfea.org/p…"]Ampfea.org's Music Bar[/]="http://ampfea.org/p…"]Ampfea.org's Music Bar[/] which is how I was afforded the pleasure of reading this cheerful novelty discourse.

same here. AMPFEA represent!

i joined because, personally, i would like to hear some of JP22's music. sure sure its easy for you studio Vets to bash him, but have you tried LISTENING to his EQ technique for restoring dynamics? i mean, it sounds far fetched, but i think if JP22 posted some examples of his music we'd be in a _much_ better position to judge his experience.

k :wink:

Angstaroo Sun, 10/02/2005 - 09:14

Re: A new technique ?

Evolver wrote:
i mean, it sounds far fetched, but i think if JP22 posted some examples of his music we'd be in a _much_ better position to judge his experience.
k :wink:

I'm afraid if I heard that, I'd literally piss myself laughing. I've been laughing pretty hard at this thread since day one.. but listening to his music? I don't think I could control myself at that.

anonymous Sun, 10/02/2005 - 09:46

Re: A new technique ?

Angstaroo wrote: [quote=Evolver]
i mean, it sounds far fetched, but i think if JP22 posted some examples of his music we'd be in a _much_ better position to judge his experience.
k :wink:

I'm afraid if I heard that, I'd literally piss myself laughing. I've been laughing pretty hard at this thread since day one.. but listening to his music? I don't think I could control myself at that.

i dont know man, from reading this entire thread im very curious to hear his stuff.

k

anonymous Sun, 10/02/2005 - 12:22

Re: A new technique ?

Evolver wrote: i dont know man, from reading this entire thread im very curious to hear his stuff. k

The title of this thread is "Expert sugguestions on an advanced guitar recording setup "

The bloke's got an advanced recording setup. *Advanced*.

His music's going to blow your tiny little unadvanced mind, man. I bet it goes "Weedler, weedler, weedler". And it's the Devil's music.

anonymous Sun, 10/02/2005 - 19:30

kanker wrote: Yeah, I had to join after reading about this at OSXAudio. This thread is definitely one for the ages.

BTW -McCheese, you are officially one of my favorite people on the internet. Brilliant!

Yes. I'd like to share a posting I made at KVR in this regard before this thread is perhaps, at McCheese's own request, locked and stickied.

"Actually, looking back on it all: I think more credit should be portioned out for the McCheese character. Really you can't remove him from the thread without it losing a large fraction of its greatness. If Jp22 was/is a trolling genius, then McCheese was/is the perfect advocate. I refer you to the hilariously irreverant:

"It's my topic now bitch." :evil:

of page four. It was moments like these that McCheese simply took the ball from Jp22's hands and ran the other way downfield for a touchdown.

Props to McCheese."

I agree with you, though, Mayor. Jp22 is long gone and, despite this thread being a clear landmark, it is perhaps time to retire this old horse.

fjell

pr0gr4m Sun, 10/02/2005 - 22:18

MeesterSmeeeth wrote:
Another recording industry myth. NS-10's are industry standard because of the colour of the speaker cone. It has nothing to do with tree sap.

When placed on a meter bridge, the reflective properties of the NS-10's speaker cones forms a correlation with the angle of the faders. Reflected light brightens the sound from the speaker due to inverse polarity waveforms indirectly correlating with the efflux baffle from the sound diffusers...

REFLECTED LIGHT BRIGHTENS SOUND? Now that's funny.

This guys entire post was just a sad attempt at capturing some of the glory that has been given to jp22 and this thread. It is obvious that MeesterSmeeeth's post is COMPLETELY fabricated and although mildly humorous, it's just sad that he tries to hijack another thread to satisfy his need for popularity.

McCheese wrote: This thread needs to be locked (and possibly stickied). It has run it's course and is done.

Agreed.

anonymous Mon, 10/03/2005 - 00:44

Jp22 why are you MIA? You've got international fame and we've yet to even hear a clip! Put it out there so all the A&R reps reading this can courier you advance checks...

Anyway, still making the rounds:
http://www.planetz.com/forums/viewtopic.php?topic=16970&forum=31&0
(No I didn't sign up for this thread alone, and I've been following it for a while now, but at least I shared it late!)

anonymous Mon, 10/03/2005 - 02:38

pr0gr4m wrote: This guys entire post was just a sad attempt at capturing some of the glory that has been given to jp22 and this thread. It is obvious that MeesterSmeeeth's post is COMPLETELY fabricated and although mildly humorous, it's just sad that he tries to hijack another thread to satisfy his need for popularity.

Thanks for that. I've been swanning around basking in the reflected glory getting ideas above my station. You've brought me back down to earth and shown me the error of my ways and made me realise I'll never amount to anything.

Or maybe you were just being sanctimonious.