This continues
the series of videos on how to record the Acoustic Guitar where
you can follow professional studio engineer John Spence as he
continues the session recording an acoustic guitar. Download
the audio tracks and play them in Cubase or the DAW of your
choice and you get the full song from the Ribbon Mic session
(part 10 below). Have a go at mixing these files with some EQ,
compression and any effects and send us your mix and we will
post it up on the page. Have fun!
| Part
6: Checking the Phase |
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Whenever
you use more than one microphone there's a danger of
phase problems. Basically if the wave form arrives at
the mics at different times there is a chance that they
will be 180 out of phase with each other and when mixed
together can cancel each other out. There will always
be an element of out of phase with two or more mics
and you might not hear it if the mics are panned in
stereo but in mono you can lose all the bottom end of
the sound. Load the audio tracks from the session below
and experiment by putting one out of phase with the
phase reversal button on the mixer page in Cubase. Start
with them panned hard left and right and then bring
them into the middle in mono.
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| Part
7: Changing strings and tuning up. |
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It
is amazing the difference a new set of strings can make
to the sound of your recording but often it can be hard
to keep the guitar in tune until they have bedded in
over time. This technique of stretching a short section
of the string along its entire length is the quickest
way of bedding the strings in. Today most people tune
with an electronic tuner but sometimes if the intonation
on the guitar isn't great it's best to tune by ear to
the harmonics. Check the harmonic on the bottom E 5th
fret with the 7th fret on the A and work up the strings
but obviously you can't use this technique for the G
and B. Also check the open strings with their 12th fret
harmonic to hear if the intonation is good along the
neck. If you can't get a guitar in tune along the length
of the neck, dump it and find another for your session.
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image above to play video |
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| Part
8: The sound of new strings |
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This
is just a quick video to demonstrate the difference
in sound that a new set of strings can make. Download
the two sets of sound files from below and switch
between them in Cubase or whatever DAW you are
using. I know that some players don't like the
sound of brand new shiny strings but playing for
about 20 minutes will take off that really sharp
new edge.
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image above to play video |
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| Part
9: Omni Microphones |
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You
can use any mic to record the acoustic guitar
but some will be better than others at getting
a particular sound. Just use what you have and
move them around the player and try out different
rooms. There are no rules, it's just making the
best of what you have. The mobile bought a pair
of these small diaphram omni mics made by Hebden
Sound in the UK and they are quite brilliant mics
so when we tried them as drum OHs in the studio
we knew we would have to buy another pair. Here
they are on the guitar and though they don't sound
radically different to the cardiods because of
the room, it does demonstrate how lovely a good
pair of quality small diaphragm omni microphones
can sound.
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image above to play video |
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| Part
10: Ribbon mics |
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The
two AEA R84 ribbon mics used in this video are
beautiful top of the range ribbon mics but the
principle of using the figure 8 characteristic
null points holds for any of the less expensive
ribbons on the market. Generally buying a pair
of ribbons represents a large financial commitment
as they really need a good preamp with 80 db of
gain to get the best out of them and we run these
through a Focusrite ISA 428. When you first use
these mics you can be thrown by the apparent lack
of sparkly top end but just experiment as always
and you find that with a little eq and compression
you can get some stunning resullts.
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image above to play video |
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The two
ribbon mic wav files above are totally flat. Download them and
have a play at mixing this song yourself. You can add some EQ,
compresson and any effects you want or even some string pads
or perc. Send us your efforts and we will post them
up here on the site so that anyone can admire your handywork.
("Careful
with that axe Eugene")
