Hi there,

I'm a hobbyist who enjoys writing/playing songs on guitar/keyboard. I've
decided I'd like to record my music in the simplest way possible, yet
achieving a fairly nice n' clear sound. The equipment I have is this:

- Rode NTK Mic
- Joe Meek VC3Q preamp
- Cubase (+ Audigy)
- Sure SM58
- Acoustic Guitar

I'd like to have some way of recording both me singing, and playing the
guitar at the same time (possibly using the sure for micing the guitar, and
the NTK on vocals through the Joe Meek). I feel I sing better as I play!
I've played with it for quite some time - trying different distances from
the mic, different compression etc, but can't really settle on a sound I
like. Does anyone know of any good resources for this kind of setup? One
thing I've noticed, is that the mix sometimes sounds inconsistance as
compression varies for both guitar and vocals (if that makes any sense).

I'm willing to read a bit to get where I want to be. It seems that my needs
are quite simple, yet nomatter how much I tweak I can't quite get the sound
I'm after! Incidentally, I'm looking for that "right next to you in the
room" sound, where everything seems quite close, crisp and clear. I may add
a little master reverb later, but we'll see...

Any help/pointers/resources for this relative newby appreciated!

Tobes


Should I forget trying to play/sing at the same time.

Tobes wrote
I'd like to have some way of recording both me singing, and playing the
guitar at the same time

If your talking about an acoustic guitar, well the only good way I can think of
is finding a nice sounding live room and use a stereo pair and record like
live.
For an electric guitar, you need two rooms. I'd say it'll be hard to to keep
the sound of the pick and the strings out of your singing mic.

On Fri, 19 Dec 2003 16:06:21 -0000, "Tobes \(Breath\)"
wrote:
I'd like to have some way of recording both me singing, and playing the
guitar at the same time

If you can balance yourself, record in stereo from a distance.
Better with two identical mics, but you can do it without.

If you can't get your guitar and vocal tone and volumes
to match, then you might try close micing.

. It seems that my needs are quite simple,

This is your mistake. Your requirement is one of the hardest to
do. You can not get enough separation between the vocal and
guitar to process them independantly.

It seems simple, but it hard.

Most singer/guitarists that I've run into do not like doing the
tracks in separate takes. There is a magic interaction that
means you have to do it in one take, or at best composite
several takes into a seamless whole.

I have had good experiences using two figure 8 mics,
horizontally coincident, one pointing at the mouth with the
null pointing at the guitar, the other pointing at the guitar
with the null pointing at the mouth. But the separation
is only good doing this. You can tweak things, you can't go
wild.

Pat http://www.pfarrell.com/prc/

Tobes,

Although I'm slightly new to this also, I have had quite a bit of experience
with singer/songwriters since that is what I mostly deal with.

I've found that a stereo pair (normally of AKG 451s) sounds really good on a
good acoustic guitar, however, there are several people I've run into who
like the sound of an SM57 in mono. You can do this with your SM58 since it
is essentially an identical mic. I would place it slightly below and off
axis from the sound hole (maybe say between the soundhole and the bottom of
the neck) and about 6'' to 1' away. You can move the mic around from there
if it is too "boomy". If that's the case, move it closer to the 12th fret
of your guitar.

Obviously the room has quite a bit to do with the sound of your guitar. If
you have long cables and a friend to man the controls for you, try recording
in different rooms... give the bathroom a shot. I personally kind of like
the way my bathroom sounds at home....

As for the vocals, I've had a fair amount of success with just micing it
straight up about 1" to 3". I like a close sound on the vocals because this
normally boosts the bass frequencies in your voice and gets a fuller sound.
This is known as proximity effect.

Really, I think the most important thing for you would be to find the best
sounding room you can possible and record in that. Nothing beats the sound
of an acoustic recorded in stereo, but I've heard plenty of great recordings
done in mono as well.

Anyways, hope this helps and have fun!

Dave



"Tobes (Breath)" wrote in message
...
Hi there,

I'm a hobbyist who enjoys writing/playing songs on guitar/keyboard. I've
decided I'd like to record my music in the simplest way possible, yet
achieving a fairly nice n' clear sound. The equipment I have is this:

- Rode NTK Mic
- Joe Meek VC3Q preamp
- Cubase (+ Audigy)
- Sure SM58
- Acoustic Guitar

I'd like to have some way of recording both me singing, and playing the
guitar at the same time (possibly using the sure for micing the guitar,
and
the NTK on vocals through the Joe Meek). I feel I sing better as I play!
I've played with it for quite some time - trying different distances from
the mic, different compression etc, but can't really settle on a sound I
like. Does anyone know of any good resources for this kind of setup? One
thing I've noticed, is that the mix sometimes sounds inconsistance as
compression varies for both guitar and vocals (if that makes any sense).

I'm willing to read a bit to get where I want to be. It seems that my
needs
are quite simple, yet nomatter how much I tweak I can't quite get the
sound
I'm after! Incidentally, I'm looking for that "right next to you in the
room" sound, where everything seems quite close, crisp and clear. I may
add
a little master reverb later, but we'll see...

Any help/pointers/resources for this relative newby appreciated!

Tobes


Should I forget trying to play/sing at the same time.









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