Fender Recording

I'm getting closer to being able to record the Fender with the mic. This still sounds kinda hollow from what I hear but it's good enough.

fendermic2 (mp3)

Da Amp

Finally broke down and got a real amplifier. I'm actually glad a waited a bit, 'cause I wouldn't have understood what my options were or how to use most stuff.

Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, 1x12 tube amp.

Was having major problems trying to record off of it, until I cranked it up some more. The mic is much happier for levels now, but I have a *lot* of messing around until I get anything that sounds like what I hear. This is the first passable snippet. This is as clean as I can make the sound.

fendertest (mp3)

The overall level is still too low, I need to go back and look at the mixer docs to figure out how to leave the levels alone as much as possible as it goes through it. This is using the USB to dump the final onto the laptop, which may be a problem too.

Effects Bus

Scratched my head about the bus layout of the Peavey for a while, but now I get it!

This has my guitar plugged directly into 1 amp channel, then the effects output sent to the digital pedal to run a copy with the Chorus turned on. This is sent back into the AUX input which the amp mixes back onto the main bus with the guitar. So it has a nice clean sharp sound of the plain guitar, with a copy layer of chorused sound with it. All still dumped into the Sansui at line level to a B&W speaker and mic -> laptap.

Crank this up and you will hear more and more of the copy.
AmpEffectsBus (mp3)

Peavey Donation

Thanks to Waage for the amp head/mixer that is now a part of my Old Audio Gear Studios (tm).
Peavey MP-4 Mark III 100H Mixing Amplifier

The thing seems to have a ton of high-end output compared to the flat amps I've been using, and it was a little hard to get it to not saturated the speakers. I ended up killing off alot of the low-end in the process on these 2 snippets, but the mic picked everything up pretty close to the sound in the room.

These are made with the pedal in default Metal mode (max volume), one channel of the Peavey with max gain, and sent through the Sansui receiver at 1/4 volume just to match impedance until I go get my soldering iron out. Sent to a single B&W speaker with the Shure mic in the normal location. Two standard little riffs I play alot:

ampmetal (mp3)
ampmetal2 (mp3)

LATER: after some fiddling I realized why the EQ was so messed up on these: this is played with only the lead pickup, instead of both.

Mic to Laptop

Moved the guitar setup upstairs, and this is just a couple snippets I was playing on the last road trip. These don't sound like I want yet, cause of swapping to the electric for them and this is recorded with the mic for the first time upstairs... will take a while before I like what I hear.


You can hear the drum machine in the mic a little.

First is mostly a E and Am pair, inspired by Pink Floyd's Run.
floydchord (mp3)

Next is just something I was using to practice hammer downs with my pinky.
hammerroom (mp3)

Random

Various clips using the microphone to record:

acoustic (mp3)

Tried one with the other guitar, this is 3 ft or so away, standing in the hall cause it was muddy when I tried in the normal location.

delay (mp3)

This sounds pretty good. Normal delay settings - the echo/reverb in the room just mixes in with the delay I guess so it disappears. :-) I can hear myself struggling in places to keep the exact tempo of the delay timer - I hear places I get ahead and behind and have to adjust.

Junk: echo (mp3)

Mic is too far from the speakers and I'm also hearing some echo in there. Near the end when I hit the top 3 strings hard, I think I peak something out (probably the amp) and it almost sounds like a click.

Two more variations:

Mic2 (mp3) As clean as a sound as I can make - the bass end is a little mushy. You can hear the drum machine across the room.

Mic3 (mp3) Absolute maximum gain I get, including a 15sec sustain at the end. Marshall amp simulator, lead pickup only. I had to face away from the speakers or it was feedback city.

Raw Mic

First attempt once I got some levels reasonable with the new microphone. This is adding all the characteristics of the amplifier and the microphone into the equation (instead of just using the digital output off the effects pedal), so it is gonna take some time to work this out.

Mic1 (mp3)

Compare this to the Snippet#2 in the last post... I'm playing basically the same thing. Night and day difference.

Stuff

Haven't posted in a long time... and I don't like how these recordings turned out. Brand new strings so stuff is very snappy/metallic, and the low end kinda drones. Two of these are kinda rehash for comparison and #2 is a little different. Gonna get a microphone tomorrow and record these off the speakers to see if I can get something way closer to how I hear it.

Snippet1 (mp3)
Snippet2 (mp3)
Snippet3 (mp3)

Multitrack

tracked-delay (mp3)

Playing with tracks: 1 guitar, 1 guitar dropped an octave for a bass and 2 drum tracks intermixed. Main guitar track has delay on it.

SomethingNew

4chordpulloff (mp3)

This is a normal 4 chord "song" with pulloffs and keeping a baseline. Just the drum machine in at 160 and me playing live with it.

Haven't put much up here for a while since I was traveling and playing the acoustic alot.

Editing

Thingy (mp3)

The above is a track of guitar, two tracks of (alternating) drums, and another track of 1-note guitar shifted down one octave to fake a bass (for the first 65 sec). This is just a ton of right-hand muting; I'm basically just pounding the strings with the right side of my right palm.

Here is the raw guitar track with some drums Thingy2 (mp3).

New Fender CD-60

NewGuitar (mp3)

Brought the Telecaster to the shop for a full setup, since several things were bugging me about it. Didn't want to be without one for a few days so I got an acoustic one with case, which I'm planning on bringing to Mexico. :-)

Fender Website

Much higher action, very confusing hearing myself in both the monitor and from the guitar when I tried to record this. Electric is easy cause I can turn up the monitor to drown out the guitar itself. This is recorded from the built-in pickup, which has a very bright sound to it, it seems, but there are some adjustments I can play with after I've played it a few days and get used to it physically. New strings always sound that way to me anyway.

Note that you can hear my drum machine in the background, being heard via the guitar's internal pickup.

Delay

Delay (mp3)

Playing with the delay settings and trying to sync my speed to the timing of the pedal... can't really play the drum machine with it, cause it can't get them accurate enough. I can see why a human drummer with a monitor from the delay or something would be a big help.

Metal mute

YourLove (mp3)

Simple guts of an Outfield song, just showing left hand muting while letting low note ring. Bad transitions into the A chord for some reason.

LeftFingerMute

SomeStuff (mp3)

Using just the left hand 4 fingers to mute the chords when moving, letting the bass string just ring most the time. Marshal amp sim, which I'm starting to like more when I'm playing much louder. Still seems kinda muddy/drowned for the low end, but I'll play with stuff next time.

More

2HandMute (mp3)

Muting chords with left hand and bass line with palm.
I recorded this kinda like I'm thinking, bassline first, chord fill and a twill on the top, so I could hear them separate.

More Muting

LeftHandMute (mp3)

Only using the left hand to raise up enough to mute chords when I want them to stop ringing. :-)

ComboMute (mp3)

Using my right palm to mute the bass line string and the left hand for the rest of the chord.

Rain is Better than Snow

RainyTrain (mp3)
Acoustic mode, had to EQ down the low end for some reason.

XMas

BackInBlack (mp3)
MyStandard8Chords (mp3)

Haven't put much up here recent, so here are two clips. Metal, compressor, chorus, lead pickup.