About Gardman's CD: Which Guilds on which cuts?

[Darryl Hattenhauer]

Dave,

Cuts like "Don't Think Twice," "Freight Train," "Ghost Riders," & "Sh'beg Sh'more" have not only the way I want to play, but also the tone I want to get. Could you tell us which models and set-ups you used? Did you use those custom bridgepins you've posted about?

dh

 

[GardMan]

Hey Darryl,
In my limited experience, one of the biggest variables for tone (other than mic placement, which had dramatic effects) was the choice of the guitar I used for each tune... and the wood it was made of. All of my six dreads are represented in the 20 tunes I recorded... and each sounds/records differently. Unfortunately, I didn't keep good records of which guitar I used for each song... in many cases, I tried recording a song with several different guitars in succession, w/o writing down which take was which. But, I know which were used for the final cuts of most of the tunes. Three of the four tunes you singled out (Don't think twice, Ghost riders, and Freight train) were recorded with my ash D-46. It has great balance from highs to lows, and more brightness than my rosewood D-55, and a bit more complexity and bass than the maple G-37 or mahogany dreads... making it easier to get a balanced recording. Sh'beg-Sh'more/Dark-eyed Molly was recorded with my D-25, tuned to DADGAD. Between flubbing the fingering/lyrics and trying to control/balance the deep lows characteristic of the D-25 during recording/mixing, I had quite a time getting this one to sound decent... Still wasn't perfect, but was as good as I could get it.

The CD was truly a "basement" recording... all done in my little (9 x 9) basement cave. The room acoustics leave much to be desired, and it probably didn't help to have four/five other guitars sympathetically ringing while I recorded. I had to turn off the furnace and refigerator while recording. Quite a few tracks were ruined by kids running in the house, or the doorbell ringing.

My recording setup evolved as I went along... but the final recordings were all made 3 tracks at once using inexpensive (<$150 for the three) MXL mics: 2001 large diaphragm condensor for vocals and two 603 small diaphragm condensors for the guitar, one pointing at the 12-14th fret, and the other at the bridge. Mic placement certainly had a major effect on tone... I am not sure I ever got it optimized.

The mics fed into cheap tube pre-amps (vocal and one guitar track into Presonus tubePres I got of eBay for <$50 each, and the other guitar into a cheaper Behringer tube preamp that was $50 new from GC. The Presonus tubPre's were definitely better quality than the Behringer). The 3 preamps fed into a Presonus "Inspire 1394" firewire interface ($150 new), and then into my laptop. Cubase light was bundled with the interface, so that is what I used for recording/mixing. I used Steinberg's Wavelab essentials ($100) for final editing/"mastering"/writing.

Overall, it was a long process to get the twenty final tracks recorded, edited, and compiled into the CD... probably more than 100+ hrs. It was fun, but with quite a bit of trial and error, and more effort than I thought it would take. It ain't perfect, but was good enough for its purpose (an Xmas gift for my 81 year old Mom, and memories for my kids when they're grown). I certainly have a lot more to learn about recording, acoustics, etc. All told, I would guess I spent ~$600 recording the CD... but that's probably a lot cheaper than renting a studio and hiring an engineer.

Hope this answered most of your questions...

(added: Oh... yes, most of my dreads had their Orth pins in... but I doubt that this had much to do with the recordings! I wouldn't blame the quality of my playing/sound on Gordon!)
Dave

 

[Ankaret]

Yeah those recordings sound pretty nice! You captured a lot of detail of the acoustics with those mics.

Are there any benefits to recording acoustic guitars with just a single mic? This is what I have always done, and even though Ive gotten nice sounds that way shouldn't things always be recorded with two mics not only to capture a broader spectrum of sound the instrument puts out but also to somewhat emulate how we would hear it if it were live (two ears)?

Nice songs Gardman! The cheaper and easier it is to record at home the more we start to hear kids, doors, refrigerators etc., in awesome recordings and to me this certainly doesn't make them seem "lesser" in quality. I just fixed up an old pump organ that I got free on craigslist (it needed A LOT of work and tuning) and it's old and squeaky as I pump and you can definitely hear that in the recordings but I truly prefer all those sounds in there, without them it would sound more like a sterile MIDI plugin or something (gross).

 

[West R Lee]

I must have missed something........Dave, where do I find your CD?

West

 

[Darryl Hattenhauer]

Dave,

I suppose my ears' response to a guitar will depend on whether or not it's recorded, or live but miked, or just miked. Apparently some people use a Takemine for live shows not just because they are cheap but also because they mike well. (But I still say that friends don't let friends play Takemines.) So it was interesting to me to find out which Guilds I like when they are recorded. And the fact that these are are all dreads makes this a good comparison. When I'm playing them, I like any hog or hosewood Guild I've ever played. But the only Guild maple flattops I like are the F-50 and D-64. However, I've played very few examples of the G-37 and D-44. I've played only one D-46 and didn't like it. I should try some other ones.

Sorry I don't know anything about recording. One good thing about playing the way Rosie looks is that you never have to worry about recording. I focus on what the guitar sounds like. I listen for what it does not because of my playing but despite it. I'm reminded of the time Willie Nelson picked up Johnny Cash's guitar, and Johnny said, "This is the first time that guitar's really been played." It's amazing to hear what sounds other people can get out of my guitars.

hf