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Blue
Flux Studio
Hints, tips and tricks on studio design and equipment use by Tom of
Blue Flux.
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Studio Tips - Guitar
& Bass, Microphones
Acoustic Guitars
With
the guitar as my bread and butter instrument, it's perhaps no wonder
that many an enticingly curved body has found itself carried beyond
these studio doors. Most have stood the test of time and continue to
excite and beguile. Some have gracefully retired from active duty but
flash me a wily wink in recognition of good times had. And since Blue
Flux is not exactly a groupie magnet you'll have figured that it's
guitar-shaped curves I'm talking about here.
Taylor 314ce
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Of late, talking guitars
means talking Taylor,
for this musician at least. On the lookout for a new 12-string I
stumbled across the Taylor brand in a music shop. And before I knew it
my heart and soul went out for the girl on the left. Yep, a 6-string.
So much for forward planning...
Now I know guitars are very much a personal choice. So I'll spare you
the lyrics. However, for anyone who, like me, is looking to trade up
from mid-price guitars, a few minutes spent cradling one of Taylor's
"mid-price" instruments may just find what they never knew they were
looking for. The second I picked up the Taylor
314ce I sensed her eagerness to play. Lovely action, a slick neck,
and a sound that leaps - nay, summersaults - from her deliciously
waisted body to make one's hair stand up. And then, when I thought all
had been revealed, I finished with a few sharp twangs and was floored
all over again by the seemingly boundless reserves this baby has in
store. Talk about projecting - this guitar can level a small room with
her sheer volume punch if required, whilst keeping a firm grip on
definition and balance. I really cannot praise Taylor enough for
that feature alone.
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Another feature worth mentioning
is Taylor's Expression
System
(ES), a pick-up system which uses two Dynamic Body Sensors™
and one Dynamic String Sensor™ mounted beneath the fretboard extension
to deliver an exstremely realistic acoustic sound straight from the
balanced (or un-balanced) jack socket. The ES is fitted to Taylor's 300
series and above, which in part accounts for my decision to reach up
for my 314ce model. On my initial recordings from pick-up straight to
track the sound seemed delightfully full but a little short on treble
and zing. Until, that is, I listen to how it sat in the mix. And
realised that my initial expectations had been somewhat distorted by
the thin, bordering on weedy, sound obtained from bog-standard single
acoustic pick-ups. Despite offering only treble and bass controls, the
range of sounds achievable is very impressive indeed, perhaps
explained by the clever preamp board design with considerable input
from Rupert Neve.
Finally, a big thumbs-up to all things mechanical on this guitar. The
machine heads are super accurate, the battery holder-cum-jack socket is
a little mechanical marvel in itself, the guitar case is a bomb-proof
work of art, and the guitar's overall finish is top rate and warmly
welcoming to enquiring fingers.
I finish how I started: this guitar wants to be played, and sings when
you do. I'm sure there are other stunning instruments out there. But the Taylor 314ce now is my little stunner. Oh, and I never
did get around to buying that new 12-sting...
Taylor's
Baby Taylor
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I did, on the other hand,
buy yet another 6-string. And yes, it's another Taylor (and no -
they're not paying me!). I wanted a travel-light acoustic to take on
holiday, and having spotted Taylor's Baby
range during earlier visits to their website decided to give it a quick
try.
First impression upon being handed one at my local music shop: "wow
it's small!" And after a few amused chops: "Heck - it's big!" Because,
believe me, it really is. Not much larger than your average
hula-skirted ukulele, this Baby kicks, man, and then some. But, even
less expectedly, the Baby's cheeky mid-rangy sound sits extremely well
in most mixes, adding twangy licks without cluttering, buzzy chops
without necessarily grabbing the limelight. The Baby also records extremely well
through a standard large-diaphragm capacitor microphone almost
regardless of mike position.
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Baby Taylor &
314ce
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And it's fun fun fun to play! The
smaller fretboard and easy action makes improvising a doddle, and quick
moves a pleasure bristling with expression. Yeah, the finish is a
little basic by Taylor standards. But then, this Baby is built to a
budget which I thought was a very reasonable one. The softcase included
is very well made, and practical to boot. In it, Baby travels snugly
and securely and takes up about as little luggage space possible until
someone invents a fold-away guitar. Hmm, now there's a challenge,
Taylor, huh?
Believe it or not, my initial fall-back plan in case I found the Baby
too "Mickey Mouse" was to graceously palm her off to my young niece, a
budding guitarist currently struggling with full-sized fretboards.
Well, looks like natural growth has to come to her aid, cuz I'm keeping
this Baby for sure. ("Aaawwww..." I know - well I might just get
another one for my niece on her next visit provided she goes to sleep
when told).
During the
early phases of
recording for The Agenda the
mood of a track in progress called for classical guitar sounds. Dear as
my old, travel-scarred no-name classical guitar might be to me (very,
actually,
as it's my first ever guitar) it just doesn't cut it on the sound
front. Investment time, then.
Yamaha APX-9NA
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Impressed by Yamaha's
electric guitar range, I'd already played a few
of their acoustic models in shops, and now homed in on their APX-9NA cut-away nylon. Again, on a
purely visual level alone this guitar convinces straightaway. But its
real forte lies in its technical spec. A highly transparent bridge
transducer combined with an internal microphone mounted flexibly
beneath the
sound hole ensure that a humble jackplug really will extract the true
timbre and feel of a classical guitar. Separate level adjustments for
both channels as well as a very useful EQ section provide sufficient
control to tailor the sound to just about anyone's preference - full
marks, Yamaha.
The only drawback (for some players at least) might be its
comparatively slender neck, and hence close string pitch. This
apparently is a deliberate design aspect to avoid alienating
dyed-in-the-wool E-guitarists by what would normally be a classical
guitar's much wider neck. I have learned to cope with the
slightly tricky fingering required to play this beauty, but for some
less nimble-fingered players the APX-9NA's narrower-than-usual frets
might prove prohibitive.
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Ovation Celebrity
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The Ovation Celebrity used to be my
studio workhorse before newer, Taylor-made curves recently made
decisive inroads. Ovation's bright and forward tone projected so well
by their patented composite bowl is great for cutting through dense
mixes. It might not be the most natural sound, but then, that's all
relevant and open to personal preference. I'm sure the Celebrity will
be called upon again for future tracks, so no hankie needed here,
readers.
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Takamine Jasmine
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Takamine's Jasmine is my only
12-string at present, and not a bad one given its price point. Its
pick-up is a bit tinny sounding though, so miking up near the neck
joint is the only way to get that balanced jangly twang. As mentioned
earlier, I am on the lookout for a better 12-string, so time will tell
what'll come boogieing through these studio doors next.
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Electric Guitar &
Bass
On the very last day of
the old Millennium
I happened to be in Glasgow passing a guitar shop. My old electric had
never sounded completely
true, so understandably I felt that a more playable instrument would
ease my transition into the 21st century
(any excuse will do).
After some trials I walked out with a Yamaha
Pacifica
under my arm. Although by no means a 'classic' guitar, I am very
impressed
with the quality of workmanship and the playability a guitar in this
price
range has to offer. The pick-ups (one humbucker, two single coil) allow
for
plenty different timbres, and to me at least the solid wood body
looks quite classy. |
Yamaha Pacifica
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Recording electric guitar used
to be quite tricky, and highly antisocial to boot. Not every neighbour
is likely to rejoice to the sound of a maxed-out guitar amp wailing
through the night. Amp simulators like the Line
6 Pod have put a stop to this, and not too soon.
Little needs said about the Pod - every
guitarist will have heard about it. I've had mine for many years, and
it's still my preferred choice for recording electric guitar. |
In case you intend to buy one 2nd hand,
make sure you get the v2 model or later, which features more amp
models. The
only
drawback is its awkward shape, which makes it tricky to mount in a
studio
environment. One solution is shown on my Groundhog
Studio pages. It is also worth checking out the plethora of user
patches
on the Line 6 website
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I've found some real gems there.
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After all those years of attempting
to play smooth and convincing bass lines with a synth or sampler, I
eventually took the ad hoc decision to go for the real thing. Some
hours online and half-an-hour's auditioning at the local music shop
later and I walked out
with
the Johnson JB-2 bass guitar you see on the left.
Apart from the gorgeous looks, what really
impressed me about this fine 4 string specimen is its solid
construction
with a through-neck, and the built-in active electronics with bass and
treble
EQ. Another pot adjusts the balance between the two soapbox-style
pickups, ensuring that the tonal range available from this instrument
is extremely
wide.
What was even more surprising was the amount
of fun I've been having playing this chap from day one. I'd been hoping
that without any previous bass-playing experience and only my guitar
skills to fall back on, I'd somehow manage. This turned out to be
mostly
true, although I was amazed by the physical strength required
to move up and down the giant (by guitar standards) fret board. At
least its fairly narrow neck helps my dainty guitar-player's fingers to
get to grips with it.
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The punchiness and low frequency energy
that comes off these strings is very satisfying. No amount of sample
tweaking
could adequately simulate this. Twanging the low E string even without
amplification makes your whole body vibrate, and before you know it,
tentatively at first, you start working on those bass lines you've been
chasing all those MIDI-bound years.
Recording bass is not as straightforward
as I thought. Though the active on-board electronics help, a lot of
compression
is needed to tame the dynamics. This in turn can rob the resulting
sound
of
some of its punchiness. Tricky.
So out I went to buy the cheap & cheerful Behringer
Bass V-Amp. First impressions
were positive. But once embedded in the mix, even the V-Amp's results
failed to inspire. Latterly I've found a very usable preset as part of
the EMU 1616 hardware effect programs (see Digital Studio). Two EQ
slots plus one ravenous
compressor combine to at last get me close to where I wanted to be all
along. But since it's all about personal taste, I won't bother
reproducing the parameters here. I would, however, recommend anyone on
the quest for their perfect bass sound to A-B their mix against some of
their fave CDs. This really helps to pinpoint where your own mixes are
lacking, and saves a lot of fruitless blind trials and errors.
Mike
and
the Mechanics
Choosing the right microphone for your application is
not easy. Back in the days when large diaphragm condenser mikes clocked
in at the price of a small car the decision was largely driven by one's
wallet. Now it's much more down to personal preference. Generally the
choice will be between solid state or tube-based designs. Now this page
is not the place for explicit side-taking. All I would say is that some
of the more reasonably priced tube mikes are much less "tube" than they
claim, and yet exhibit the generally reduced sensitivity and hence
increased noise floor that is inherent in this design. With a vast
array of tube warmer plug-ins now available, maybe buying a decent
solid state mike and then applying some digital warmth in the mix might
be the more cost-effective solution. Ok, so I did take sides after all.
Anyway...
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Not long after the cost of quality studio
microphones had plummeted I decided to purchased a Rode NT1
large diaphragm
condenser mike. Although this is one of the cheaper
"professional" mikes, it exhibits tremendous warmth and detail, and has
an extremely low noise floor. Together with the Joe Meek VC3 (see next
page), the NT1 has provided me with an acoustic input chain that is
head
and shoulders above my previous standard. Thoroughly recommended! |
One thing to note when using a professional
mike with balanced (3 pin) connection, as opposed to a cheaper
unbalanced
stage microphone, is their increased dynamic range. When recording rock
vocals, I initially missed the more compressed sounding output I'd got
used to from my old and unbalanced Audio Technica mike. This can be
easily
remedied through some additional compression, and for those quieter
passages
the full dynamic range of the NT1 can be readily appreciated.
One should consider investing in a shock
mount at the same time as one decides to purchase a large diaphragm
mike (though these days, many already come with it). These microphones
pick
up even the ticking of the kitchen clock downstairs, so you can imagine
how faithfully they will reproduce foot-induced floor vibration that
would
otherwise travel unhindered through the mike stand into the mike body.
When buying a shock mount, a generic (and hence often much cheaper)
model will do just as well as its branded counterpart.
Finally - get a pop shield. The
foam covers that come with some mikes will simply not do the job.
Either make one
yourself - stocking draped over a wire loop, taped to the mike
stand -
or buy a no-name model for a few quid, which has a clip, and looks more
professional. Both work fine, and should be at a distance of around 5
to
10 cm (2 to 4") from the mike.
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Next
Page - Signal Processing,
Synths &
Samplers, Mastering, Monitors, Plug-Ins
Copyright Enthalpy Publications 2009
         
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