Posts Tagged ‘recording’

There’s More Than One Way for a Band to Make Promotional Videos!

Posted: September 15, 2023 in Recent Projects
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This one is new to me.

Credenda, a wonderful close harmony family band that I recorded, just posted a promotional video in which they use three songs that we recorded in the studio as background music behind a montage of pictures and videos of the band playing in various situations.

Instead of trying to create videos for each song that attempt to either tell the story of the song, or create suggestive imagery about a song, the goal seems to be celebrating the individual artists and the family as a kind of musical community.

After watching it a few times, I decided that it is a fascinating concept! See what you think.

Thoughts on Live Multitrack Recording at Clubs: Recording Palo Verde

Posted: August 14, 2023 in Gear, Philosophy, Recent Projects, Tricks of the Trade
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Many bands that play mostly in small to medium sized clubs will have YouTube or blog posts of their music. Often the videos are fine but the audio will be poor. Most computer video programs (think QuickTime, IMovie, etc.) will allow you to strip audio and insert a good recording of your music to sync with your video. Although a good two-track stereo recording can be an improvement, a multi-track recording gives you many more options which, if mixed correctly, can provide a first-rate, natural (not over hyped) listening experience to go with the video.

There are a few things that have helped me get a better-quality multi-track recording over the years. I’ll share some of these below. Then, I’ll give an example of the kind of recording I’m talking about by providing an example of a recording of Louisville band, Palo Verde.

  1. Use the right microphones. Some singers want to use their own microphones. It is important to check ahead of time to see what these microphones are. While some will work well, others will produce significant mixing issues. The same is true for drum mics, etc. Be sure to double check! Super or hyper cardioid mics are best because they work to eliminate noise from other instruments and especially floor monitors (see #2 and #3 below). Remember that when you’re trying to get a natural live sound you don’t need to put a microphone on every drum unless the band normally does so for the house mix. A single overhead (Omni?) microphone, kick, and snare mic will be plenty for many bands and less intrusive.
  2. Tweak monitor placement. While in-ear monitors permit the best recordings, most bands still use floor monitors. These should be placed well behind the microphone’s sound field. This is usually not difficult with singers. It is most difficult when a drummer uses a floor monitor, and it faces upward toward the overhead microphones. This means that the monitor mix will intrude on the drum’s overhead mix and render the overheads virtually useless. I usually bring along a spot monitor that I can place near the drummer, facing away from the overhead microphones.
  3. Control monitor mixes if possible. If the band is in a space with walls on either side and a wall in back, it will help if the front of house mixing engineer can run individual monitor mixes to each musician on stage, providing only the minimum of what they need. Full house monitor mixes at high volume can bleed into all of the stage microphones and wind up competing with your overall mix in a lot of ways (especially by creating out-of- phase issues) so keeping them as modest and targeted as possible will help later down the line. If band members are used to in-ear monitors this is best, of course!
  4. See if you can position musicians with the vocal stereo field in mind. If a band has three-part harmonies and those singers all stand at the front of the stage, it can help if these singers are not bunched up on one side. You will likely want to mix them to left and right, so have them stand on stage left/right if possible. This is helpful also because of the drum-bleed that comes through on the vocal mics. When mixing, the stereo field for the drums can be disoriented or out of phase if you are mixing a singer to the opposite side of the mix from where they stood on stage. Most musicians will honor this request, knowing its only for one night, if it is a huge change.
  5. Don’t fret the room microphone. If you use a room microphone for small to medium size club gigs, you’ll only use it for applause and room noise before and after songs. Otherwise, you’ll hear table conversations, etc. in the mix.
  6. Assess (and use) direct inputs for acoustic instruments. Most artists use direct inputs from pickups for guitars, mandolins, harmonicas, etc. these days. Some are excellent. Others are not so good. Use them no matter what the quality. Why? Because they are what the band “sounds like” and your job is to get that sound. That said, in some cases, you might want to stick a directional mic in front of an instrument, just to provide the option later of improving the sound. And remember, a good sounding direct input eliminates microphone bleed!
  7. The more you can control the better. In order to have maximum control over the quality of recording I prefer getting a direct feed into my own preamps and converters. Although many affordable mixers will now do multitrack recordings (Midas Mr18, Mackie Onyx, etc.) I prefer to use better quality preamps and digital to analog converters. For that I use a passive stage box that is a splitter, with one cable running to the bands mixer and the other running directly into my preamps and converters. This allows the band’s engineer to do his/her thing unimpeded while I do mine. When using a passive splitter, it is a good idea to carry along a few inline phantom power supplies and several good DI boxes to help with any ground lift issues. If you have the money and want to be sure you have the tools to get a good isolated sound and avoid compatibility issues with the house mixer you can avoid a passive splitter and get a few transformer isolated splitters such as the ART S8 and the cables to get from the front of house to the splitters and to your recording rig. I like my passive splitter because it has the cables built in and is easier to set up and haul. My basic converters and preamps are the Focusrite Clarett + series. I love the clarity and detail of the converters and the preamps sound great for just about everything. If I need other preamps I can bring them along.
  8. Mix to reproduce the live sound! The number one rule for mixing comes down to avoiding PD (plugin disease). When you have good tracks, it is tempting to add lots of effects (reverbs, delays, compression, etc.) that were NOT in use live. I see my job as reproducing a true to life recording that mirrors what the audience was actually hearing. When someone who attended the gig hears the recording as the audio for a YouTube they can say, “Wow, that’s just how the band actually sounded!”  

I recently had a chance to record Louisville’s Palo Verde at an outdoor venue called Bud’s Tavern. The recording was not made for video purposes, so live video is not available here. Here’s an audio track from that event, however, to provide a feel for the kind straight-forward enhanced “live sound” I’m talking about. You’ll want to listen on headphones or good speakers to appreciate the difference between this sound and a simple iPhone or two-track stereo recording.

Swan Song?

Posted: April 5, 2023 in Recent Projects
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An interesting story here. The Rev (John Wiley Nelson) is a singer songwriter from Provincetown, MA, who also spends about half the year living in Portland, OR. He is in his 80s and suffered a serious bout of throat cancer two years ago. During his treatments he wrote an album’s worth of material, and entitled the album his “Swan Song,” thinking it might be his last CD. He recorded the vocal tracks during his recovery, and is now on the mend, doing very well indeed! So, perhaps this CD is not his “Swan Song?” We will see. 

The album is fairly stripped down production-wise, mostly acoustic instruments in a folk format. The guitar work was done by guitar genius Kenny Smith. Stuart Duncan recorded the fiddle tracks, and I was delighted to get Chip Bush, Sam Bush’s cousin, who lives near Louisville, to play the mandolin tracks. Randy Kohrs added magical, lyrical dobro tracks. I played bass and added lead guitar on one song, and electric piano on one. All in all, the CD has a lovely feel and is worth a good listen!

Flat River Band, Every Dog Has its Day

Posted: September 3, 2019 in Recent Projects, Tricks of the Trade
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After a series of great tracking and mixing sessions, the Flat River Band released its EP and video for their new album titled Every Dog Has Its Day.  Here’s a link to the video for the title song.

When you hear the songs, you can tell that they harmonize like only family can! In the studio, I wanted to catch the spontaneity and energy that they get during live performances so we recorded the vocals all at the same time instead of overdubbing. The feel is great! The review on Billboard.com was great. Thanks for the shout-out to the studio!

Here’s a live performance of the song:

 

Check out the entire album on YouTube (or your favorite streaming service)!

 

 

Microphone Modifications!

Posted: June 14, 2019 in Gear, Recent Projects, Tricks of the Trade
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So, living in Nashville is pretty amazing if you have a studio. Great musicians are available all the time, you can rent gear from several outlets for reasonable prices, and the there are many world-class techs available to repair, renovate, or modify your gear when needed. On that last score, I have been self-modifying several of my microphones, soldering better capsules and capacitors into my Rode N2 and into a Studio Projects B3 large diaphragm microphone.

After using my Miktek CV4 for a couple of years, and basically loving it for most things, I found that I kept trying to equalize a little high end “zing” – evidently due to the way the capsule interacts with the tube electronics in the body of the mic. I read a Tape Op magazine article about a microphone tech in Nashville named Shannon Rhoades, a guy who used to actually work at MikTek, who could do a killer modification on the CV4. After listening to some digital files of the results he is able to achieve, I bit the bullet (literally – this was not cheap) and decided to go for it. I emailed him and then packed up my CV4 and drove it over to his house. When I walked in, I shuffled past a dog, and a guy coming out of the back workroom with a microphone modified for Martina McBride (I believe it was her, or maybe it was Shania Twain), and met Shannon in the workroom Here’s a little video from YouTube of an interview with Shannon in that room (scroll to about 5:45).

The room was full of microphones, all being modified and personalized for various country luminaries, and Shannon asked me a few questions about what I was looking for in the mic. He got the drift, I left, and he went to work. Two weeks later I returned, paid him through PayPal, picked up the microphone and put it into action recording the Flat River Band (a post to come about that later).

After nearly a year with the modified microphone, using it on vocals, acoustic guitar, acoustic bass, and as a room mic, I have to say that it was worth every penny. What was a really, really good $1600.00 tube condenser mic, was now close to a world-class microphone – the kind you’d pay 8 to 10 grand to use. It has that huge, larger than life, “suck you in sound”, with a silky high end, tight and controlled midrange, full and flowery low end that is really nice to have on most vocals and featured instruments. It reminds me a lot of a Telefunken C12, and for about 1/3 of the price. Check Shannon out at https://www.facebook.com/Micrehab/

The Art of Multi-tracking Bluegrass and Folk Music: The Rev’s New CD, We’ll Always Have Casablanca

Posted: May 11, 2019 in Gear, Recent Projects, Tricks of the Trade
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John Wiley Nelson (a.k.a. “The Rev”) is a folk and bluegrass songwriter residing in Provincetown, Massachusetts. He was the manager of WOMR, the local public broadcasting station there for some years, and still acts as DJ for a regular bluegrass show. He has recorded several CDs here at Jonymac Studio. Over the years, he has focused more and more attention on hiring the finest award-winning musicians for his CDs: Stuart Duncan on fiddle, Adam Steffey on mandolin, Randy Kohrs on resonator (dobro), Ron Stewart on banjo, and most recently Kenny Smith on acoustic rhythm and lead guitars. He also brings in Kenny and Amanda Smith to produce and perform his vocals. Due to the busy schedules of all of these musicians, it is impossible to get them all together at one time to record. We have to multi-track, working around their schedules. Here’s the process:

  • The Rev records a rough vocal and rhythm guitar track to click for all songs (I accompany him on guitar)
  • The Rev creates an arrangement sheet, identifying clearly who plays rhythm, fills, or leads during each song.
  • Kenny Smith comes in and records a rhythm track for all songs, replacing my scratch guitar track.
  • Kenny then records any lead acoustic guitar work needed
  • I record an acoustic bass track
  • This improved rough mix is sent to:
    • Adam Steffey who records his mandolin tracks at his preferred studio (sometimes Ron Stewart’s Sleepy Valley Barn in Paoli, Indiana)
    • Randy Kohrs who records his resonator tracks at his studio, Slack Key Studio in Nashville, TN)
    • Ron Stewart records his tracks at his studio: Sleepy Valley Barn in Paoli, Indiana
  • These artists send their stems to me digitally to put into the mix
  • The Rev comes back into the studio and records his final vocal tracks
  • Kenny and Amanda come in to do background harmony vocals
  • Stuart Duncan comes in to the studio here and records his fiddle tracks which provide the “glue” on the CD.
  • The Rev and I do a good early mix for each song
  • I finish the mixing and mastering

Because of the quality of musicianship, this process works wonderfully.

One final thing that really helped this new CD. I’ve been less than happy with the basic sound palette when recording and mixing acoustic music such as bluegrass “in the box” in Logic (Pro Tools is not better), so I added an instantiation of Slate Virtual Mix Channel’s Neve console emulation on each bus, and on the Mixbus, and it made an amazing difference. I strongly recommend this! The sound is warmer, rounder, more listenable. The CD is available on iTunes, Spotify, Napster, and YouTube. To hear the album on YouTube go here!

Why I Charge.

Posted: November 10, 2017 in Philosophy
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So, as a project studio, owned by someone who records, mixes, and masters “on the side,” I’m often approached by artists who are looking for a deal – which sometimes means they expect free service. In many instances, these are friends, or friends of friends, and in some instances they are really good artists – the kind I’d love working with! Or they want to use the studio and/or equipment but without me. Why not?

There is a part of me that would love to oblige good folks and even do what I do free of charge. I love what I do, and I love helping others achieve their musical goals. Early on, as I was “working on my chops” I did a few free projects – which took some of the pressure off and helped. When I listen back to some of those projects, I’m glad I didn’t charge!

As I got better, I found myself 50-75 hours into a project, listening to an artist ask me to “tweak” something (which sometimes would take several hours) and saying to myself: “I’d feel a lot better about this is I were getting paid!” True enough.

The fact is that many artists are unaware of the amount of time it takes, beyond tracking time, to get a project mixed and finished – even if it’s just vocals and guitar, or a few tracks of audio. Tracks have to be cleaned (gated or “stripped” of noise between clips of audio), de-essed, de-breathed (fixing loud breaths), equalized, sometimes compressed, automated as needed (louder in some spots, softer in others), run to busses, etc. etc. And even if a song is recorded in series with nothing changed, all of this has to be done differently for each song. In other words, a separate file has to be created for each song – and all of these steps done for each song. All of this adds up to TIME.

So about 20 years ago I started charging for my services. In my humble opinion, I’m still “a steal” if you compare my work to comparable work. And at this time I mostly charge by the project, rather than by the hour, which allows me to be the laid back guy that I like to be in the studio – and not to worry when I’m a little slower than some (perfectionist that I am).

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Recording “The REV”

Posted: August 16, 2012 in Gear, Recent Projects, Tricks of the Trade
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John Wiley Nelson (a.k.a. “The Rev”) is a retired Presbyterian (PCUSA) minister who lives in Provincetown, MA. In his retirement, he is the manager of the local public radio station, WOMR. The Rev writes mostly folk and/or Americana songs. He likes to use acoustic instruments, but with electric bass and drums – locating his sound somewhere between bluegrass and country. Although a minister, his music is not religious – though, at times, it shows the sensibilities and sensitivities of a theologian and pastor. There is a lot of fun in his music which is loaded with irony, double-entendre, and reversals of plot.

The Rev. likes quality of instrumentation. When he comes to town, he hires the best. In this case, he hired Grammy award winner Randy Kohrs on dobro and pedal steel. Kohrs was Dolly Parton’s dobro player for years, and has played on more than 500 albums, ranging from those by such legends as Hank Thompson and Jerry Reed to current chart-toppers Little Big Town, Dierks Bentley, Sara Evans and The Wreckers.  Among his accolades for such work is a 2009 Academy of Country Music Award nomination in the Top Specialty Instrumentalist category. Randy owns and operates his own recording studio called Slack Key Recording Studio. We sent him scratch tracks and he recorded his tracks in his own studio.

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On fiddle, the Rev brought in Stuart Duncan. Stuart can be seen and heard with The Nashville Bluegrass Band, where he’s been a contributing member since 1985.  The band has won two Grammies, multiple IBMA & SPBMA awards. Duncan has played with Jerry Douglas, Bela Fleck, Yo Yo Ma, Alan Jackson, Chris Thile, Edgar Meyer, and many others. He is a complete professional. Because he tracked after the dobro and mandolin were finished, he provided fills that weave all of the other tracks together in a beautiful way. He showed remarkable sensitivity also. When tracking “Ordinary Day”, a song with a verse about the death of the Rev’s son, he re-recorded his lead, working to make it match the tenor and feeling of that part of the song. I used a single MikTek C5 on his fiddle and it worked great. I let him find the sweet spot, and the tracks turned out great.

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The Rev hired Grammy award winner Adam Steffey to record mandolin tracks. Steffey has played with many of the bluegrass greats, including playing for seven years with Alison Krauss and Union Station, working regularly with the Dan Tyminski Band, and now playing with the Boxcars. Adam lives several hours away and had a friend, Ron Fonzerelli, record his tracks and send them in. Ron used API pres and a stereo pair of Neumann KM84s to record Adam. The tracks turned out really well in the mix.

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I used no eq or compression on the dobro, mando, or fiddle tracks. I used the same stereo buss for all three instruments in order to get them pretty much into the same sonic space in the mix.

Plugin Settings

That buss had a tiny bit of Softube “Focusing Eq“, (to add tape saturation – I love Softube saturation), URS API modeled eq. (a really smooth, natural sounding eq.), a very small bit of URS 70’s compression, and a tiny bit of IK Multimedia CSR Room reverb on it. That’s all.

The Rev. likes to mix genres on his CDs, and on this CD he had two great blues tunes. He flew Mark Hill in from New Jersey to track the lead  guitar parts. Mark played with Herd of Blues for years, and really has a nice feel for blues. He brought his Fender Nashville Telecaster and we recorded him through my Fender Princeton, using a single Shure SM57. He used my Nick Greer “Ghetto Stomp” to add grit to the sound. The result was great.

Mark Hill

Andy Hull produced some masterful drum and percussion tracks. Andy has drummed for Ty Herndon, Jamie O’Neal, Collin Raye, Joey and Rory, Lee Greenwood, and the Evinrudes. I tracked him in the larger room in the studio and, instead of overhead miking cymbals individually and using a room mix, I used a stereo pair of AT4041s, which are brighter than my MikTek C5s,  up and back over the kit to get the kit reflecting off the walls of the room. This would give us the option of picking up as much of the ambient wood in that room as we could as a part of the kit.

 

On the Rev’s vocals, we used the TLM 103 through my UA LA610-MKII. I used a tiny bit of limiting on the way in, but no compression. With vocal tracks I usually use a 4-buss setup. Buss 1 is for a touch of reverb, buss 2 is for a tiny bit of delay, buss 3 is for vocal thickening, and buss 4 is for widening. I find that the Logic Stereo Delay works fine for delay, timed to 1/8 notes and used very modestly. Izotope Alloy’s vocal preset for “Intimate Parallel” vocals is a nice place to start when tweaking a vocal thickening track. Logic’s analog tape compression combined with Logic’s Stereo Spreader produce a nice, adjustable spread. The IK Multimedia “Vocal Late Reverb” setting provided a good amount of reverb ambience.

Vocal Plugins

The Rev invited his daughter, Molly, to track vocals on three of the CD’s songs. She had a lovely, soft voice, and her pitch was perfect. I used the TLM 103 on her voice and a similar 4-buss palette.

The Rev asked me to record the bass tracks. I used my Fender American Deluxe P-Bass. I went direct, through the LA 610MKII. I then added the IK Multimedia Ampeg SVX plugin, splitting the sound between the DI and an emulated SVT-4 Pro. On the two blues songs, I used the back pickup (a Fender Jazz Pickup), and a bit more compression on the way in, to get a more mid-rangy “honkin blues” sound.

He also asked me to record some of the rhythm guitar tracks. Mark Hill recorded some of these also. He prefers these to be in the mix, but not prominent. I used my MikTek C5 stereo pair in a ORTF arrangement for these tracks.

He also had me record the keyboard tracks. I used Logic’s “Yamaha Studio” piano for the piano tracks, and used my Nord Electro 2 for the organ tracks.

The CD turned out great. Check it out at CD BABY.

Recording Mel Bay’s Dulcimer First Lessons Book/CD set

Posted: July 25, 2012 in Gear, Recent Projects
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Several years ago, when I was still living and recording music in Louisville, KY, I was contacted by a wonderful woman named Joyce Ochs about recording a CD to accompany a basic lesson book for the mountain dulcimer.

Joyce Ochs and her Dulcimers

The book was to be a part of the well-known and respected Mel Bay lesson series.

Mel Bay First Lessons: Dulcimer

She gave me a draft of the book, which indicated all of the places where we would need to record her voice and a music sample. She also asked me to accompany her on the guitar. I set her up in the studio, and, after trying a couple of microphones out, discovered that my Rode NT-2 gave just the right body and high end bite that was needed, in order for students to hear the notes and chords well. We used the Neumann TLM-103 for her spoken parts, and the AT4041s for my acoustic guitar.

As you can see from this screenshot of the index, we recorded a LOT of music! And she was kind enough to thank me in her acknowledgments.

Index of Joyce’s Dulcimer Book

We had a wonderful day in the studio, as Joyce demonstrated her outstanding talent for organizing lessons, articulating clearly her instructions, and performing beautifully what she was after. The result is a first rate set of lessons on the mountain dulcimer by the “first lady” of dulcimer music herself. Check it out!

Welcome to Jonymac (pronounced JohnnyMac) Studio

Posted: July 13, 2012 in Philosophy
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As I mentioned in the “About” page, I have four reasons for posting this blog.

First, in the section entitled Recent Projects, to (gently) advertise my project studio. I try to record 8-10 projects annually, and would be glad to discuss whether what I do is appropriate for your project. From time to time, therefore, I’ll post links to music recorded in the studio so that you can get an idea of what I can do.

Second, in the section entitled Philosophy, to share my philosophy of recording.

Third, in the section entitled Tricks of the Trade, to share ideas that I have about improving both the workflow and quality of project studio recordings.

Fourth, in the section entitled Gear, to discuss gear I have used or found useful in studio production.

For over thirty years now I’ve been recording and mixing music. No, it’s not my “day job.” I teach (now retired) at Vanderbilt Divinity School. I write books on all kinds of topics. I’ve also been known to blog on a range of topics – in particular preaching and worship, and popular religion. My passion for recording music intersects with my other interests – which focus on the philosophy and impact of sound and words in the public arena.

My life in recording began in my teenage and college age years, in Birmingham, Alabama. I worked for a film company (Metcalf Productions), writing soundtracks (mostly music) for commercial films and television spots. I hung around the studio as much as I could, learning the basics of microphone placement, mixing and editing.

Studio Engineering was not how I wanted to make a living. I had other interests oriented toward scholarship and teaching. But music performance and recording remained my primary hobbies – and soon became a bit more than that, as computers began to make recording more accessible for hobbyists.

In the Control Room

With the advent of computer-based digital sequencing in the 80’s and then the full-blown marketing of digital audio workstations (DAWs) in the 90’s, home recording leapt to new levels, and became more accessible to hobbyists. I began editing on the German based software Emagic Logic in the mid-90s and stuck with it when Apple bought the company and morphed it into Logic Pro. I have stayed with Logic, and have found it to be more than adequate for most forms of studio production.

Moving to Nashville in 2004 changed the whole game for me. Nashville is filled with commercial and boutique studios, and hundreds of project studios (good and bad). At the same time, hundreds of artists move to Nashville each year in order to try to make it in the music industry as either songwriters or performers. The number of people needing good quality demo recordings or affordable project recordings is many times what it is in most cities. And there is a small niche for those of us who can provide a product that is less expensive yet well recorded and mixed. I’ve steadily increased the number of projects I take on. My connections with excellent musicians (for hire), gear rental and other music resources has sky-rocketed in the past 16 years. When I retired from teaching at Vanderbilt we moved to Louisville, where we raised our family. Just three hours north of Nashville!

Although gear is important, as you will see in later posts, I believe that the key to recording and mixing is the ear, not the gear. Some of my favorite recordings were made on an old Tascam cassette Portastudio I owned in the late 80s, using mostly dynamic microphones. Training one’s ear to create a good sound and mix is the key to recording at any level. More on this, and other aspects of the game, later.

Welcome to the blog. Hope you enjoy it and get something out of it.