Recording: Sheryl Librojo... and adventures in Phasing.

Each recording project that I partake in, I learn something new. Since I am still a new engineer, with each project I learn exponentially more than the last. New mic placements, room treatments, how to work with each musicians/artists individual playing style, workflow, and personality, and above all else, to keep your mind open. Keep your mind open to new genres, new sounds, new ways of doing things. 

Back in April, I took on two projects of two musician friends I know: Sheryl Librojo and Todd Anderson. Both of them have very unique playing styles and work very differently, but I learned so much from recording them both.

First of which was Sheryl Librojo. I met her playing open mics down in Long Beach several years ago and she always struck me as a very dynamic performer. I had recorded a short split EP with her back in 2008 called "Help Wanted," which for the time sounded as good as my limited engineering (and guitar playing) experience could warrant. But now a few years later, I wanted to try to capture Sheryl in a way that I hoped could capture more of a live performance feel, rather than a dense, multi-tracked "studio" sound. I wanted to play into what I felt Sheryl did so well: sing while playing the acoustic guitar. No click tracks, drums, bass, guitar solos. Just Sheryl.

Capturing "just Sheryl" was not necessarily the easiest thing from a recording engineering perspective. We would be working in a bedroom; not an ideal acoustical environment in the slightest, with my very limited microphone complement. She played a Taylor 414CE acoustic guitar, which is normally a bright guitar, but sounded much mellower since she used her fingers. Occasionally a bright, biting transient would spring out of the guitar, causing the meters to spike. Challenges.

Since an outboard compressor was not available to me, in Pro Tools I had to route the microphone inputs through an auxiliary channel containing a software compressor insert, which then output to a audio track. Again not ideal, but it helped smooth out the occasional transient spike created by a hard strum, and when you're a student on a limited budget, and you don't have any gear to speak of, it's the way to go. Armed with the internal Pro Tools software compressor, I was able to smoothen out the surprise transients in her guitar and vocal performances, before being recorded, allowing me to gain up the mic pres to a higher level.

Another challenge was to attain a certain degree of separation between the vocals and the acoustic guitar. Sheryl would be recording both vocals and acoustic guitar simultaneously in the seated position. I only had two good quality condenser microphones available to me, which were two Audio Technica AT2020 microphones. At first I used one for lead vocal, and the other for the guitar, and of course the bleed was extraordinary. I was getting about 10dB more vocals in the guitar microphone than the guitar! Yikes. So then I opted to use a Sennheiser MD421 on the guitar, which gave much more separation. But then there was one problem that I stupidly did not hear during tracking...

...PHASE!!! ARGH!!! 

"What an idiot!" I insulted myself once I got home and listen to what we had recorded that day. The phasing wasn't obvious on most of the recording. There were just certain frequencies that would bring it out. Things would get really Sci-Fi in the middle of a relaxed, beachy, sun drenched acoustic guitar tune. I hang my head in shame. 

Phasing is definitely an issue, especially when close miking the vocals and acoustic guitar when the two sound sources are in very close proximity to each other. What would have been a good option was to place the two microphones the same distance from the performer, one angled towards the performer's mouth, the other biased towards the guitar. 

Now this question goes out to all the readers...

HOW DOES ONE DO CLOSE MIKING ON BOTH ACOUSTIC GUITAR AND VOCALS WITHOUT RUNNING INTO PHASING ISSUES? 

I would definitely like to know. So write me a response of any of your ideas.

From a performance perspective, the session was great. Sheryl did a wonderful job and played and sang a near flawless performance. Now from a sonic perspective, the recording was pretty much a failure. I did not do very well at capturing such a great performance. The phasing issues definitely detracted from the sound, and was at times distracting from the performance. 

From my perspective, this recording was quite successful. A complete success would have delivered a wonderfully clear and sonically pleasing recording (which this didn't), but it was a success in that I learned some very valuable lessons.

1. Each performer is different

2. Each session will be different

3. Always check for phase, using both your ears (aurally) and measuring equipment (electronically). 

4. Have realistic expectations of your session
5. Have pre-production meetings with an artist before any session


The fourth major point that I learned I didn't quite explain. For me to expect to deliver an expertly and beautifully recorded song for the project was not a realistic expectation. For the most part, all of my experiences with recording close miked performances have been done in isolation; either each instrument/voice being performed at different times, or using isolation booths and/or baffling. With the exception of simple two microphone stereo live band/orchestra recordings, I had never conducted any serious live recording, and to expect a haphazardly placed close miking configuration to yield a beautiful recording was not realistic, being that I hardly knew what I was doing. What I should have expected was exactly what I got... blurry stereo imaging, muddiness, and phasing. 


I also had not heard or seen Sheryl perform in a few years. What I had to go on were memories, but memories are in no way a replacement for a true pre-production meeting and rehearsal. I simply did not know what sound I was going get basically until I went home that evening and reviewed the takes. Oops!

But all in all, what good experience. I learned a lot from the session. And for Sheryl: Sorry about the sound. Can we try again? I'll do a much better job next time! :)