Recording: "I Fall Hard" by Todd A

Recently in January, my friend Todd A and I began to work on another recording of his song entitled "I Fall Hard." Very catchy tune that he has recently released on iTunes.

Differing from the "IRL" E.P. that Todd A and I recorded last year, this track included multiple layers of acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass, percussion, and drum set. With even these basic tracks found on your standard rock/pop/country tune, there are many considerations that the recording engineer must make.
For example, how many layers of guitar? Will they be up front, in the background, and what timbre will the instrument(s) have? Will the vocals sound crisp and clean, or smoother and warm... uh oh, I'm starting to get into really esoteric (bordering nonsense) territory once I start using terms like "warm" and "crisp." Maybe I'll avoid those for now. Let's just talk about mics and mic placement.

Acoustic Rhythm Guitar

As I do customarily for non-solo steel string acoustic guitar, I miked Todd's Yamaha acoustic using an XY stereo pair of Audio Technica AT2020s. The AT2020's are excellent for acoustic guitar; they nice;y capture pick attack without sounding too harsh and have just enough low-mid without getting boomy from proximity effect. The stereo pair was placed 16 inches in front of the guitar, centered at the end of the fretboard.

Why XY? This ensures mono compatibility, represents a wider tonal palette of the guitar than a single mono microphone (as one microphone is oriented more towards the body of the guitar, while the other is more aimed towards the neck), but does not have a super wide stereo image (as opposed to other stereo miking techniques) to keep "out of the way" in a busy mix. Miking in stereo better illustrates distance from the sound source through parallax, the way that two ears can determine how far and which direction a sound source is... kinda like how having two eyes allows you to also see how far something is.

It was important to keep the acoustic guitar a certain distance in this song, being that the lead vocal could be overshadowed by a overly present acoustic guitar. Todd's particular guitar has a very percussive and cutting tone, and so keeping enough distance between it and the mics were necessary to attenuate some of the sharpness of the attack.

The Guitar Riff

Todd used my Fender Telecaster (MIJ) into a Vox Brian May Special, a cool little solid state 5 watt amplifier with only the basics: gain, tone, and volume. I love the amp cause you can get some nice vintage, twangy tones from it. Also if the gain knob is kept low, but the tone and volume are maxed out, the speaker does this awesome freakout-thing where it starts distorting and sounds like it's going to tear at any moment. Cool! Hopefully the neighbors didn't mind, too much.

Anyway, I miked up the amp using a Shure SM57 up close and an AT2020 a few feet away, and up a little higher to capture the tonality of the amp more similar to what it sounds like playing in the room. The close mic and distance mic were then blended together to taste.

Here's a different angle to show the distance of the AT2020. Sorry about the poor quality of the photograph.

The guitar riff played on the electric guitar was also mirrored on Todd's Baby Taylor. This guitar has a considerable amount of bite in the pick attack, and a rather short sustain which adds to the percussiveness of the guitar. Wanting to capture the percussiveness without the sharpness, I used an SM57 pointed out at the bridge to capture more body/wood resonance, and an MXL V67 condenser pointed at the strumming hand to get more of the picking sound.

The MXL V67 worked pretty well, balancing out the bright Taylor sound with the mic's inherent mellowness while still capturing the picking sound. The SM57 lent a somewhat dull sound in this application, but when blended together with the V67, gave just the right amount of body to stand out in the song above all the other acoustic and electric sounds.

You can listen to "I Fall Hard" and other songs by Todd A by visiting his website.
www.toddamusic.com/

Recording: Brother Cecil... record anywhere!

One of the coolest things about recording technology today is the ability to record basically anywhere there is access to electrical power. Location recording was of course possible ever since the start of sound recording, but in terms of quickness of setup, ease of use, and overall quality achievable, modern digital recording is without parallel.

On Saturday evening, Chris Lynch who performs under the stage moniker "Brother Cecil" came by to hang out with myself and my girlfriend. Along with him came a guitar and a tambourine, which he quickly brought out to show me some tunes that he has been working on. We had been talking about getting a recording of his music together for a long time, and so we thought of doing a test run of his songs while he was over.

I have heard him play many times over the years that we have known each other, but have never tried to attempt to record him. Brother Cecil's music is very reminiscent of classic southern acoustic blues, mixed in with his garage rock and roll singing style (a la Roky Erickson of 13th Floor Elevators fame), so both him and I felt capturing a certain energy and creating a mood with the recording was a little bit more important than capturing pristine audio quality.

After taking a seat at my dinner table, I began to setup my mics, much to his surprise.
"We're going to record here?" He asked.
I responded with a, "Why not?"
So within about 5 minutes, the mics, the interface, computer and recording levels were all set. At first we used my two AT2020s set at the same distance from Chris, one pointing more to his mouth, and the other pointing down to his guitar, roughly at the sound hole. Normally I would not mic a guitar at the sound hole because of the boomy sound that normally emanates from the guitar at the sound hole, but given the distance of the mic and the microphone's position above the guitar, I didn't worry too much about proximity effect or boominess. I also placed both mics at the same point to avoid phasing and comb filtering between the two microphones.

Two SM57 in a coincident pair. Note one microphone is biased towards voice, while the other is biased towards the guitar.

The two AT2020s worked fine as they always do, yielding a very open, clear and crisp recording of both his voice and guitar, but we both agreed that it sounded a little too clean for his style of music. I then replaced the AT2020's with Shure SM57's set in a similar fashion, though slightly closer due to my M-Audio Fastrack 8R's relative lack of gain in the mic preamp. The sound of the SM57s was not as bright, a little furry, and a little ragged in comparison as to be expected, which served Chris's style much better. The SM57s however still captured a surprisingly open sound, possibly reflections coming off the walls of my kitchen, especially the wall directly behind him. Though of course again this was not an ideal recording environment, it was fun how impromtu the session was, and was a neat experiment in environmental recording. 

Sol Grill, Solo.

Sol Grill is this little restaurant down at the Newport Beach Pier, not too far from Blackie's, a place that I once surfed in my relatively younger years. They have great food and the atmosphere is really cozy and cute. There's probably only ten tables in the place, and you're surrounded on all sides by wonderful surf and beach related art.

Last night I played a solo acoustic gig hosted by my friend and local Orange County singer/songwriter Paul Hines. It was a fun gig. I hardly ever bring out my Epiphone Masterbuilt acoustic guitar for gigs; it's fun to let the Stratocaster and Les Paul take a night off! Sol Grill, as most restaurants can be a hard gig if you're the type of musician that likes to have the attention of the crowd and listener feedback, and Sol Grill is not that kind of place. You're pretty much wallpaper music. In the past this would have bothered me (since my music is so wonderful and unique... I say this with sarcasm) but being the center of attention has become less and less important to me. I guess the recording engineer part of my personality is getting much stronger; recording engineers are all about working their magic in the background. So lately I've found myself having a much better time performing since I'm not really expecting anyone to be paying attention. When somebody does, than it's just that much better.

I guess I'm playing more for myself; doing the best that I can do, pushing the envelope of my own abilities, and just trying to put on the best performance I can, regardless if anyone is really watching or not. It's pretty nice.

Break in the weather.

So today here in Southern California we've been given a bit of a reprieve from the warm weather. It's still fairly warm today, about 82 degrees, significantly cooler than it has been for the past week or so. Yesterday was an even hotter day in my hometown, and Mike (the drummer of The Short Term Melody, my band) and I attempted to record again in his garage. Not only it was hotter, but more humid, which made for a miserable session. We didn't get any useable takes, but that's okay, we tried. Blame it on the weather.

Given the improved weather conditions today, I should record, but I don't think I will. The band and myself have been pulling hard to get this album done, despite weather, scheduling conflicts and equipment issues, and we've done quite nicely. We've got about 4 songs so far, with two more drum tracks awaiting guitar, bass, and vocal parts, so we haven't done too bad for only 3 weeks of work. So I think I'm taking a break today. I suppose I may mix later on, but only if I'm feeling up to it.

Being productive is good. It's great to get things done in a timely manner, but sometimes you got to take a break. It's better to stay balanced. Being the songwriter, primary arranger, guitarist, singer, and engineer can make things a bit complicated, and it's quite easy to drive yourself crazy filling all of these roles. So today I'm going to do something unrelated to all of them, at least for a few hours. I hope that this coming semester with all the projects involved, plus finishing this album, I can stay fresh and inspired by staying well rounded and balanced. Though in crunch time, when deadlines must be met, this will be difficult, but on days like today when the sun is out and the breeze is blowing, I'll just kick back with a book and an iced tea.

Good day to you all!

Recording: The Hit On List (Todd A), and the magic of Gating

Back in April and May, I recorded and mixed a project for Todd A, the singer and songwriter for the one man band "The Hit On List." He's a talented singer-songwriter that I wish I could come up with a better title for than "singer-songwriter." He has a great alternative rock/punk-esque style that I don't think comes to mind when given the title "singer-songwriter." Anyway, he's good.

We met about a year ago at the open mic I used to host down at Costa Mesa's Westside Bar and Grill. His style had always reminded me of the Smiths, The Ramones, and Elvis Costello. He approached me earlier this year to record a 5 song EP of his original tunes. I couldn't pass up an opportunity to record one of my favorite local artists.

I was already familiar to Todd's sound from the open mics we performed at together, so I felt I was more than apt to record his music. Todd was already quite familiar with the recording process: working with click tracks, layering guitars, doing overdubs and punch-ins, so working with him was quite easy.

What wasn't easy was the environment that we were recording in. We recorded in his apartment, hopefully not to the annoyance of his neighbors. Not only was the room fairly boxy (which of course creates unavoidable comb filtering and standing waves), but was also located near a fairly busy intersection. Ambient noise was going to be a major obstacle.

Close Miking in Stereo (using XY coincident pair)
Since Todd was familiar with recording procedures, we had the option to track everything separately to a click track, which we used to our advantage. I had the opportunity to close mic is Yamaha acoustic guitar using my two Audio Technica AT2020 condenser microphones in an XY stereo miking configuration. One microphone pointed towards the neck of the guitar to capture more of the high end harmonics, while the other more or less pointed at the end of the fretboard to capture a little bit more body sound, yet still avoiding the boomy-ness that emanates from the soundhole. The two mics in XY yielded a surprisingly full sound (especially for only being about 6 inches away from the instrument), full of detail and harmonics. I also recorded the sound of the guitar's onboard pickup, run through a passive DI box into an mic input on my interface, which added some grit and girth to the sound.

For each song, he recorded two takes of acoustic guitar playing the same chord changes and strumming pattern, which I panned to various points on either side of the stereo spectrum during mixdown.

Though close miking cut down on a lot of ambient noise, close proximity could not however exclude all of the unwanted external sounds. That is where the use of a GATE comes in.

The Magic of Gating
If it weren't for the gating, there would be horns and revving Harley-Davidsons all over Todd's EP. A gate is a device that allows signals of a certain amplitude (strength... er... "volume") to pass through unaffected, while signals below that amplitude are attenuated. This basically is like a compressor in reverse. Gates can be pieces of physical outboard gear, sometimes also included on compressors, or in my case, a software plug-in. Gates basically allow you to get rid of, or at least make unwanted, extraneous sounds less noticeable, increasing the overall dynamic range of your recording. Gating of course can also be used in other, more artistic ways (look up "Gated Reverb" on your favorite search engine), but in my case, was used to get rid of the Harleys outside and the hum of the refrigerator.

Dual Miking Lead Vocals
Some people have the luxury of a great lead vocal microphone... AKG C12, Neumann U47 or U87, a vintage RCA ribbon... just imagine your favorite lead vocal sound... yeah that mic! Most of us however, do not have access to these sonic marvels, but you can still obtain a great lead vocal sound through of course good mic placement, and in this case, using two different microphones on the same sound source, used to capture different things.

On Todd's EP, I used an Audio Technica AT2020 in conjunction with the modest Shure SM57. The AT2020 to my ears is very flat over a wide frequency range, and is sometimes a character-less microphone, which I think is very useful especially since I use it on tons of different sources. As a lead microphone however, the AT2020 on it's own doesn't really stand out in the mix; you can hear it, but it doesn't have enough character to grab your attention. The Shure SM57 in all it's fuzzy and grittiness has lots of character, and has a very different frequency response than the AT2020. The SM57 does not pick up as much of the high end, the "air" and ambience of the space in which you are recording. This gives the SM57 more a dry and upfront sound. The AT2020 on the other hand picks up a lot more "air." Recording these microphones on separate tracks and adjusting their levels in relation to each other will give you a little of both. More air/distance? More fowardness? More smoothness? More grit? You can decide that in mixdown.

Though again, this is not the most ideal setup, but if both microphones are placed the at the same location, the same distance from the sound source, it can give you very pleasing results.

And by the way... what about DIY home recording is ideal anyway? It's not about the ideal, it's really about doing the best you can with the resources available, and not letting anything hold you back from getting a pretty cool sound.

You can check out Todd A and The Hit On List's new "IRL" EP on his website, TheHitOnList.com

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! :)

The Hottest Day!

Oh my goodness. Today we tracked drums in Mike's garage (oh yeah, I forgot to mention that we began recording out "long awaited" album again) despite today's sweltering daytime high temperature. I don't know how hot it actually got today, but let me tell you, when I got home this evening, it was 81 degrees, and I was about to put on a jacket. Despite the warm temperatures, Mike still played very on point, and thankfully my MacBook was able to capture it! Whew!

Anyway, so for the past month or so, me and the band have renewed our pursuit of recording our album. We have 11 songs slated to be recorded, which for any single DIY project, is pretty large for us. Six months ago, we attempted a similar though smaller project, which we weren't entirely prepared to do, especially myself, the recording engineer. Now coming back to the recording process we're much more rehearsed, and as an engineer, much more open minded and have a little bit more experience to draw from. So come back in the coming days for pictures of the sessions...

Cheers!