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Post by lewiscohen on Feb 9, 2009 20:56:10 GMT
.....a recording  Vocals are a Sontronics ribbon mic, guitar is an SM57, both into Focusrite preamps and then straight into a Revox A77 (top advice Michael, thanks!) The track is Son House's "Death Letter" - first track on my soundclick: HERELet me know what you think. LC |
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Post by jackstrat on Feb 9, 2009 22:16:02 GMT
Wow Lewis!!...really great vibe from that recording...very 'real'...love the guitar sound and a great vocal...
Niall
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Post by Michael Messer on Feb 9, 2009 23:42:12 GMT
The recording system & the music are sounding great Lewis. The Focusrite is a great tool. Many of my recordings over the years have gone through one of those.
At this point in time I do not believe that any digital recording system can simulate analogue tape. What the future will bring...who knows.
Shine On
Michael.
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Post by subtoxin on Feb 9, 2009 23:54:19 GMT
By far the best version of Death Letter I've heard since Son House...excellent!
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Post by steverino on Feb 10, 2009 0:09:02 GMT
Very nice, Lewis, both in your convincing performance and very good sound. Only thing I might suggest is to try swapping in some good quality vacuum tube mic pres if you have the opportunity.
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Post by bod on Feb 10, 2009 1:10:31 GMT
Can't say as I understand the technical stuff here, but it sounds really great to me
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Post by Michael Messer on Feb 10, 2009 8:57:51 GMT
One doesn't need to understand the technical stuff. If it sounds really good and you enjoy the music, that is all that matters.
Shine On
Michael.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2009 9:26:27 GMT
Really fine singing, and an evocative guitar.
But I don't see the fuss about digital ( hard disk) and analogue ( tape) recording.
Below is a section from the Focusite website about their liquid technology. What they seem to do is sample (DIGITALLY how else?) many different analogue sounds and let the user blend them together.
Liquid Technology
Liquid Mix provides reliable emulation of a wide range of vintage and classic units. It does this by emulating their sonic behaviour using sintefex's patented Dynamic Convolution; the application of a unique, level-dependant set of responses to an audio signal.
These measured responses, sampled at numerous levels and with a multitude of setting combinations, are applied to the input stream on a sample-bysample basis for extremely convincing results.
All very clever but surely the result is a digital input into the tape machine. Is that not what a guitar recorded into a microphone (analogue) becomes when it goes onto the hard disk of a recoding machine?
And even a recording, however improved or enhanced with clever sampled effects and recording on a Revox ( yes I am jealous!) finally gets put onto a CD, or indeed played through a computer along fibre optic cables and is thus played digitally.
I suppose it is a very subjective matter, like ones favourite guitar.
Having said that, the recording is very good. Well done mate.
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Post by Michael Messer on Feb 10, 2009 10:22:20 GMT
Each to their own Barry! I have been making records and recording in professional studios for thirty years and from my experience, and many of the leading producers in the world, analogue is the best sound. The BBC studios at Maida Vale still record all their live sessions on to 2 inch tape. They mix using digital technology, but they always record onto tape. Many of the world's top studios still record onto 2 inch tape and mix digitally. Toe Rag Studio in London is one of the most renowned studios in the world now - it is totally analogue.
Mixing digitally does have its advantages because editing is easy and the software remembers all the moves. The disadvantage is that digital mixing is not a performance, whereas with analogue mixing each pass is unique and cannot be repeated.
Not only is analogue better than digital, but vinyl is better than CD or any other digital format. Just look at how much vinyl is coming back into the stores.
As I said before - if it sounds good then that is all that matters.
Shine On
Michael
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Post by lewiscohen on Feb 10, 2009 10:23:13 GMT
Many thanks for the positive feedback, and the suggestions chaps Barry - Interesting post. You're right, unless we all go back to putting recordings out on vinyl, everything ends up in the digital domain eventually. But what I'm finding is that, in practice, a recording tracked to tape and then played from said tape into digital media does have a different sound to those tracked digitally. It's most noticable to me in the way it makes the ambience of my recording room sound. It's less harsh, I suspect because tape doesn't pick up the extremes of frequency that digital recording does. I also noticed that I needed to use far less compression than I have had to do previously on 100% digital recordings to achieve consistent levels. Which means that tape is adding it's own compression but doing so in a way that sounds less artificial than any compressors (hardware or software) that I've used. Which is a good thing because nothing makes a reso sound horrible quite like too much compression to my ears. Lastly, for this material, there's something that sounds a bit more "right" about having that subtle noise floor that tape adds. All of these sonic benefits carry over with the recording into the final digital conversion. You can get software plugins that simulate all of the above, but the good ones cost more than a brace of A77's.... The next experiment for me is to track a recording digitally and master it to tape, and then do a side by side comparison of the two recordings to see if tape can "do it's thing" retrospectively. Thanks again fo your interest, everyone. |
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Post by Bill Stig on Feb 10, 2009 11:36:28 GMT
Sounds great Lewis.
Hi Barry,
Lewis doesn't state which Focusrite preamp he is using. Focusrite produce quite a few different preamps - only a few use their "liquid" technology. Most of them are completely analogue.
Bill
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Post by lewiscohen on Feb 10, 2009 12:21:58 GMT
Sounds great Lewis. Hi Barry, Lewis doesn't state which Focusrite preamp he is using. Focusrite produce quite a few different preamps - only a few use their "liquid" technology. Most of them are completely analogue. Bill Ah yes....should have mentioned.... both preamps were analogue. A Trackmaster Pro on the guitar and a Voicemaster Pro on the vox. |
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Post by Michael Messer on Feb 10, 2009 17:04:18 GMT
I knew that you would not be using the liquid technology. The analogue Focusrite is the only one I have ever used. I forgot to mention that in my post!
Shine On
Michael
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Post by lewiscohen on Feb 10, 2009 17:54:38 GMT
I knew that you would not be using the liquid technology. The analogue Focusrite is the only I have ever used. I forgot to mention that in my post! Shine On Michael An old bandmate and friend of mine is a designer for Focusrite hence me using them (mate's rates go a loooong way in purchase decisions lol). Years ago we went to record a demo at a crappy barely-better-than-a-hobbyist-but-still-charges-the-earth studio (well before the home recording revolution). When it came time for him to record the bass parts, he says to the studio owner/producer/engineer/common thief "would you mind inserting this on the track?" pulling out of his holdall a £3k Focusrite Red Compressor they'd let him borrow . |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2009 19:43:21 GMT
Sounds great, man! Then again, I have come to expect that from you. Is that the Triolian?
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