Recording - January 2011 - 54

Zac Chandler
Equipment: Roland Studio Package with Logic and Acoustica Mixcraft 5, Alesis Masterlink, Fender Showmaster guitar.

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Music: “Motorcyle” is a male vocal rock song. Zac was the oneman band on the project. Recording: Zac has submitted a catchy tune here with more than a little “On The Border” era Eagles vibe. So how did he do with his “emulation”? Pretty well for the most part, although a general lack of clarity is dogging the track. Let’s start with the good stuff. We like the simple solid drumming, and the walking bass is perfect for the genre. Zac has also managed to capture the Glenn & Don swapped lead vocal deal, complete with the doubled delay effect. So where’s the problem? Well, it stems from the balance between said vocals and the distorted electric guitar. On those classic California country rock albums, it was very rare to find a song that didn’t contain at least two, very often three electric guitars playing simultaneously. What made them so effective, aside from skilled players, was the tonal variation and use of panning involved. Single-coil pickups opposite humbuckers, shadows and light, contrast and clarity. Suggestions: Zac has made some fine first steps here. We would encourage him to keep working on this track, try adding a second clean electric guitar, and then increase the panning of both away from the center of the stereo field until his vocals “speak” with more definition.
Summary: “Take it Easy”, Zac!
Contact: Zac Chandler, zak@bellsouth.net.

Skiff & Dory
Equipment: PC running Cakewalk Pro Audio 8; Fostex 1840 console; Shure SM58 and omni mics; 1984 Squier Strat, 1982 Yamaha SBG2000 electric guitar, Squier Jazz Bass, Hohner harmonicas, Kramer Ferrington acoustic guitar, DI box.

Paula McMath
Equipment: “Piano, guitar, Neumann U87 mic”

Music: “Shades Of Her Lipstick” is a male vocal rock song, those of you familiar with the music of J. J. Cale will recognize the sound. No individual credits were provided (just a thank you to a lady named Merie for her critiques and suggestions), so we’ll assume that all of the performing and recording duties were by Skiff & Dory. Recording: Skiff & Dory’s submission brings to mind the old saying “There’s trouble in Paradise”. Right from the get-go there is a nasty hiss that remains present throughout the track. Combine this with some equally bothersome plosives (popping p’s), an overly compressed electric guitar, and well, you get the picture. Suggestions: There is no shortage of ways to introduce hiss and hum into a recording, ranging from gain structure issues to bad cables and electrical grounding problems. While we’re not sure what caused the trouble here, the fact that it was not detected/corrected is a major concern. If Skiff & Dory did not hear it on their monitoring system, then the speakers themselves could be at fault. (Hard for us to tell when they didn’t tell us what monitors they used—come on, folks, we keep asking...!) If they did in fact hear the hiss, and chose to include it in the track, we can only blame “pilot error”. In any event, going through the entire recording chain until the problem is found (and solved) should be priority number one. Regarding the plosives, a simple pop filter would go a long way towards solving the problem. If one is not available (and you’re not willing to build one from panty hose and a wire coat hanger), rotating the microphone slightly off axis can often accomplish the same goal. As for the compression, like all sweet things, a little is fine, too much and there goes the old waistline!
Summary: School’s back in session, guys. Get that hiss under control before you do anything else!
Contact: Skiff & Dory, lehartery@hotmail.com.
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RECORDING JANUARY 2011

Music: “Trust The Sky” is a female vocal ballad. Paula sang and co-produced along with Ian Hattwick, instrument performance credits were not supplied. Recording: A beautiful, simple song that would be at home on any contemporary acoustic/folk play list. For the most part the recording is well done, with the exception of some piano sustain pedal noise (especially during the intro) and some compressor/limiter smear on the lead vocals, particularly on the f and s sounds. Suggestions: Since only one microphone (albeit a great one) was mentioned in the gear list, we assume that the piano was miked in mono. How, and more importantly, where, the mic was positioned holds the key to the excess pedal noise. Were the piano and vocal tracked simultaneously? Could the pedal noise be coming in from the vocal mic? Without further details it’s hard to know for sure. What is abundantly clear is that with a recording this sparse, there is no place to hide any unwanted artifact, particularly during the intro, prior to the vocal and acoustic guitar accompaniment. We would encourage Paula and Ian to reconsider their mic placement. Experimentation is key here, tiny mic moves can often provide surprising results. We would also suggest any of the fine articles that Recording has run throughout the years regarding piano miking. There is a wealth of great info and experience in these pages, folks! As for the vocal artifact, alas... Paula has an awesome voice with nice dynamic range, and so did Judy Collins, Sarah Vaughn, Laura Nyro, and a whole host of female singers whose voices were never smeared by a quick-fix compression ratio. We implore Paula, Ian, and all of you loyal readers, to learn from the greats: there are better ways to handle dynamic range, trust us on this one.
Summary: The devil is in the details!
Contact: Paula McMath, paulamcmath@verizon.net.

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Recording - January 2011

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