Recording - March 2013 - 50

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Dan Gushue / DANAX
Equipment: PC (no technical information given) with
Digidesign 002 Digirack interface and Command|8 control surface running Avid Pro Tools 7.4 with IK Multimedia T-RackS 3,
FXpansion BFD, and Bomb Factory Virtual Drums. Shure SM57
mics, Joemeek VC5 Meequalizer and SC2 Compressor, BOSS
NS-2 Noise Suppressor and GE-7 Graphic Equalizer pedals,
MXR Wylde Overdrive, EBTech Hum Eliminator, BBE Sound
MaxCom Compressor/Limiter/Gate/Sonic Maximizer. Guitars:
Gibson Les Paul Classic 1960 (2001) with ZWylde EMGs;
Jackson RR3 with KKing EMGs; Washburn XB-400 bass’ MESA
Triple Rectifier and Marshall JCM800 amps.

Music: “Where Do You Go” is a one-man-band rock instrumental. Dan did it all (“composed, performed, recorded,
mixed, mastered and produced”) at his home studio.
Recording: Dan’s submission presents some pretty interesting musical and frequency dichotomies that fuse
together nicely for the most part. The acoustic guitar intro
led us to believe that we were heading for singer/songwriter land, when lo and behold, Dan surprised us with a
fairly heavy (and well played) electric guitar solo that
serves as the melody voice throughout the track.
While we admire the performance here, to our ears the
tone of the electric guitar was harsh, and more than a little bitey in spots. As for the rhythm section, we felt that
the drums were perfectly suited to the acoustic aspect of
the song’s sound, but lacked enough “heavy” to drive the
electric side of things. Lastly, we heard a fair amount of
string rattle on the bass guitar, which was distracting,
particularly in the mellower sections of the mix.
Suggestions: While acoustic/electric instrumental arrangements are certainly nothing new, there are decisions and
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RECORDING March 2013

often compromises that need to be addressed in order to
bring out the best in both camps. As we mentioned earlier,
Dan is a fine lead guitarist and “Where Do You Go” is a solid
vehicle for showcasing his skill.
That said, we would love to hear a richer/creamier tone on
the lead guitar. A check of Dan’s gear list indicates that he
has more than enough tools at his disposal to do so, although
failing to mention his monitor speakers makes us shake our
head. Please, please, please, loyal readers, many of you will
go so far as to include your cables and power conditioners in
your gear lists, but less than ten percent of you bother to list
monitor speakers. Monitors and mix room acoustics are, in
our opinion, the most critical part of the recording chain, so
do Uncle Marty a favor when submitting your songs and
start including them in your gear lists!
As for the remainder of Dan’s mix, once the electric lead
guitar is rounded out, we suggest that he explore a heavier and more ambient snare drum sound. Oh, and maybe
have the neck checked out on the bass... an adjustment
may be in order to eliminate the string buzz.
Summary: Some easy fixes will set things right.
Contact: Dan Gushue / DANAX, rcm868@gmail.com

Alan Jarvis
Equipment: Mac with M-Audio ProjectMix I/O audio interface/control surface running Apple Logic Pro with iZotope
Nectar vocal processing plug-in, Native Instruments Vintage
Compressors and Solid Mix EQ plug-ins, plus various Native
Instruments virtual instruments for keys, pianos, and synths
(MIDI-controlled from a Yamaha Motif XS7 keyboard workstation). RØDE NT2000 and Studio Projects T3 mics; PreSonus
Studio Channel mic preamp, TC Electronic G-Natural acoustic
guitar processor.

Music: “Forever” is a male vocal soft-rock/pop tune. Alan
wrote, performed/programmed and recorded the track.
The mastering was done by Jon Astley at Close to The
Edge in London, England.
Recording: Alan has managed to get a fair bit of mileage
out of his many plug-ins here (it’s not clear if the Yamaha
Motif is used as a sound source or only as a controller).
While no one would be actually fooled into thinking that
the acoustic guitar sound as presented here is the actual
miked instrument, the intent gets across. Ditto for the
other sound sources as presented; we are left with a very
good sketch of where things could go if the virtual instrument sounds were replaced by actual instruments.
That said, Alan has indeed done a superb job with the
one “real” sound source here, namely the vocals. The marriage between Alan’s voice and the Studio Projects T-3
tube microphone is superb. We love the soft but up-front
nature of the voice in the mix, the harmonies are perfectly balanced, and Jon’s topflight mastering job insures that
they are delivered without artifact. Well done, gents!
Suggestions: As with many “demo” one-man-band efforts,
we would love to hear “Forever” retracked using “real”
instruments. That aside, when stuck with lemons, the smart
ones make lemonade. Alan and Jon have done so handily.
Summary: Great TV or movie soundtrack material!
Contact: Alan Jarvis, alan@squishymusic.com

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Recording - March 2013

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