Jumping in

[monsterthompson]

Today is my first attempt to record in my apartment. I snagged a Behringer B-1 mic and plugged it into my Mac. My signal chain is
Nash PB63
Pedal board of stuff
Mesa Buster
Barefaced Super Midget
B-1
Mbox2 Mini
Mac Mini
GarageBand

I just took a stab at mic placement, having no real frame of reference, other than trying to get the tweeter in the mix.

So far my experience has been that I like the tone, more so than going DI with anything I've had (including Monique). My playing technique obviously needs work, hence no samples here, yet.

It's interesting to watch the levels change when I kick in the two overdrive boxes I have. I thought the sound levels were equal to the clean tone based on my ears, but the compression and the resulting tracks show that I'm no where near "the same" with them.

It's going to take some knob fiddling to get levels and mixes where I think they sound good, but I like the project of getting it figured out so far.

My only "technical" issue so far is that I get an occasional, unpredictable pop. It sounds electrical, not physical/mechanical. A friend has suggested that it might be static.

I'm also seeing that I may need to put a foam wall or hood around the back of the mic to keep my finger sounds out of the mix. I record in the same room I play in, and finger noise and fret clack (along with street traffic) shows up. Of course, I expected those issues, so I'm not terribly worried about them. However, it might be fun to try building a small isolation box.

 

[seamonkey]

You might want to try re-amping
Record DI, then playback through the amp while mic and recording on another track.
Don't worry to much about finger noise and other artifacts until you hear it in a mix. That kind of stuff just falls to the background.
It's good to have them in there many times. Sample libs now include a lot of things like "breaths" and valve clicks to improve realism when recorded.

 

[monsterthompson]

You might want to try re-amping
Record DI, then playback through the amp while mic and recording on another track.
Don't worry to much about finger noise and other artifacts until you hear it in a mix. That kind of stuff just falls to the background.
It's good to have them in there many times. Sample libs now include a lot of things like "breaths" and valve clicks to improve realism when recorded.

It's true. There is no "perfectly clean" track, and chasing that dragon is tough. I've thought about the re-amp option.I may need to give that a shot in the near future. I'd like to hear the effects of different cabs, so it would seem the right way to compare them.

 

[monsterthompson]

Ugh. Recording a dirty signal is turning into an interesting game. I like what I'm getting clean... like this rough track
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

But I'm finding trying to dirty up the sound changes everything. So far mt BBBOD pedal on lighter OD settings is easiest to work with. I think it is going to take some tweaking to get a huge heavy sound out of my Blower Bass pedal, which is a beast. I've watched a few tutorials online about recording heavy bass by using a clean and and a dirty track, which is likely what I'll need to go toward. The dirt just kills the punch and attack.

...okay, back to the laboratory...

 

[Interceptor]

Two track works.

Years ago I got some advice here from a name player. His wisdom was to record one channel absolutely clean and un compressed. Lay down a second effect laden track and then balance the two at mix down. Sum the two and then band shape and compress to taste.

There is another approach.

I really like that song - the one that's on soundcloud linked through the X-ray.

I'd like to hear a bit more heft under that song. Run that Nash into a Cinemag or Jensen and and into a Neve or something emulating one.