[Boris Lau]

Hi folks,

here are some recordings I've made in my square little homerecording
studio. I'd be very about some comments on the sound:

http://www.borislau.de/audio/roon

Obviously, a nicer and bigger room would have been better. But this is
what I've got. The guitar pickup is mixed pretty loud. I would have
preferred more of the mic signal (AT4050) for a more acoustic sound, but
the band liked this better. The rest is recorded with KM184s.

Especially I'm interested on advice for EQing the highs (more/less?),
and the limiting (is it too much?). Overall, couple of weeks later, I
find the sound thin and lacking some warmth, comparing to the live
experience.

Thanks in advance,
Boris


--
http://www.borislau.de - computer science, music, photos

[Roy W. Rising[_2_]]

Boris Lau wrote:
Hi folks,

here are some recordings I've made in my square little home recording
studio. I'd be very about some comments on the sound:

http://www.borislau.de/audio/roon

Obviously, a nicer and bigger room would have been better. But this is
what I've got. The guitar pickup is mixed pretty loud. I would have
preferred more of the mic signal (AT4050) for a more acoustic sound, but
the band liked this better. The rest is recorded with KM184s.

Especially I'm interested on advice for EQing the highs (more/less?),
and the limiting (is it too much?). Overall, couple of weeks later, I
find the sound thin and lacking some warmth, comparing to the live
experience.

Thanks in advance,
Boris

Boris ~ I once lived with a woman who was a very good cook. Whenever she
served a meal she pointed out all the things about it that disappointed
her. Most of those things were in her own mind, but the proclamations
diminished my own enjoyment.

When you offer materials for comment, try to be more mute about them.

It is Sunday evening in Los Angeles, and the internet running quite slowly.
I was able to audition part of Stormy Blues and Gone Fishing. First
impression: nice sound! Stormy Blues seemed to have something of a "hole"
between the guitar and the flute. More guitar might not have helped. With
Gone Fishing, the flute in a lower register filled the hole. Perhaps for
recordings (as opposed to live performance) those tunes with the flute in
the upper octaves would benefit from an overdub of either the flute or the
guitar filling that register.

I did not notice any problems with the room, the EQ or the dynamics. The
"warmth" you feel lacking likely is the same thing I call a "hole". There
is some room for more of the bass fundamentals. Overall, however, it is
not at all "thin".

--
~
~ Roy
"If you notice the sound, it's wrong!"

[Boris Lau]

Hi there,

thanks a lot for your comments!

Roy W. Rising wrote:
When you offer materials for comment, try to be more mute about them.

alright, I'll try

I was able to audition part of Stormy Blues and Gone Fishing. First
impression: nice sound! Stormy Blues seemed to have something of a "hole"
between the guitar and the flute. More guitar might not have helped. With
Gone Fishing, the flute in a lower register filled the hole. Perhaps for
recordings (as opposed to live performance) those tunes with the flute in
the upper octaves would benefit from an overdub of either the flute or the
guitar filling that register.

I guess we're talking about the same thing. To my ears it was better
with more guitar mic and less pickup - the latter sounding more
percussive, which is also nice, the former sounding more like wood.

Overdub of the guitar is an interesting idea which didn't come to my
mind at all. I'll consider it next time.

Thanks again,

Boris

[Peter Larsen[_3_]]

Boris Lau wrote:

Hi there,

It is too hot and I'm too busy, I'll get back to you later ....

Kind regards

Peter Larsen

[Doug Lauber]

Boris Lau wrote:
Hi folks,

here are some recordings I've made in my square little homerecording
studio. I'd be very about some comments on the sound:

http://www.borislau.de/audio/roon

Obviously, a nicer and bigger room would have been better. But this is
what I've got. The guitar pickup is mixed pretty loud. I would have
preferred more of the mic signal (AT4050) for a more acoustic sound, but
the band liked this better. The rest is recorded with KM184s.

Especially I'm interested on advice for EQing the highs (more/less?),
and the limiting (is it too much?). Overall, couple of weeks later, I
find the sound thin and lacking some warmth, comparing to the live
experience.

Thanks in advance,
Boris

Like Roy said:
'...There is some room for more of the bass fundamentals.'

[Peter Larsen[_3_]]

Doug Lauber wrote:

here are some recordings I've made in my square little homerecording
studio. I'd be very about some comments on the sound:

'...There is some room for more of the bass fundamentals.'

Erm, yees, but also for rethinking the way the stereo image works. I haven't
had time to be thorough, but overall I miss a stable center image as well as
a spatial strategy with regards to ambience/reverb. What I dislike is that
instruments is placed outermost in the panorama, I want the ambience to have
that space so that it fits the image of a band on a stage. Was an ambience
pair recorded?

EQ'ing tracks is not high on the list of "to do's", but gentle assertive
track compression may be a wiser choice than limiting the mix. Also because
the crest factor gets wrong when close miking anyway.

Upper bass is loose but I don't know whether it is a mix issue or a track eq
issue. What I would do first if asked to "do things" to this mix result
would be to sum the low end to mono "vinyl style" to tighten up the image.
Nugen Audio has something called "monofilter", it is designed to do just
that.


Kind regards

Peter Larsen

[Peter Larsen[_3_]]

Roy W. Rising wrote:

It is Sunday evening in Los Angeles, and the internet running quite
slowly. I was able to audition part of Stormy Blues and Gone Fishing.
First impression: nice sound! Stormy Blues seemed to have something
of a "hole" between the guitar and the flute.

See my comments on spatial strategy. To some extent I think it is a matter
of panning things to where they were not positioned in the physical
panorama.


Kind regards

Peter Larsen

[Boris Lau]

Hi Peter,

Peter Larsen wrote:
Erm, yees, but also for rethinking the way the stereo image works. I haven't
had time to be thorough, but overall I miss a stable center image as well as
a spatial strategy with regards to ambience/reverb. What I dislike is that
instruments is placed outermost in the panorama, I want the ambience to have
that space so that it fits the image of a band on a stage. Was an ambience
pair recorded?
The mics were roughly a meter away from the instruments. The only real
ambience mic I have is an omni in the middle, maybe more of that would
help the stable center you're missing.

EQ'ing tracks is not high on the list of "to do's", but gentle assertive
track compression may be a wiser choice than limiting the mix. Also because
the crest factor gets wrong when close miking anyway.
I have used a lot of automation on the track levels instead of a slow
compressor. But probably you're right, and an additional (fast)
compressor would be better than the stereo-limiter, especially because
it would be pre-reverb.

Upper bass is loose
What do you mean by 'loose'?

but I don't know whether it is a mix issue or a track eq
issue. What I would do first if asked to "do things" to this mix result
would be to sum the low end to mono "vinyl style" to tighten up the image.
Hm. The only instruments providing low end here is the guitar and the
drum, and both are in the center already, or am I missing something here?

Thanks for your advice,

Boris