recording voice and classical guitar

[colinmusic]

Hello Folks,

newly tooled up with imac os10, garage band, octava mk 319 condensor mic., and edirol ua 25.

The project needs to record classical guitar and spoken voice.
So a few questions:

the edirol can set a level for recording, but so can garage band - which is better? My guess is to follow the order of the signal = interface and subsequently the software.

I was intending to record all these sounds compelelty neutral and free of reverb etc - and then take the finished article to a professional studio for them to apply the effects. Is this a good idea? ( The spoken voice is, in my view, especially important to leave unaffected by electronic tweaking.)

Sometimes, when I ask garage band to monitor the input ( through headphones) there is a bad feed back whine. Why? I had to restart the imac to kill the feedback whine.

Thanks for reading,

Colin

 

[zimv20]

the edirol can set a level for recording, but so can garage band - which is better?

GB does not set a level for recording; that is playback level only. try it: you can drop that fader down to zero and still record the signal at whatever level is coming in.

I was intending to record all these sounds compelelty neutral and free of reverb etc - and then take the finished article to a professional studio for them to apply the effects. Is this a good idea?

imho, you'll get better results recording classical guitar and voice at the pro studio -- they'll at least have a room appropriate for such instruments. (and if they don't, they're not "professional").

i'd feel less this way if you were recording electric guitar or such -- you can get away w/ a less-than-ideal room and gear. not so much for classical guitar, though.

 

[colinmusic]

studio

[ you'll get better results recording classical guitar and voice at the pro studio -- they'll at least have a room appropriate for such instruments. (and if they don't, they're not "professional").]

That might be so, but the counterbalance is that diy recording allows me to re-record things over and over knowing that it'll only cost me my time. The cheapest studio around here is about £30 ($60) per hour........watching the clock tick by and the bill rise up compromises quality because you allow things to pass you might otherwise reject.

But thankyou anyway for the input.

 

[CanadaRAM]

OK then, you will have your work cut out for you to make your recording space sound decent. You have to have a balance between dampening (heavy curtains or duvets ranged around your recording position) and reflection. Some studios will put a sheet of plywood down on the floor in an otherwise dead room, to get some early reflection off the floor so the guitar sounds more natural.

Microphone selection and positioning is important, and will vary with the guitar you are using. You'll have to do some critical listening and experimenting to get the best sound. This is where the pro studio comes in -- it's much easier for someone else to provide the critical ears rather than doing it all yourself. It's really, really difficult to judge the tone of the recording signal while you are playing.

 

[colinmusic]

mic experiment

I take the point about being one's own critic. The plan I had was to leave the recorder running, and then playing the same section of music half a dozen times with the mic in a different position.

As long as I write down which one is which - I hope that will inform me of the best sound.

thankyou for the advice,

colin