First Day Recording!

Mercy Train has been in Richard's studio three times since April 2/05, and today was my first day laying down electric guitar overdubs. Today was my first time in a studio. I feel quite spoiled to be using such a high quality facility, and to be working with such high quality talent and skill.

I used a mesa/boogie dual rectifier tremoverb mic'ed with a 57, approximately one inch away from the center of the speaker, and a Soundelux U195 approximately one foot away from the center of the amp.(<---that's for you Nathan =] ) My POD 2.0 was used direct on a few tracks for it's automatic volume swell. I know nothing about mic'ing guitars, but I really like Richard's way, it sounds fantastic. You can't argue with results, lol.

I went right into the amp from my wolfgang, and it sounded smoking! I was extremely pleased with the tones I was able to achieve. Between Skip and Richard, the control room was smokin' hot with good ideas that made their way onto the tracks.

Dare You To Move

There are so many "spiritual" rock bands out there trying to capture the hearts & minds of young people all accross the nation. Switchfoot has always been a favorite of mine ever since they crash landed in my mind with their huge hit "Meant To Live". It amazes me how so many bands can use the same chords structure to convey so many different messages (thanx to U2 :). Check out Switchfoot's song "Dare You To Move" - a song about redemtion, salvation, restoration, elevation from where you are to where you must go. A deep song that would do little for me if it weren't for those cool tones - gotta love video post-production.

PS... dare you to move.

Crappy Monitors

Well, i just got back from testing my Mesa/Boogie Formula Pre at New Hope. This has been my first time testing the preamp extensively with our PA. I also used my digitech S100 rackmount effects unit, which is decent quality. I'll probably only use it for a little bit of reverb though, as I don't have a midi controller for it.

Anyways.

I placed the 2 units stacked on top of eachother on top of a small stool, sat on the floor, and began tweaking. I couldn't get around how muddy it was...so i sat there for an hour trying to coax even *a little bit* of tone out of it, no luck. I was only coming through one monitor strongly, but later when I walked around the stage i heard a very faint signal coming out of another monitor, and it sounded about a million and four times better....Clayton had warned me that the monitor i was using wasn't great, but i didn't think it would make a huge difference. He said i could try listening through various monitors before he left, but i couldn't figure out which channel my guitar was going into as nothing is labelled :S

So i ended up unplugging clayton's direct box that he leaves on stage, and using the XLR cable for his channel, because i knew it would come through all of the monitors. WHAT A DIFFERENCE!! I had a cool tone dialed in seconds....and then i rocked out solitaire-style for like an hour.

So for months i have been severely disappointed in the tones i've been using, and all this time it was those crappy monitors (there is two of them, they are some make i have never heard of) that have been throwing me off. The whole time i was compensating for a very muffled sounding monitor, I can just imagine what it sounded like in mains. This monitor doesn't sound anything like the mains...or even the other monitors. Hahaha...Oh well =D. Word on the street is we're going in-ear soon anyways.

PRS 513 Rosewood

Just when you think prs has done just about every sonic thing with a guitar they come out with this baby! I had to go to Matt's Music this week to pick up my new tremolo sleeve for my prs. Prs was kind enought to send it out no-charge - way to go prs!. Anyway, I took the opportunity to test out the very vast Crate amp selections at Matt's and strum a few of their beautiful prs guitars. One of the guitar nuts in the store was telling me about the recent release of the prs 513 that has the capability of configuring 13 different tone selections with its five single coil pickups! Yikes... check out the detailed specs here. I think the store is getting one in so all can salivate... very very cool. I'll have to re-mortgage the house for this baby.

A lot to be said about clarity...

Had to blog about my latest totally amazing toy. I picked up a BBE 100X active a few weeks ago and wow... what a huge difference it's making! As soon as I flipped the sonic maximizer on it was like...vooom - clarity!!!..... especially low and mids. It's making my PPXtLive light on fire...It's unbelievable really. It's making my prized AC30 patch sound soooo authentic. Big brother of the 100X, the 1000X, comes with the additional passive option feature, Jensen transformer and 0-30dB pad pot. Guitar Player Magazine did a good review of the DI's in August 2003, profiling both - check it out here. If you haven't yet, ya gotta go BBE (or Jensen, 'cause they're good too:)!

London Power

London Power

London Power, located in London, Ontario is run by Kevin O'Conor. He started by doing amp mods, and then he went on to build his own amps out of dissatisfaction with avaiable amplifiers.

The most interesting things about his amps are the power scaling feature, and the 0-10w studio amplifier. It's only 10watts (which is actually half the power of a 100w amp) so you can get more juice out of the power tubes as opposed to preamp gain.

I have to run now, so here is a little snippet of info on power scaling from the site:

"Introduced in 1995, Power Scaling was actually developed prior to 1990 by London Power. This proprietary technology allows the output power of a tube amp to be dialed down. It provides the ultimate control for players who live in a "non-master" world. The London Power STUDIO amp is the first commercially available Power Scaling amp, with unprecedented tonal diversity for use in the studio.
The London Power SESSION amp is a jazz club legend.
The London Power SPECTRUM amp is awe-inspiring. Clean. Loud. Quiet. Toneful.
The London Power SUPER STANDARD is simply the Ultimate tube guitar amp."

Getting good tone on Tape

I have been on a bit of a personal quest lately... to get the guitar sound or well close to the guitar sound I hear on many commercial recordings.

In my very modest home setup resources are limited but I'm trying.

I'm really after the full "wall of sound" tone.

If you guys have some additional pointers please share.


Here are a few of the best of the web:
Recording Electric Guitar, SOS
Recording Guitar, MIX
Recording Electric Guitar, Electronic Musician

I have been using a Sennheiser e609 silver and a shure SM58 (my 2 dynamic mics) --> a mackie 1402 VLZ Pro --> Maudio delta/44 -->PC running Nuendo.
and so far the results have been well fair... more experimenting to come.,. and hopefully some of my own clips? update.... I have a SM57 on the way (ebay) so more mics to play with.

Just so you know the ballpark sound I am aiming for; Here is a clip recorded by a fellow forum member at the HC amp forum, ..
I was blown away to hear the sound this guy got @ home with no outboard gear (besides the preamp)
*Note this is the best clip I have heard on there in a while, They make these clips just to show the capabilities of the amp and not sit well in a mix (o:

Mesa F50 - by Tommi Inkila

This is done with 1 solo guitar, and 2 rhythm guitars (left and right)

The signal chain is Ernie Ball Musicman--> Mesa F50--> H&K 4X12 w/celestion Vintage30--> Shure SM57--> SPL goldmike MK2---> Cubase


SPL Goldmike MK2
.

Im my opinion the clip above sounds very 3-d, clear and defined while being fat and full range all at the same time. It just seems to have so much clarity.
With my setup I am having a hard time finding the line between muddy and shrill; and well that may be partly due to the mackie preamps I am using. I just cannot seem to achieve the clarity I have heard in some other recordings.
Now the questions,
Do any of you have experiance with higher end recording interfaces, preamps or channel strips?
Do they make a big impact on the final recorded sound compared to a cheaper pres like the ones on a mickie mixer or similar? I am thinking this should be my next studio upgrade... any recomendations?
Thanks
NB

Speaker Tones

I found a cool article on the web regarding the importance of using the correct amp/speaker configurations to get great tones from the guitar - thought you all might like the read. The following are a few tips within the article by Pat Hennessy, a session player in LA. You can check out the entire article here, but for a quick overview check out these helpful hints. He talks a lot about head/cab configs, something I'm just not a big fan of... I just think there's a bit too much power to contain in the environments I play in. Anyway, some points you may already know, but some good reminders regradless:

* Natural valve and speaker distortion sounds better than simulated distortion.Try to match your speaker/amp combination using speakers that handle only a little more power than your amp can put out, for example 2 x 30w 12" speakers with a 40w amp.

* Use open back speaker cabinets. These are far less beamy as the rear sound gets reflected. Your band can hear you better.

* Use multiple speakers - 2 x 12", 4 x 10" etc. These have a fuller, fatter sound than single speakers.

* Use 10" or 12" speakers mainly because these are most popular and there is a huge selection to choose from. 15" speaker cones are too heavy for guitar. I prefer 10" speakers because they are less beamy, less searing in the upper mids and are generally a little less efficient than 12" speakers. A 10" allows a warmer, less midrangy overdrive tone at a lower volume level. If you're radical try 8" speakers which theoretically give even less beamy dispersion at high frequencies, but there are few suitable for guitar 8"s to choose from.

* Use a valve amplifier of no more than 50 watts for average club gigs. If you have a high powered solid state amp you may have to under power your speaker to at least get some speaker distortion. But, you'll have to be careful not to run your amp too hard or you'll blow out your speakers.

* If you're a clean-only player, use high efficient general purpose PA speakers by JBL, EV, RCF, etc. Be warned, this can add several kg's to your amp.

* 100 watt Marshall amps and Quad boxes were designed to fill up large halls and stadiums without PA assistance. Many Quad boxes use 280 watts worth of speakers. If you're a hearing damage volume freak, use these set-ups as is. If you want a more usable amplifier, try detuning the amp to 50 watts after the warranty has expired.As an aside, this also works for Fender Twins or any other 80 watt plus amp that has four output valves. Have a knowledgeable tech remove two of the output valves. The amp will only put out half the power. Remove the Quad speaker back and replace it with two strips of plywood allowing the middle 50% of the back to be open. Use only two of the speakers or downgrade to four G12L-35 Celestion (35 watt, 93 dB sensitivity) or similar by Fane, McKenzie, Eminence, etc. As a temporary measure point the speaker toward the back wall of the stage.This will cut volume, highs, and spread the sound out.

If you own a nice old Fender Super Reverb or any other 50 watt or less combo amp that does not have a master volume or overdrive, do the following. Set your guitar on full and turn up the amp volume until the amp and speaker are just starting to distort simultaneously such that when you turn your guitar back to 8 or 9 it's clean. This is your clean tone. Do not turn up the amp any louder. For leads or sustain kick in an over- drive or distortion pedal.

* Do not point your speaker at the sound tech during sound checks. They'll tell you to turn down and you will not be able to get a decent tone.Twist your speaker so that open back points at the drummer and the front sound reflects off a wall to the audience. Your drummer will hear you better and you will not sear off the faces of your close audience.

* Do not set your tone with your speaker on the floor firing at your legs. For sound checks, walk out front as far as your lead will get you (a wireless is great for this).To hear more treble on stage, get your speaker up or lean your speaker back as Steve Vai did at his recent Auckland concert. This can be hard on your ears.

* Get advice. Look for people who not only know their own area of expertise (the easy part), but can see how all the pieces fit, effecting one another (the hard part). New Zealand has the talent - right in your own back yard and the ones I know, like myself, give lots of advice for free. All the greats, past and present, have their tones. You may never have heard the song before but you know the tone, it has to be... it is.... no one else has a tone like that. In the end, you'll have your own tone created by your complete set-up of which speakers are major. You be the judge. It's your tone, your signature.

Samson AG1 Wireless System

Had to blog about my Samson AG1 Wireless System. Here are a few reasons I enjoy using my AG1:

1. It eliminates the guitar cable (obviously) thus providing more free movement on stage
   
2. In my playing environment, I can dock & power my AG1 reciever on my SPB-8 pedalboard while setting up my guitar on stand 50' across stage for quick pickup - I just roll up my volume pot and play (once again, no tripping on that blasted cable)
   
3. The transmitter is small and has a -15db pad switch (for active p/u's), reciever is quipped with a pad pot and trim pot too :)
   
4. Just one AAA battery in the transmitter can last up to 14 hours...they say... I charge two AAA rechargables on my SPB-8 - I use one for about 5 hours of continuous playing and still have a backup AAA if I need it, and like I said before, I power my reciever unit via SPB-8, but always have the option to go 9V battery
5. I have been using the AG1 for about two years and in that time have never noticed any guitar tone/signal degradation. I keep all my pedal/amplifier connections plated with nickel if not gold for good signal transmission.
   

I have used the AG1 in numerous audio environments (including outdoors) and have never had any crazy issues. Well, there was just one time... but that was almost two years ago and due to some power cable being laid ontop of my reciever and poor pedalboard configuration. Since working out those bugs, my AG1 is one of my best purchases and has remained very faithful to the ongoing quest for stage tones.

I always check out gear reviews at Harmony Central (HC) - just to see what other guys like and dislike about a piece of gear before I go and invest my $ on it. You can check out the Harmony Central review of the Samson AG1 Wireless System here. FYI: HC gives the AG1 wireless an overall 8.2/10 with the lowest category in the reviews being customer support from Samson (who needs the support when the AG1 manual is published online...?).

I prefer the AG1 of course and love it to death. I have used other wireless belt-clip packs before for stage use and can honestly say that they do not deliver a "more clear" tone to the amp than the AG1. Anyway, here are a few other wireless systems to compare with the AG1:

• Sennheiser EW372-G2 System
  
• AKG WMS40DVGB System
  
• Shure PGX14 System

And the answer is clear really... Samson was a biblical prophet and hero after all... he was the strongest man ever to live...see any obvious parallels here? (Judges 13.24...lol)