Original Acoustic Ballad "Just You Wait and See"

[CapM]

I recorded a song five years ago, and I'd been meaning to re-record it.  First, my arrangement stunk (I brought in drums, electric guitars, and bass) instead of leaving it as a 1 + 1.  Also, the guitar recording wasn't clean (back at my playing level back then, I tended to slide to the next chord with this progression which caused scratching on the wound strings).  So I played it this time by lifting between each chord.  Also, my original vocal was recorded with me too close to the microphone (another rookie mistake).  I had to change the ending so decided to strum the chords, since it would be a change from the fingerstyle I play throughout the rest of the piece.

Recorded on my primary acoustic, Martin D-16GT.  I used a blend of a mic and DI (it gives a touch more clarity) on the guitar, though 2/3's of the blend was the mic.  

 

[Texaspackerfan]

very nice @CapM

I am very interested with your mixing methods. What daw do you use?

danny

[Blue Dog]

That sounds nice CapM . Great technical  and playing. 

[CapM]

8 hours ago, Texaspackerfan said:

very nice @CapM

I am very interested with your mixing methods. What daw do you use?

danny

I'm a Mac guy, so I use Logic Pro X.  In the past, I've recorded guitar with the mic in front of the sound hole.  Here, I did that (about 1.5 feet away) but angled the mic towards the 12th fret.  A lot of mixers recommend this in order to reduce the boominess.  I use EQ (on everything I record, I always put a high pass filter on, cutting frequencies at least less than 25mh, sometimes up to 40), then compression, and some other stuff.  I NEVER mix two songs the same - it's much like a recipe where you season stuff as you feel at the time!  Here, I wanted the feeling of recording in a warm studio so I used a saturator on both the guitar and vocal, which is something I rarely do but sounded good here.  On the guitar track, I use a multi-band compressor to compress the mids in the center whenever the vocals kick in, a technique called mid/side compression.  This makes the vocals stand out from the mix (I do this on all my songs now).  On the vocal, I do have a little slapback delay on it.  Finally I use a reverb on the master, Fabfilter Pro-R - a terrific reverb plugin.

[Nutty1]

Superb CapM, and thank you for sharing information on your methodology.??

Edited July 5, 2018 by Nutty1

[matonanjin]

2 hours ago, Nutty1 said:

Superb CapM, and thank you for sharing information on your methodology.??

Yes, @CapM

[Mike Hoodenpyle]

Very nice. Love your sound. It's hard to beat a simple acoustic guitar and vocal when it's that well done.

 

[gotto]

Really great stuff Cap. Your review of recording technique is fascinating as well. You are advanced in so many ways. Very special.

Greg

[Wim VD]

Very nice recording, @CapM

[JayKayWright]

Great voice and guitar Cap..  That was fantastic..  Your description with video and answers to Texaspackerfan (much emphasis on "Packer" Go Pack Go.  Family night is August 4th Danny, I have an extra ticket if your near by) were great as well.  Thanks Cap.

[IanD]

Cap, this is beautiful. Your recording and mixing skills are now out of this world and compliment your superb playing and singing ability really well.

Ian

[Fretless]

Yet, another great one, CapM, both in terms of writing and recording. I continue to be impressed at your progress in all areas. Keep it up!

If I was mixing I would have wanted to hear what it sounded like with the guitar 3-4bB quieter so that the guitar is not competing for attention quite so much, but that's just me and my curiosity as I have a different pair of ears to you.